During the writing center consulting session, the consultant and the student will sit at a table and have a conversation about the student's writing. The student or the consultant will read the piece of writing out loud. The consultant will ask the student if there is anything in particular that the student would like to focus on or that you might need help improving. The consultant will converse with the student about these issues in order to encourage the student to see his/her own strengths and weaknesses.
Consultants in the writing center will not read papers that are dropped off, and the consultants are not editors. Consultants will focus on and discuss with the student points of grammar and punctuation in the paper if that is what the student needs, but the goal will be to encourage students to see their own errors in that text and in future pieces of writing.
Read more about how we can assist ESL writers.
What We Do:
- Use a conversational, collaborative approach to writing
- Help students focus on the objectives of their assignments and personal writing goals
- Assist writers with enhancing clarity, organization, and development of ideas
- Encourage writers to reflect on audience, purpose, and voice, and to access personal knowledge and experience
- Facilitate improved grammar practices by explaining grammatical concepts, calling attention to error patterns, familiarizing writers with helpful handbooks, and providing handouts and online information when available
- Guide students through documentation of resources using examples and handbook or assignment guidelines. We are most familiar with MLA and APA formats but will help students with instructors' customized documentation standards when details are provided on the assignment.
- Promote student-initiated communication with instructors regarding their writing processes and products
What We Don't Do:
- We do NOT offer a drop-off or email proofreading service.
- Consultants cannot and will not offer predictions on a student's expected grade.
- The Writing Center cannot "fix" the paper or guarantee that a grade on a paper will improve.
- We will not restrict our input to "fixing" grammar mistakes or proofreading a text. We act as attentive readers, not editors.
- We will not provide information about a session to an instructor unless the student provides written permission to do so.