On Writer-Centered, Non-Directive Consulting

Prior to coming to the University of South Florida, I wrote and edited web copy, press releases, blog posts, and social media updates for businesses. Whenever a client or colleague requested feedback on a piece of writing, what I provided was very directive. I routinely marked up documents with notes along the lines of, “Fix this,” and “Remove that.” Because of my background, the Writing Studio’s philosophy of conversing with writers about their text instead of marking it up and asking questions instead of giving suggestions was foreign to me.

During my first few weeks as a Writing Studio consultant, I made a conscious effort to adhere to the non-directive, writer-centered style of tutoring rather than slip into the more familiar editing-based approach. The adjustment was difficult not only because it required unlearning an old habit and forming a new habit, but also because most of the writers wanted me to be more directive. A few writers even acted irritated that I wouldn’t simply tell them what to do with their work, so I had to learn ways to consult in accordance with the Writing Studio’s philosophy without leaving writers feeling unhelped.

Over the past few months, I’ve adopted techniques that make it easier for me to feel comfortable assisting writers while remaining non-directive. Here are the methods that have proved the most useful:

Having the writer read. The first couple of weeks I felt nervous during my sessions, especially if a writer seemed unhappy. Because of this nervousness, any time a writer seemed hesitant to read her work out loud I’d say, “Or I could read it if you’d prefer.” I quickly realized almost all writers will have me read if I make that an option. It seems that reading aloud benefits writers--they often catch their own mistakes while reading--so I now ask writers to read without framing it as a choice.

Embracing silence. Allowing stretches of silence in the consultation became easier as I felt more comfortable. Early on, when I would ask a writer a question and he would sit there staring at me like I was entirely unhelpful, I would cave in and make a suggestion. Now, I wait. Most of the time the writer will come up with an idea. If the writer says, “I don’t know,” I’ll ask, “What if you had to guess, or say anything, even if it isn’t what you will use?” Many times the writer is being silent not because he is clueless, but because he is lacking in confidence. The idea a writer finally puts forth after moments of silence is often a good one.

Paraphrasing what I’m reading. Instead of pointing out a problematic sentence, phrase, or word and telling the writer to replace or rewrite it, I paraphrase the sentence. Usually I’ll say, “When I read this, I think you’re trying to tell us that…” If the meaning I am getting is not the meaning the writer intended, she will usually spring into action and start writing down (or speaking) an alternate way of stating her point. Sometimes the writer goes a direction I would not have predicted, reinforcing that had I been directive, it could have limited rather than helped her.

Speaking in generals, not specifics. I quickly realized that asking, “Do you think you should put a comma here?” and pointing to the spot that needs a comma is really the same as saying, “You need a comma here,” except there’s a question mark at the end of the sentence. Now, when I mention grammatical errors or organizational issues, I will point out the issue by speaking generally about the entire sentence or paragraph. I say something along the lines of, “There are some missing commas in this section--do you see where?”

Mentioning patterns. Often, writers make the same mistakes over and over throughout their work. Once I have pointed out an issue, I refer back to the first instance of that issue when it comes up again. The writer will often begin making changes herself with little direction if it is an issue we have already addressed. For example, instead of saying, “This paragraph’s first sentence is not a topic sentence,” I would say, “This paragraph appears to have an organizational issue similar to what we discussed in the previous paragraph. How would you like to address it?”

Overall, I have learned an immense amount about writer-centered consulting during my short time in the Writing Studio. I am grateful for the experience because not only does it make me a better consultant, it is helping me become a better composition instructor to my students and creative writing workshop partner to my colleagues. I look forward to learning more through my Writing Studio experience in the coming semester.

By Jessica Thompson, MFA in Creative Writing

Writers’ individual differences: Reflecting on my researcher and consultant “selves”

Hello, fellow consultants. It’s been nearly two months since I started working at the Writing Studio, and as an advocate of reflective practices, I’ve been thinking a lot about my experiences with different writers. More specifically, I’ve been reflecting on the way in which my “researcher self” and the areas I investigate influence how I understand the sessions, the writers, and my own “consultant self”. My main area of research is related to students’ individual differences (especially learning strategies and beliefs) and how they impact second language learning. Even if the context of the Writing Studio is different in the sense that the sessions are not classes, and our role is not to teach, I still found interesting associations.

