1) When looking at a piece, tutors first see whether the student has met the assignment’s requirement, i.e. answered the question.
2) Second, the tutors attempt to identify a thesis statement and ensuing topic sentences, ensuring flow, order, cohesion, and focus.
3) Third, the tutors look at each paragraph, how it is introduced, how it is divided, how it is organized and structured, and how it works together.
4) Fourth, tutors will look at how students incorporate and document research.
5) Finally, tutors will look at sentence-level errors, beginning with the most major (fragments, run-ons, missing words, subject-verb agreement) and working towards the least major (consistency, commas, word choice).
This can be a long process, and a half-hour session does not ensure that tutors can cover all areas; therefore, students should make multiple appointments for one assignment.