Hi! I’m Allyson. I obtained my Bachelor's degree in English Literature from UCLA, where my Honors Research Thesis won the 2023 Thompson Prize for Best Honors Thesis. Alongside tutoring, I work as a freelance writer and book editor. I'm also a published creative writer. I plan on pursuing a PhD in English in the future.

I have 8 years of one-on-one tutoring experience across all disciplines and grade levels, in-person and online. I currently focus on writing, literary studies, and arts. My services are flexible; I can meet the student at any stage of their assignment – whether that be having just received a prompt or having written up an entire first draft.

How I generally like to work, though I change my process based on student needs: I provide detailed feedback and suggestions on students’ notes and drafts. While I proofread for little things like grammar and punctuation, I'm also considering the student's diction, syntax, argument strength and support, and the impact of their words on the reader. I leave incredibly thorough feedback that seeks to balance clarity with complexity.

I employ the skills of close-reading to the assignment rubric itself, providing a detailed breakdown that explores what exactly the prompt is asking of the student, and what kind of answers it expects you to spend your essay offering. While this helps provide a clear path for an outline and offers students a formula for future essays, it also demonstrates the importance of honing your close-reading skills; the critical approach that you take to a poem's diction, for example, can also be applied to how you address tasks at work or school. After this, I assess the notes/draft they have. Then we discuss paths forward.

I love what I do. My goal is to not only guide students to learn how to think critically, but to push them to believe in their innate capacity to do this. In doing so, it becomes my mission for them to recognize that their thoughts are valuable and worthy contributions to a wider intellectual discourse.