As I shared in the mentor meeting, one of the greatest difficulties I had at the beginning was being able to work at a paragraph level. I had to get used to this, and especially communicate the writers that this would be the way we would proceed in the sessions, so that they knew what to expect from each session. In some cases, writers easily agreed to work in this way. However, there are other writers who go to the Studio to have their papers proofread, and in such cases, it becomes quite difficult to get them to understand the way of working is different. After a couple of weeks I started getting comfortable with working paragraph by paragraph. Perhaps one of my greatest concerns in working at paragraph level was that it implied not being able to finish revising a piece of writing in a session. I felt that not reaching to the end of the paper would lead to writers’ disappointment and feelings of frustration. However, after all, I began realizing our most important contribution as consultants is providing writers with strategies so they can work on different aspects of the revision process. By explicitly stating they could make use of those tools in subsequent paragraphs, I observed writers left the sessions with a sense of satisfaction, feeling that what we had discussed could ultimately help them become more autonomous and critical of their own work in other situations. As I mentioned previously, strategies is one of my research areas, and the opportunity of working at the Writing Studio enabled me to incorporate some of the aspects I investigate, into my work practices.

A second aspect on which I have reflected both during and after my consultations is also related to one of my main research interests: beliefs. I have observed that writers react to the approach we follow at the Writing Studio in different ways. Those writers who think that our job is to be in charge of their papers and ideas, tend to get a bit frustrated when they find out they need to participate actively in the sessions. Instead, those who believe that writing is a process done in collaboration involving various steps, seem to have a more positive attitude during the sessions. As research has documented over the past 20 years, the beliefs students hold about a task or phenomenon impacts greatly on the actions they take to perform the task, and thereby, on the performance of such task. The experiences I have observed at the Writing Studio are no exception. Even if I don’t have empirical evidence, I was able to see that writers have various beliefs about their role, our role as consultants, and about the writing process itself. Such insights seem to influence the way the session flows, involving their attitude, and our reaction to those attitudes.

Reflecting on these first months at the Writing Studio was an enriching and enlightening experience. As I mentioned above, I was able to see the importance of giving writers tools for them to become more autonomous when working outside the Studio, and to be able to go over the revision process on their own and at their own pace. Moreover, I could see that similarly to what happens in the second language classroom, each writer has his/her own beliefs about the process of writing and about their roles as writers, as well as of our role as consultants. I think it is important to consider these aspects, as this will impact what they end up taking from our sessions.

By M. Matilde Olivero, PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Instructional Technology

The Writing Studio: A Learning Space for All Kinds of Writers

The Writing Studio at the University of South Florida can be a place for all different types of writers to find help. Now, many think of our space as the place to tighten up their papers, check grammar and make sure they are following their assignments. That certainly happens. We work hard to make sure a writer is getting the sort of help that they want/need. I find, however, that sessions that talk about other issues tend to more rewarding, both for the writer and the consultant.

A writer came into the Studio a few weeks ago, and he needed a lot of help. He had come in to the Studio as a walk-in the day before, received great advice, and then returned with no progress. I spoke to the consultant from that prior meeting, and he characterized this writer as “the most unprepared writer” he had ever dealt with. I cannot disagree with that assessment. This writer (whom I will call Donavan) had come back to school after a hiatus and found himself struggling to writer papers. He felt totally out of place in the discourse communities his teachers asked him to join. He wanted to succeed, and was not afraid to ask for help. In talking about his writing issues, Donavan showed me the text of his email communication with his professor. Donavan needed and wanted help to succeed in this new chapter of his life.

As in a normal writing session, we talked through his goals for the session and his self-perceived issues. As we spoke, he took out his many sticky notes from the day before, and brought up the reading he had done at the prior consultant’s advice. The pieces were all laid out the day before, but there was just one thing missing: Donavan just could not get himself to write. He claimed that he just sat in front of a computer screen, feeling helpless, and could not type a single word. Everything he told me pointed to some pretty severe writer anxiety.

