English
English — we use it every day, yet many students (both young and old) struggle to write clearly and effectively. Learning your strengths and working on your weaknesses makes a difference for the rest of your life. We can help in a wide variety of areas — writing skills, grammar, reading comprehension, literature, essay development, learning proper citation for essays (such as APA, MLA, and Chicago).
Step one: Take a deep breath — and don't write anything (yet)!
Learning to write an essay about a Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment can be scary, but don't sit down right after getting your assignment and trying writing your essay from start to finish. Strong essay writing and reading comprehension is a process — it's as much about how you understand the material as it is about writing.
Step two: Give yourself time — this means no all-nighters.
You need to give yourself time to read (and probably re-read) your material. Take notes as you read and give yourself time to consider the meaning of the author's words. Keep the essay prompt or test question in mind as you read to keep yourself focused. Brainstorming isn't just for fifth graders — it's one of the most important aspects of creating an organized and focused essay, so do it! Write your thesis and topic sentences first, and then focus on filling in the details, including quotes (easily pulled from the notes you took), appropriate citations, and transition sentences.
Step three: Edit, edit again, and then edit one more time.
No great author, journalist, or academic ever got away with publishing a first draft, and if you try, you're not allowing yourself to correct simple mistakes (spelling, grammar, and syntax) or find a way to make your argument (thesis) stronger. Read it aloud to yourself (yes, we know it's embarrassing, but it works), have your friends look it over, or ask a professional to give you advise. Your third or fourth draft will always be stronger and more polished, and you'll feel more confident about your work.
Lana Q.
Lana is a senior at UCSD finishing a degree in English literature. Her years of teaching English, writing, and literature have instilled a great passion for teaching. Lana previously worked as a peer tutor at the English Writing Center (ERC) for Grossmont college. She tutored various levels of English, including ESL, grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, sentence structure, reading skills, as well as different styles of essay writing, such as narrative, descriptive, and argumentative. Lana works directly with people of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds and is trilingual, speaking Kurdish, Arabic, and English. She offers tutoring on and around the UCSD campus.
Christina V.
Christina graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2006 with a BA in International Political 
Economy. Her senior dissertation, an analysis of California's agricultural lobbying policies as used by small, medium, and large organizations, earned distinction within her graduating class. During college she worked with a non-profit legal clinic representing low-income clients on employment and housing issues. Since college, Christina worked with the general counsel and employment lawyer of California's largest manufacturing plant, working with government agencies and unions. Past experiences also include three years on staff of her high school paper, ultimately serving as Editor-in-Chief during her senior year. Christina's strengths are in helping students develop strong and well thought out essays.
We provide tutoring for the following English courses:
High School courses
- General English
- AP English Language
- AP English Literature
UCSD
- HUM 1 — The Foundations of Western Civilization: Israel and Greece
- HUM 2 — Rome, Christianity, and the Middle Ages
- HUM 3 — Renaissance, Reformation, and Early Modern Europe
- HUM 4 — Enlightenment, Romanticism, Revolution (1660-1848)
- HUM 5 — Modern Culture (1848-present)
- MMW 1 — Prehistory and the Birth of Civilization
- MMW 2 — The Great Classical Traditions
- MMW 3 — The Medieval Heritage
- MMW 4 — New Ideas and the Clash of Cultures
- MMW 5 — Revolution, Industry, and Empire
- MMW 6 — Twentieth Century and Beyond
- MCWP 40, 50 — Critical Writing
- MCWP 125 — Argument and Analysis
- WCWP 10A, 10B — The Writing Course
- WCWP 11A, 11B — Warren Scholars Seminar
- Other writing intensive courses
San Diego State University (SDSU)
- ENGL 101 — Rhetoric of Written Argument
- ENGL 102 — Critical Reading
- ENGL 200 — Rhetoric of Written Arguments in Context
- ENGL 220 — Introduction to Literature
- All English (ENGL) courses
- Other writing intensive courses
Test prep
- SAT — Critical Reading and Writing sections
- ACT — English, Reading, and Writing sections
- GRE — Verbal and Analytical Writing
- GRE subject test — Literature in English
- CLEP — Composition and Literature exams
- LSAT
- MCAT
- GMAT
Visit our courses page to see all the subjects and courses we can help you with!
