Whether students use the Writing Studio’s online calendar to book a virtual appointment or an in-person session with a tutor in the studio’s scenic perch above downtown Atlanta, they get to choose the tutor they believe best fits their needs.
After creating a profile at writingstudio.gsu.edu, students can peruse a list of more than two dozen profiles to find the right fit. If the tutor is available when the student is available, the student can book a 25-minute session once a week. Sessions for faculty, staff and alumni can be as long as 55 minutes.
The Writing Studio’s staff works to establish a welcoming space for those with different accessibility needs as well. According to Andrea Jurjević (B.A. ’04, M.F.A. ’14), who’s now the Writing Studio’s director and a senior lecturer for composition, literature and creative writing courses, the studio is in the process of integrating accessibility tools that can be requested during tutoring sessions. These tools can ease the challenges posed by visual and hearing impairments, neurodiversity related communication barriers, and learning disabilities such as dyslexia and dysgraphia.
Andrea Jurjević (B.A. ’04, M.F.A. ’14) directs the Writing Studio and is a senior lecturer for composition, literature and creative writing courses at Georgia State.
The Writing Studio is also expanding its outreach efforts, having started monthly workshops and special-topics discussions in the University Library with faculty and staff. Writing Studio staff also visit classrooms, upon request, to discuss the studio’s resources directly with groups of students.
But as much as students improve their writing through the studio’s tutoring, the tutors are gaining perhaps just as much.
With a staff of mostly master’s and Ph.D. candidates, the Writing Studio’s consultants are trained in instruction, have a deep passion for composition, and are knowledgeable in topics as varied as Ancient Greek tragedy, computer science, nursing and STEM studies.
“I started at the Writing Studio before I began teaching composition classes,” says Jurjević, who is also a poet, author and literary translator. “I think working in the studio helped me build confidence in the classroom. It was good for me, personally, for my own writing, and good for me as an instructor. In addition to providing support to writers, it also serves as a training ground and launchpad for many incoming graduate teaching assistants who teach first-year composition courses.”
One of those is Stephen Montgomery-Anderson, a Ph.D. candidate in English literary studies and a Writing Studio tutor in 2022 — and later a client.
As a first-year doctoral candidate, Montgomery-Anderson helped studio tutees hone their writing. The next summer, while taking online courses and completing an essay assignment, he booked a session with a Writing Studio tutor to get a fresh perspective on his own writing.
“I said, ‘Gosh, I need someone to take a look at this and make sure I haven’t lost my mind,’” he jokes. “I wanted someone to take a look and make sure the shape of the argument was good and that it progressed logically.”
He later worked with a Writing Studio tutor to help hone abstracts he used to apply to various conferences.
He says as a Writing Studio tutor, and now as a graduate teaching assistant for first-year English composition classes, he enjoys discussing writing with his students and learning about their interests, ideas and perspectives.
“It’s always really invigorating when you get an opportunity to talk about writing in depth,” he says. “And it’s neat to see what other people are interested in.”
Gaillet says first-year writing instruction has evolved to give students more control over their topics and their ideas, making them much more engaged with those ideas.
“And tutoring has evolved alongside those assignments to open the door for that two-way instruction,” says Gaillet, who maintains an office near the Writing Studio and from time to time still takes the time to work with students on their writing.
“A really good tutor is excited to learn from their students, because they’re writing about things the tutor doesn’t know anything about,” she says. “The tutor can say, ‘You teach me, and I’ll help you to shape the ideas.’”