It was clear that Donavan needed to get some words on the page. At this time I took the opportunity to pool the resources around me. One of the other consultants had a lot of experience with free writing and I sought her advice on how to proceed. I asked Donavan to sit down at our computers. I kept all of his materials back at the consultation table, and asked him to start writing. At first he felt stupid, and every word took forever. At my colleague’s suggestion, I told Donavan to forget about the backspace button and just try to keep typing. After five minutes, Donavan really picked up his pace and after just ten minutes had gone by, he had typed two thirds of a page, single spaced, of his assignment.

The last twenty minutes of the session were spent talking about the work he had just done. I pointed out that once he had double spaced the lines and added in some transition sentences to connect some of his more itinerant thoughts, his paper would be nearly finished. He had only been free writing for 10 minutes. Donavan was a writer that had all the capacity he needed, but no confidence that his voice had something worth saying. He left the Writing Studio feeling immensely better than when he arrived.

This was one of the more unusual sessions I have conducted in my two months at the Studio. But I think it points to the broad utility of our space. We are a center devoted to improving writing and writers of all levels and genres. And we have the experience and expertise to help such diverse writers in many backgrounds of our different consultants. When I think back on this session, it stands as a reminder that each time I meet with a writer, it can be be a profound learning experience, even for students just interested in grammar.

By Andrew Hillen, MA in Rhetoric and Composition

Staying Healthy in the Studio

Right now, and right at this same time (mid-semester) last Spring, I developed a wicked bad cold. I blamed my children at the time, but really I think students, circulating and teaching, typically get hit when the stress of mid-terms crops up.

What I am realizing now, more than ever, is how important personal health and well-being is to the work we do, day in and day out. I think this really got hammered home when I was pulling a seven hour shift in the Studio last March and had, by 4PM, lost my voice during a particularly bad cold. It decided not to return for a week.

Here's some pointers, from my experience, to maintain your well-being as you continue to consult (and some writers come in and sneeze on you).

• First, we have some sanitizer floating around. I have no idea who brought it in, but it was an excellent idea. We'll work to try and have that more widely available, especially as flu season descends on us.
• Second, if you'd like a flu vaccine, the College of Public Health is offering them for free on October 24th. You can also head over to Student Health Services, or any local pharmacy, and get one for relatively cheap. The perk of staying on campus is that the shots are free for students.
• If you are ill, please take care of yourself. If that means staying home and missing a shift, please call the front desk staff ASAP (801.974.8293) and let them know, so they can cancel your appointments. Your writers, fellow consultants, and the coordinators will understand. Trust us. Let the coordinators know about your situation, too. 

These are suggestions about how to protect your physical health. I want to take a brief moment suggest some pointers to maintain your mental health in the Studio, too.

Consultants work with students of all levels, on all sorts of projects, and on any number of diverse and equally challenging consultations each day, and over the course of the week. During my time consulting, I still have to regularly remind myself of a few things, so as not to get frustrated with what seems like constant investment, with (seemingly) little return:

• Give what is given. Sometimes, writers don't necessarily want to be in the Writing Studio. Or they are in between classes, or have other pressing obligations. Invest as much as the student invests. This helps to ensure you (and/or the writer) don't leave frustrated with the other party.
• Remember that your obligation to writers does not extend beyond the door of the Studio. Sometimes this is hard to remember, especially if you have a regular who comes to see you. We are but one support mechanism in the writers' process.
• Get to know the consultants you share shifts with. Having the opportunity to chat with people who are doing similar work as you may help ease the tension between shifts. Know that you can ask for support, ideas, and tips from your fellow consultants! 

Please, take care of yourself! Let the coordinators know if you need anything, and let us know if you have suggestions or recommendations to ensure our space stays healthy- mentally AND physically!

