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Contact Information
Mary B. O'Neill, Academic Support Coordinator

315-859-4374
Peer Tutoring

What To Expect From a Tutorial



You may meet with a tutor to get help with one assignment, or you may meet regularly throughout the semester. Be sure to arrive with specific questions. Don't expect the tutor to sit with you while you do your homework. Do your homework ahead of time, so you can ask for help with what you don't understand.

The tutors do not give the answers to homework problems but explain what you don't understand, use examples to work on the process of finding an answer, and show how the problems fit into your everyday life. At the end of your session, you and the tutor summarize what you have worked on, going over anything you don't understand.

Sometimes answers won't come easily. Even after working out the problems and consulting with other tutors, your tutor may not be able to help you. On the rare occasion that this happens, you and the tutor should work out a plan for finding out how to solve the problem. Perhaps you and the tutor need more information. Maybe something is missing from the assignment or from the equation. Get the missing information right away from the professor or from another student. Check back with the tutor to let her or him know what you find out, so the tutor can help other students who may have the same questions.

The tutor will provide an acknowledgment form for you to attach to your homework or other assignment, to explain to your instructor the help you have received. If you do not have a form, a note giving information about the tutorial help received at the end of the homework or on an acknowledgement page should be sufficient.