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 2006-07:

• The Vagabondage and Discipline: The Ethics and Aesthetics of American Tramping, Andrews (English)
• The Places I've Been: Outsiders, Exiles, Tourists, Aparicio (Spanish)
• Human: What Is and What Is Not? Bentley-Condit (Anthropology)
• Music and Society in Paris, 1880-1930, Williams Brown (Music)
• Evolution and Society, J. Brown (Biology)
• Humanities I: The Ancient Greek World, J. Cummins (Philosophy)
• Stirring the Pot: Race, Class, and Gender in Higher Education, K. Erickson (Sociology)
• Color, Culture, and Class, Gibel Azoulay (Anthropology)
• Our Town: The Jewel of the Prairie, Gordon (Theatre)
• African-American Literary Ties to Russian Intellectual Thought in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Greene (Russian)
• Religion and Politics Across the World, Grey (Political Science)
• Americans in Paris: Through the Looking Glass, J. Gross (French)
• Stories from a New World: Finding Grinnell Through Pop Culture, Quick Studies, and Irreverent Social Commentary, Hayes (Education)
• Neighbors, Kaiser (History)
• Ghost Stories, Kapila (English)
• Many Roads to Truth: Acrimony, Authority, and Assumptions, Lindgren (Biology)
• Visions of War: Depictions of War and Its Aftermath in Literature and Film, Michaels (German)
• The Person Behind the Discovery, Minelli (Chemistry)
• Globalization, Montgomery (Economics)
• The Cold Politics of Global Warming, Moyer (Political Science)
• A Woman's Place, Nyden-Bullock (Philosophy)
• Imagining the Caribbean, 1492-1789, Prendergast (English)
• American Memorials and the Politics of Memory, Purcell (History)
• Misbehavior of Memory, Rempel-Clower (Psychology)
• American Cinema and the American Dream, Seiz (Economics)
• Comedy, Simpson (English)
• Religion and Politics in the United States, Skerrett (Religious Studies)
• Old English Rediscovered, P. Smith (English)
• Free Software, Free Culture, J. Stone (Computer Science)
• Painting Modernity, S. Strauber (Art)
• Engineered Humans: A Study in Technology and Literature, Tjossem (Physics)
• Computing: Limitations, Developments, and Ethical Issues, Walker (Computer Science)