By Johanna Phelps-Hillen, PhD in Rhetoric and Composition

Writing Studio Experience/Discussion

Hello fellow Writing Studio consultants,

As we enter October, many of us "tutors" have now had ample experience working in the Writing Studio and assisting a variety of clients on their individual projects. Although the first couple of weeks may have been a bit intimidating or challenging, I hope that many of you have similarly found your time in the Studio to be valuable and rewarding as I have.

To provide a quick background of myself, I am a new M.A. graduate student here at the University of South Florida majoring in English Literature. In addition to working in the Studio, I am also teaching an FYC class. Although these positions vary greatly in terms of specific instructional strategies, both ultimately have a goal of assisting others in improving their writing and becoming better writers overall.

In terms of what I have found to be particularly serviceable as a new Writing Studio consultant, I would first have to say that our handout resources are of incredible use. After intaking the contents of the session and determining what the client and I will be working on, I begin many of my sessions with grabbing a relevant handout. Not only does this provide clients with a valuable item they can use during the consultation and beyond, but it also puts a sense of agency into their own hands and encourages them to improve their overall writing skills (not just a specific issue with a certain project). There have been some instances of me not being sure what an assignment was or where I could find information on a subject/format; some examples have included composing a professional memo and working with AAA style. However, simply letting the writer know that we can investigate the issue together by looking up resources online has proved to be a stress-free, efficient way of solving problems like these.

Among many of the things that I've learned in my first month or so here, remembering to let the clients remain the true "writers" of their piece has been one of the most important lessons. After being observed, I realized that I would sometimes invest a little bit too much energy and personal writing style into someone's work, while simultaneously doing more talking than listening. In order to improve in these areas, I am beginning to understand that allowing for some "quiet time" is important. Many times when we discuss a topic or provide some guided questions/feedback to our writers, we need to remember that it takes at least several seconds for the wheels in their brain to turn and process that information. Allowing a moment of breath and silence to pass can help the client develop his or her own ideas and provide the time necessary to do so. Finally, I also find it valuable to keep a sharp eye on time. When I am approaching the 45-minute mark of our session, I always try to ease the consultation to a close so that there is a couple of minutes to re-cap what we discussed and our plans moving forward. This act really seems to help the writer reflect on his or her progress and feel prepared in what steps to take next.

Although I am becoming much more confident in my role as a Writing Studio consultant, I sometimes do feel stressed about doing my best and making that "difference." Even presently, I occasionally feel a little nervous walking up the Library steps to the Writing Studio because I know that my role here as a consultant is an important one. I ask myself: "How will I do today? Will I be well-prepared? Will I not know a subject or leave a client feeling unfulfilled in their understanding or development of a writing project?"

But these questions, while normal and understandable, are not productive. We need to realize that each and every day, we continue to learn and grow with our writing and consulting just as much as our clients do. I find it helpful to remind myself to stay in a confident mindset before entering the Studio and telling myself that I "will" do a great job today and make that important connection with my tutees. Aside from our interactions with clients, saying hello and greeting my fellow consultants is also a very encouraging experience. I find it fun, helpful, and cathartic to take a couple moments to ask how others are doing, what is working/not working in their own sessions, and build those essential relationships. It makes my time in the Studio that much more enjoyable.

One of the major challenges that I have personally faced as both a Studio consultant and teacher is again the issue of being directive/non-directive. As a first-time FYC instructor, I am forced at times to take a firm hand and quite literally "tell" my students what to do on a particular project or written homework assignment. Yet in the Writing Studio, I need to wear a different hat; I am not a "teacher" or "authority figure," but rather a peer working with the client to help guide him or her in improving their piece. Taking a moment to breathe, focus, and remember my place and position enables me to realize where I am, what role I am conducting, and how best to accomplish my goals in that role.

A second challenge that I continue to face is dealing with some clients who come in and simply want me to "fix" their paper, especially in terms of grammar, diction, and syntax. The best strategy I have found is to kindly but plainly tell them our Writing Center policies: namely, that we are not an editor shop. I state that I am happy to read their paper with them and focus on the higher order concerns during our discussion. I also find it helpful to point to specific lower order resources online (like Grammar Girl) so that they can begin correcting their own work (arming them with self-help writing skills in the process) and discovering problematic patterns.

