Ruth:
Nannette was my writing tutor for a semester back when I was an international student at CSU, Sacramento. I was so scared that I would not do well because all my classes were in a language new to me, but with Nannette’s help and encouraging words, both my confidence and writing skills improved dramatically, and I wasn’t so intimidated by writing assignments so much. In fact, her tutoring and writing advice had such a great, positive impact in me and my writing skills that, a couple of years later, I became an English major myself! She made me see that “I could do it,” that I could really improve my writing and even become an expert at it. Currently, I am an English as a Second Language instructor, something I never thought possible. Going back in time, I remember getting tutoring lessons twice a week at the CSUS Writing Center. She helped me with various essays for my English, Political Science and Philosophy classes and other General Education classes. During our sessions, we would brainstorm for ideas, discuss editing techniques, articles and novels, check essay structure and quote analysis, work on citations and ensure that body paragraphs were well-developed. In addition, Nannette was great at providing extra resources for writers. She gave relevant handouts on grammar topics I was struggling with to me and pointed to other resources such as websites that I could use, for example, to find out if I was citing appropriately and to find out how many academic words had been used in an essay. It was a great experience being Nannette’s tutee. Her passion for writing, literature and teaching is evident. I learned so much about essay structure, grammar and punctuation with her. It was an experience that helped me become acquainted with academic writing and discover better ways to communicate myself as a writer. But, most importantly, her tutoring strengthened my love for writing, and it created a profound sense of pride in my essays. I always left my tutoring sessions feeling that I had learned so much and feeling very positive about my writing skills. Thank you so much Nannette!