Lauren: Homestead tutor

Certified Tutor

I am currently working towards my Masters of Arts degree in Literary and Cultural Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. Some of my current interests are postcolonial studies, literary journalism, and memoir writing. Before attending Carnegie Mellon University, I graduated from Allegheny College where I received my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. At Allegheny College I primarily focused on Gothic and Victorian literature, postcolonial theory, representations of animals and the environment in literature, and poetry composition. In addition to my educational experience at Allegheny College, I also had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with one of my professors on a co-authored paper titled "Shakespeare's Starlings" which will be available in this November's edition of "Environmental Humanities"! I tutor literature-related subjects ranging from High School English to College Essay Writing, as I am most passionate about this wonderful field, and eager to use my academic experiences to help students connect and engage with meaningful texts in a more enriching manner than is typically fostered by a traditional classroom setting, where ample time to discuss the richness of cultural works is so often cut short. Additionally, I love helping students develop thoughtful and original analyses of various literary works, because working through analytical and cultural problems improves critical thinking skills, encourages creativity, and promotes the ability to communicate effectively both verbally, and in a written format. Finally, I am deeply committed to helping students in any field excel at essay writing! I absolutely love editing papers, and I take a very hands-on approach in doing so by encouraging students to read their papers aloud with me in order to mutually identify and discuss any grammatical or logistical errors. It is very important to me that students leave a tutoring session understanding why they are correcting errors, not just how to, so that they fully grasp how to preemptively identify similar problems in future papers that they compose. I have seen considerable success using this technique, and most people I've worked with have advanced their writing by two letter grades after working with me three to four times. While I am most passionate about tutoring students working on essays in the fields of English and Literature, I have written in a wide variety of styles including: book reviews, computer science write-ups, data stories, literary journalism pieces, historiographical essays, memoir pieces, research proposals, personal statements, poetry, philosophy essays, satire, science reports, and more! Essay writing can be fun, engaging, and rewarding when approached in the right way, and I strive to bring the enthusiasm and love I have for this essential skill to every tutoring session I conduct.