Ultimately, I feel that our time in the Writing Studio is worthwhile, helpful, and constructive, fellow Writing Studio consultants. Yes, we may have certain sessions or days in which we feel we have not made a particularly effective impact on writers, but I think it's important that we look to all of those great days that we have. Let's keep in mind as well all of the clients who specifically request us again because they found our feedback useful, supportive, and relevant. Best of all, we are in fact enabling ourselves to become better writers as we do the same for others. Here is to a successful remainder of the semester!

By Ryan Arciero, MA in Literature

Zeroth Tenet : Breaking the Rules of Engagement

As one of the new consultants in this exciting new phase of my life at the USF Writing Studio, I can say from my experience of almost 4 weeks of consulting that it has been both inclusive and fulfilling. What makes it thus has been the fact that from the very outset, consultants get exposed to heterogeneous writer backgrounds. You really don't want to get into your Public Health or Anthropology clientele cocoon by the third week and have the jitters when a totally unknown entity waltzing in one day to knock you off your high chair. I am torn between calling this a natural process of acclimatization or the embryo of some careful planning and process of thought on the part of the coordinators. I feel there are more elements of the latter to this than the former.

As someone who is guilty of often getting lost in thoughts, one of the apprehensions in my head as a new consultant prior to my first appointment was about coping up to the idea of providing quality feedback to everyone who came in. The added complexity of having writers with heterogeneous backgrounds turn up expecting results didn't exactly give me sleepless nights, but it sure occupied a corner of my mind for a few days. I feel that constant improvisation and learning on the job are some comforting aspects which I have managed to come to peace with, as time has gone by.

The USF Writing Studio (like every other organization) has certain guiding principles (which I intend to call as Rules of Engagement (ROE) for no particular reason) that form the broad basis of its philosophy. In summary, these are in the form pf guidelines and/ or strategies that the consultants could use in order to make their consulting experience a whole lot easier. An additional benefit for these are that they allow for consistency and fairness in standards. In an ideal world, a typical consultation shall try to upkeep all these ROEs. But the most lingering question that often came sweeping across my mind was the usual - how could all consultations/ writers be considered as equals? The very fact that each consultant sees a heterogeneous mix of writer backgrounds would naturally make it impossible to gauge every appointment on an equal footing. 

Reasons attributed towards this could range from the topic at hand for discussion and the expertise (or the lack thereof) of the consultant on them, to the competence (or the lack thereof) of the writer. Should the consultant be proficient in the particular theme that the writer comes in with, I feel that there is a simple solution to this conundrum where the consultant makes up his/ her mind to not tinker with the technical content on display. But what happens in the case where the consultant senses that the writer is veering off track from the task at hand? Do we guide them to the right shore (like a good teacher would)? Or do we not worry much about it and go on with the consultation? Because you, as a consultant, are not responsible for the authenticity of your writer's work. So you need not exactly lose your sleep over that. But if you are like me (yay!), the teacher in you could be worried at this and your first instinct might be to hold their hand and take them in the right direction. And that's precisely the point where these ROEs stand the risk of being broken or not adhered to. And this is what precisely happened to me this past day.   

This past day, I had an appointment with an ELL. For those of you who do not what this means, ELL stands for English Language Learners - who are recent newcomers to an English speaking environment (comprising of international students) and are often in transition personally, culturally and most importantly for us, linguistically. Their command over the English language is usually not satisfactory and the university (with its resources like us and many others) aids them through this transition period. I personally think very highly of them, primarily for the effort they are willing to put forth. How many of us would be willing to go to say for instance China and learn to speak Mandarin for university or go to Baku (Azerbaijan) and learn Azerbaijani to gel into the country? Not too many I suppose. So yes, the ELL appointment. This ELL person who came by the other day wanted to discuss the progress of her assignment with me. The assignment had 6 parts to it and the student was expected to submit them in 3 installments. She had already finished 2 of the sections, so was left with the other 4. The primary objective of the session was to go through the completed work and answer the most usual question that the writers often ask us - does this make sense? At the outset, I felt that the writer was not confident of her work. Maybe she needed a thumbs up on the content. A secondary objective was to ideate on the remaining sections. Straightforward enough, I thought.

