Daniel G.
Private tutor in Middletown, NY
Education
BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Binghamton University, 2009
Experience
- Prepared to help students of any age in their writing/research/organization process on any academic essay: literature, science, economics, politics, ect. Various Relevant courses: Independent Study on "Moby Dick" (A) New Humanities: Evolution and Culture (A) (a Graduate seminar class half on cultural/memetic evolution at the hard science level and half on literature as a medium for cultural evolution) British Literature I & II (B+, A-) American Literature II (A-) World Literature II (A-) Shakespeare (B+) William Faulkner's Works (A-) Writing the American Dream (A-) Existential Philosophy in Literature (A-) - I have on hand sample graded essays and outlines from my college career if you are interested in reading some of my work before hiring. - Over 80 college papers written with detailed outlines - Wrote for numerous newspapers on campus - Whether writing upon literature, history, science, economics or another area, I believe I can help any student to better analyze and present their ideas, information and arguments in a clear, logical and efficient manner. - A brief list of authors I enjoy and am quite familiar with: Margaret Atwood, William Faulkner, Albert Camus, Sylvia Plath, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Milan Kundera, Herman Hesse, Herman Melville, Tom Robbins, Henry Thoreau, Ayn Rand. ------------------------------------ My Method for Writing Papers/Admission Essays/Short Writeups/Basically Any Form of Coherent Thought That Has Your Name Attached to It 1) Read the text in a fully engaging manner, with a pen nearby to jot down personal notes in the book itself or on paper, depending on circumstances. Write down notes as soon as they come to you. They are usually strongest in what they say when you first have them. After ten more pages of reading that really good idea or thought you had is half lost, like a dream upon waking. 2) Develop a very strong thesis statement. I prefer to first pick a thesis statement that is provable within the text and has lots of quotes and information to back it up. If the student happens to personally agree with the thesis, more the merrier, but having a provable, virtually infallable thesis, is the key to writing quality in-class essays. It is surprising how engaging writing a paper can be when you are trying to prove a point that you personally do not agree with, essentially playing Devil's Advocate. This helps critical thinking tremendously and in dealing with people of different ideas later on in life. 3) Create a very indepth outline. I love outlines, and I built one in college for everything I wrote, whether a twenty page term paper or a two paragraph article in a student newspaper. I especially like stressing the importance of an outline to a high school student. I find high school students tend to write essays one paragraph at a time and don't worry or think about what will be in the next paragraph until the current one is finished. Trust me, the outline will write the essay all by itself and they are quicker and more fun to write than just launching into an essay from only what you remember about the reading. Organizing outlines for students in college was one of the best experiences I had when I tutored privately between classes. A lot of times the outlines were so detailed the student felt comfortable writing the paper from there and only came back to me once the essay was fully complete. Outlines can really saves hours upon hours and I have seen D papers with no outlines become A papers with the same thesis statement once an outline was written. 4) Write the essay paragraph by paragraph. What I mean by this is to write a paragraph, finish it, edit it right then, and make it flow as seamlessly as possible into the next paragraph's theme or topic. I find that editing a paper once it's printed and the grammar is corrected helps the editing process a lot more than editing it from the screen. Generally the flow of the paper can be better felt this way once it is read while in your hands. For most high school and undergrad papers this last part should be pretty easy if the outline is done the right way. --------------------------------------- In General - I am willing to read whatever piece of literature or text the student is currently writing on, even a novel or history I have not yet read. I am always interested in another person's view on a book and find it is easier to work with them if both of us know the text in full, or the admission essay guidelines. - Can help with papers that need to be redone, edited or cooked up from scratch. - Assist in appropriate use of quotes and what to write about the qoutes you select. There is a right and wrong way to use quotes and how you handle quotes can influence your grade by at least a full letter. - I want to ignite ideas. Ideas and what you have to say about them write papers, not Microsoft Word editing templates or copy and pasting twenty lines of quotes. However complex a theme or idea from a story or book is that you are writing on, it is attached to the text for a reason, and should not be shyed away from. If it is interesting to write about, it will be interesting to read. - The power of communicating ideas is why we evolved to where we are now as a species and I firmly believe the ability to write and write well underlies any successful venture in life. ------------------------------- - Privately tutored while in college, helping students write essays in literature, economics, science, business, ect. What can I say, I love organizing thoughts in an effective manner, regardless of the subject matter. - I also have a TEFL certificate for teaching English as a foreign language. - Taught autistic children for a year after college gaining valuable classroom experience in a setting which, at the time, was unfamiliar to me, but the delight in teaching and helping to improve another person's life was there throughout. This experience taught me patience in teaching more than anything else has.
Availability
Weekdays after 3PM, Weekends at any time
Can Meet
Up to 30 minutes away for no additional charge
Hobbies
- Playing the guitar - Always writing some work of fiction on the side and trying to get it published - Soccer and basketball are my two favorite sports to play - A healthy diet and avoiding drugs and alcohol... I like to feel the full vitality of life and plan on living as long and healthily as possible - I am an absolute fantatic when it comes to hiking. The Adirondacks and Harriman State Park are my two most common stomping grounds. - Try to keep up with the latest news in science. I am looking very forward to future advancements in biochemistry, nanotechnology and genetics.
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