I had a situation like this recently but I wasn't really concerned about helping the student with reading suggestions - I don't see it as spoon-feeding if they are willing to enquire. The real 'spoon fed' students are those that don't find any reading and can't be bothered in my opinion.

What I was concerned about is me getting in trouble for helping one student more than others - very tricky I think.

for several years I used to man the help desk in the university library on Saturdays/Sundays. What I found was that some students have a great deal of trouble making the leap from A level to degree level work. Often they would come in late on Saturday wanting help with essays that were due in on the Monday. I've had to sit with them and try and work out with them what the essay requires and what resources are likely to provide the answers (often in areas that I had only a vague idea about). they had no idea about creating a plan, or putting any thoughts they had down on paper before they started. some students came in in their third year having never used the library. It could well be that this person needs some basic help in essay planning or organising their thoughts into an essay plan. you could direct them to this service in your library, or you could just reply asking if they need help in planning what they want to write and if so offer to help with this.

I've e-mailed her back and suggested she come to see me after the next seminar and we can discuss how I can help her if she needs more help as I took from her e-mail that I hadn't given her the help she required. I also said if she had an essay plan then I could look at that with her.

I think it is easy to forget that the leap from A levels to degree is quite difficult (like the leap from Masters to PhD!!!)

My only concern would be that the rest of the class - getting wind of this girl getting extra help - might kick up a fuss. That is what I would have been annoyed about when I did my degree. Fairly, if you offer this help to one student, you should send out an email to all in the class. Its really difficult, I find that some students are just more persistent and get more help than others which is a bit unfair, even when they were probably fine without it.

I don't intend to give anyone any extra help that isn't available to others. At the seminars I make it clear that people can e-mail me or ask questions in seminars re essay questions. If this girl does come to see me I still won't give her the answers but try to point her in the right direction to find them out for herself.