As we were progressing on the first objective of the assignment, I was confirming on my initial assessment of the writer. Grammar was an issue to be addressed and on the scale of priority, very high, from what I was seeing on the manuscript.  10 minutes into the appointment, something else struck me. I was constantly keeping tabs on the objectives of the assignment that the professor had asked for and I realized the writer had veered off track. And from the looks of it, quite a lot. Her understanding of the assignment was completely the opposite of what was expected from her. I knew this was the time to stop the consultation and take a step back. For I didn't exactly know where this should go from here. I couldn't possibly go ahead and discuss the assignment on a completely wrong note, but I also wasn't sure if my intervention as a teacher would bode well with the writer. With the submission due date being hardly 12 hours away, I didn't exactly want to derail her world by spilling the beans too. I had to make up my mind soon with time ticking down.

2-3 minutes of intense brainstorming in my head and I made up my mind to confront the writer on the authenticity of her work. Going back to the objectives set by the professor, I outlined the tasks in a more simplified manner and it had suddenly dawned into her (with my added effort to stress on this aspect) that it was possible she may have gone wrong on this. I must admit that these kind of realizations suck. It is not upon us consultants to get them to the right shore, but it was in her best interest, I thought. The teacher in me had taken over from the consultant and I just had to go through this motion. Things got better towards the last quarter of the session and the writer was starting to show signs that she could still save her work. So to sum up, we didn't achieve any of the objectives that we had set forth in the beginning, but I felt there was a sense of greater good in the mind of the writer. She may have possibly saved herself from an embarrassing situation in her class, maybe even a lower grade, who knows!

I won't say that rules are meant to broken, but I guess some of them could be, if in pursuit of greater good. And this certainly won't be the last time.

By Nikhil Menon, PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Assessing the Pre-Writing Stage

As one of the Assistant Coordinators of USF's Writing Studio, I don't typically get to consult anymore, but I was excited to recently have the opportunity to assist one of our new consultants who had two writers co-authoring a paper for a gerontology class.

The writers came in asking questions about the format and structure of a scientific review paper, but after I asked several questions to gain a better understanding of these writers' needs, I realized they needed something different. Particularly that they were not giving due diligence to the pre-writing process. I mentally noted two key issues with which they were faced: 1.) the writers were not viewing research as part of the pre-writing process, and 2.) they had little idea about the academic support services our university offered. At that point, I put away the assignment sheet and re-situated my advice. As many undergraduate writers, these writers were trying to jump in to the writing process too quickly. As many writing instructors and writing consultants are probably aware, many people see the writing process as beginning with writing rather than with research (particularly informal research).

I took some time to explain what they needed to do in order to prepare for the actual writing. Because they had no previous experience with their topic, first they had to research: go to Google (or whatever search engine) and first understand the general yet predominant conversations that are happening about your topic. Next, begin recognizing patterns in these conversations and processes of inquiry or "points of entry" into research, that is, what conclusions/arguments are you consistently seeing and what questions to people seem to be trying to answer as part of their own research. Once aware of this, you should then move to more formal types of research, like through your Library's databases. I also informed these writers about some academic support services, such as our subject librarians and research librarians that could help them with finding peer-reviewed sources.

Consultations with pre-writers are some of my favorite sessions because I often feel like I get to really discover a lot of new things for the writer. Not only about new things about university services but about writing as a process. In many sessions, I find myself having to back the writer up to address some things that were bypassed or not thoroughly considered since the writer often breezes past the pre-writing stage. This means that, as consultants, we have to work harder to recognize the writing stage of the writer since a lot of writers aren't always aware of where they currently exist in the writing process.

For more information, Yale has a thorough description of what the pre-writing stage includes.

By Danielle Farrar, PhD in Literature