Praise. Remember to give praise whenever possible. 

Restate. Restating means that you repeat what you have heard to validate that you understand. 

Summarize. Summarizing means that you take a lot of information and restate it in a very high-level way to again validate that you heard correctly. 

Reflect. This is similar to restating, except that you bring the student's feeling into the mix. This includes statements like "I see you are passionate about this idea. Let me make sure I have the information right," or "You seem to feel that ...," or "My perception is that you don't think this is a good idea.” 

Encourage the tutee and compliment any strengths. Positive feedback is important in developing an enjoyment of learning. We always want to let the tutee know that he or she is working on an engaging topic, or, for example, has excellent ideas and solid organization. 

Try to determine the reason the tutee has trouble with a certain area. For example, maybe the thesis statement is missing because the tutee thinks of it as a stupid part of some teacher's mechanical formula for writing a paper. We might then explain that a good thesis statement will tell the reader what the paper will be about, and will help the reader develop an interest in reading the paper to see how the thesis is supported. 

"Always ask." Asking questions ensures that the tutee is thinking along with us and increases the probability that he or she will remember what we have discussed. Once tutees get used to answering questions, they will also start to ask the questions themselves, so the questioning technique helps avoid the problem of tutees becoming over-dependent on tutors. 

Do not assign or anticipate grades. Our tutorials are based on the learning process as a whole. While some self-evaluation from a tutor may prove to be beneficial in helping to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the tutee's understanding of a particular concept, tutors should not allow themselves to be tempted into predicting what grade an assignment will receive. 

Try to avoid evaluative language. Using words like "good" or "bad" implies a universal truth. Instead provide feedback based on your own opinions of the assignment (e.g. "I like how you used transitions here.").