Tutoring

Do you or your teen need a little extra help with writing? I’m Connie B. Dowell, and I tutor locally in Culpeper, Orange, and Madison counties, Virginia. I work with high school, college, and graduate school students onYoung people and education, woman studying for university test

  • improving class assignments,
  • polishing college and graduate school application essays,
  • preparing for standardized tests in writing and reading,
  • and growing as a creative writer.

Interested? If you’re a new client, visit my Wyzant page. Got questions? Read below. If you don’t find the answers here or are a current client looking to get in touch, go to the contact page.

FAQ

What’s your tutoring background?

I’ve been tutoring since 2010, working with high school, college, and graduate students on writing for all kinds of subjects and purposes. I have even coordinated a writing center on the University of Mary Washington’s Stafford Campus. Right now, I am happily self-employed and looking to take on new students.

May I see some references?

Absolutely! For their privacy, I do not list references’ names and contact information here. Get in touch via my contact page or through Wyzant, and I’ll be happy to help you get in touch with them.

How does tutoring work? Do I need to have something written already?

We can start with a complete draft, partial draft, outline, or just an idea or assignment prompt. We can also work even without an assignment, using writing prompts and exercises (especially helpful in preparing for tests). If you have something written, do bring it to the tutoring session. I’ll take a few moments to read it through. Then we’ll discuss what’s working, what can be improved, and strategies for revising. If working in person on a short piece, it is generally much less complicated to simply bring your writing with you, rather than emailing it ahead of time, though for long assignments, we can make special arrangements.

What citation styles can you help with?

I am happy to help with APA, MLA, and Chicago styles.

I am not a native English speaker. Can I get tutoring?

I love working with non-native speakers of English. I am not, however, a trained ESL teacher, so I won’t be doing English lessons for beginners. I am happy to work with those who have at least an intermediate level of fluency and just want to improve their writing and grammar skills.

I wrote a book. Will this tutoring help me?

Maybe, but it seems more likely that you’re looking for editing services, which I offer here.