In the tutorial every entering student explores in some depth a topic of interest to the student and the instructor, in a small group and an informal setting. The objectives of tutorial work are to illuminate methods of inquiry rather than to master disciplinary material, to give special attention to writing and to critical analysis of texts, to provide the student with the opportunity to practice oral presentations, and to provide initial preparation in techniques of research.

By promoting a close working relationship between the instructor and the student and by combining the roles of instructor and academic adviser, the College provides every student with an academic adviser who knows the student's needs and abilities. A tutorial (4 credits) is required of all students who enter Grinnell as first-year students and of all transfer students below third-year student standing whose previous work does not qualify them for an exemption. A student must complete the tutorial with a grade of C or higher to meet the tutorial graduation requirement and to be eligible to enroll in a "Plus-2" or independent project.

Tutorials are offered only in the first semester.

The following tutorials are offered in 2005-06:

• Art in Fiction, Anger (Art)
• The Search for Self in Fiction, Film, and Song, Barber (German)
• African American Autobiography, Barlow (English)
• Liberal Education and Critical Citizenship, Bateman/I. Strauber (Economics and Political Science)
• The Americas on October 11, 1492, Campbell (Biology)
• Placing Ourselves: Landscape, Locale, and Identity, Delmenico (Theatre)
• Stories, Storytellers, and Audiences: Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron and Marguerite of Navarre's Heptameron, Dobbs (English)
• The Ways of Paradox, Fennell (Philosophy)
• Secret Codes, C. French (Mathematics and Computer Science)
• The Ring of the Nibelung, E. Gaub (Music)
• Language in Nonhuman Primates, Gibson (Psychology)
• Japanese Mythology, Gilday (Religious Studies)
• Family Tragedy in Literature, Harrison (French)
• Community Organizing: Empowering People, Effecting Change, C. Hunter (Sociology)
• Freedom, Kaiser (History)
• Manipulation or Subversion? Popular Culture in American Experience, Ketter (Education)
• The Language of Color: Practice and Perception in Art and Culture, Kluber (Art)
• Dear John: Restoring the Lost Art of the Letter, Lobban-Viravong (English)
• Weird Music, McIntyre (Music)
• Humanities I: The Ancient Greek World, Phillips (Classics)
• Fields of Genes, Praitis (Biology)
• Victoria's Secrets, Prevost (History)
• Onerous Ownership? Intellectual Property in the 21st Century, Rebelsky (Mathematics and Computer Science)
• Degradation and Development in Tropical Forests, Roper (Anthropology)
• Dis Lit: Illness, Disability, and Contemporary Life Writing, Savarese (English)
• Hollywood's Radical Ideas, Seiz (Economics)
• Zero and Infinity, Shuman (Mathematics and Computer Science)
• Modern Iraqi Literature, Simawe (English)
• Liberal Education and Critical Citizenship, I. Strauber/Bateman (Political Science and Economics)
• The Illness Experience Across Cultures, Tapias (Anthropology)
• Engineered Humans: A Study in Technology and Literature, Tjossem (Physics)
• Restoration of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling: Chemistry and Controversy, Trimmer (Chemistry)
• Political Lives, Trish (Political Science)
• Man Talk, Woman Talk: Beyond Words, Valentín (Spanish)
• The Fairy Tale in 20th-century Russian Literature and Film: In Search of a Magical Kingdom, Vishevsky (Russian)