Dealing With Criticism In Writing: A Writing Consultant's Perspective

It is not uncommon to consult with writers who have been criticized about their writing. In fact, most writers who have been in a university/professional environment (including yours truly) have faced this from their bosses, albeit in different magnitudes. I have shared my office space with colleagues, who despite being proficient in the spoken language (native English language speakers) have often been told to seek help with their writing. They do not take this well at all, especially if the criticism comes from a non-native speaker. And it's not uncommon even for teachers to simply shunt their students off to the writing studio to 'fix their writing' (let's prepare more of that magic potion!).

I am penning this down fresh from consulting with Ms. E who had received a severe dressing down on her final term paper. E came in during my compression session in the evening and sat there, almost blank-faced. Upon asking her what she wanted to discuss during our 25 minutes (she had circled on 'Research Strategies' in the intake form), she pulled up the review comments from her professor. As I was reading through the comments (15 comments on a 3-page paper, the last of which was half a page long summarizing the professor's views), my very first instinct was to side with the writer. All the signs contended to my initial hypothesis - that even if the teacher was well within her right to do such a detailed dissection, she could have been a bit more polite in the way the views were conveyed to E. 

The crux of the teacher's comments seemed to have stemmed from the frustration of seeing a student who had decided to not cite any of her findings. So it seemed that all this information that E was putting in her term paper was indeed hers, which was not true. On top of this, it had come to the teacher's attention that E completely missed the point about focusing her paper around her thesis statement. On further investigation, the thesis statement seemed pretty disorganized and broken as well. Since this was a 3000 level course, the teacher did manage to vent out her frustrations coupled with a few personal remarks (I will fail you on the grounds of plagiarism if you don't make amends!), and it was evident that E had been adversely affected by it. And with 5 hours to go before the submission deadline, this was great news! Except that it was not. 

I started the session not knowing how this would end. I knew for sure that there was no magic formula to fix her issues. But it was also important to not bog E down further. Even though we as writing consultants would not lose sleep over such kinds of situations we encounter at work, it was important to not pull the writer down further into the abyss. I gave E my unbiased view of what I felt after reading through the comments, and only sided with her regarding the tone of her teacher. It was important to let E understand that the teacher was well within her right to critique the writing and provide some feedback (though E seemed to think the teacher was 'ridiculous', per usual). The tone used may have been purely borne out of the frustration of the task at hand and the only thing E could do at this point was to move on with the assignment rather than building up a siege mentality.

I then spoke to her on the need for citations and how it was paramount that she had to address these significant aspects in her writing in order to improve her grades. E seemed to have taken my suggestions well. Perhaps an unbiased view from a second person was all that she needed.

-- Nikhil Menon, Ph.D. Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Emotions in the Writing Studio

Based on what I study and investigate, I have read in recent literature that beliefs and emotions are related to actions in complex ways. As several researchers have stated, the human brain is an emotional brain (Lewis, Haviland-Jones, & Barrett, 2008). Therefore, learning involves thought and emotion (Lewis, 2005). Moreover, it is known that emotion “functions as an amplifier, providing the intensity, urgency, and energy to propel our behavior” in “everything we do” (MacIntyre, 2002a, p. 61). On this occasion, I would like to reflect on how beliefs and emotions tend to influence action, by referring to a difficult session I had this term in the Writing Studio. I have been a consultant for four semesters, but I had never had such a difficult session product of a writer’s emotional state. One would imagine that difficulties in general are associated to the piece of writing, but in this case I think it was the writer’s actions (influenced by his beliefs and situated emotions), that prevented him from being fully involved in the session, which at the same time prevented me from helping him in the way I would have desired.

The writer had anticipated me from the beginning of the session that he was in a hurry because the deadline was that same day. He expressed, as some writers do at some point, that he wanted me to go over his writing “quickly”, by only correcting the mistakes. Moreover and most importantly, he did not even let me make another copy, as he thought it would be a waste of time. I tried to explain to him the philosophy of the Writing Studio, but his anxiety did not even let him listen attentively to what I was saying. This situation clearly explains how beliefs and emotions reflect certain behaviors and ways of acting. And even if I tried to lower his anxiety at different moments during the session, the writer’s behaviors remained the same.

Of course the result was a session full of tensions between his beliefs and my beliefs of what writing and feedback entail, which prevented us from performing in the way we would have wanted. Reflecting on this makes me think that it would be interesting to read more about writers’ emotions during the writing sessions, and what could be done in the Studio in order to enhance positive emotions and try to reduce negative ones.

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

Maintaining Continuity with Embedded Students/Student Athletes

Embedded tutoring makes up the majority of my sessions at studio, so I focus my energy on building relationships with students. I think this is the key to working with students who are required to attend multiple studio sessions, whether they are coming through the embedded program or student athletics (and otherwise, it might be helpful in encouraging regulars). I noticed during the sessions that corresponded with Project 1 of ENC 1101 that most students either did not want to be here, were nervous about what they were expected to accomplish, or were just plain confused.

In that early phase, I made sure to learn names, and I asked them questions about their academic lives, including their majors and post-college aspirations. In the sessions that followed, I mentioned these little details, asked them follow-up questions, or referred to their previous writing to show them that I was keeping up with their progress. While I had specific goals for each session that were tied to the project, I welcomed conversation about other academic topics, and I invited questions about my own academic path.

As they got to know me and my role in their class, many students began to show more accountability, whether it was to tell me more about what was going on in their class (they can be excellent sources of the instructors’ communications, if you are not in constant contact) or to ask me larger order questions about the aim of a project. I could tell that they were starting to realize that I provided many different kinds of resources to which they would not normally have access. They also began to look at the larger picture of their topics and the progression of assignments. As a result, they began to show more agency in their work. One student in particular comes to mind. She began to connect her topic to the concepts she was learning in her cultural anthropology class and told me she was really interested in continuing her studies in this vein.

Now that we are entering the last phase of the semester, I spend much of the intake part of my sessions catching up with each student, asking them how they performed on their last assignments, what their instructor has told them in class, if they are unsure about anything, how they are feeling, etc. Because of this continuity, the tone is now more relaxed, and they have been even more forthcoming about their challenges. They often ask me how they improve their grades, and while I remind them that I have no influence on their evaluation, I help them make plans to get through the rest of the semester. I think it’s important to put ourselves in students’ places and adapt to their concerns even while maintaining a professional relationship. Most of my sessions have become a bit like a sounding board, and I hope students feel like they are talking to a knowledgeable peer, not a second instructor.

Note: A key component to maintaining a continuous line of communication with students is interaction with the instructor. I think checking in on a regular basis about project requirements and student performance enriches my work as a tutor, but that might be for another post.

Encouraging Regulars by Remembering Little Things

Don’t you like being a “regular” somewhere?  As a creature of habit, I enjoy seeing friendly faces in familiar places.  I find something as simple as not having to explain my order to a barista or a friendly custodian asking about my research as some of life’s little pleasures; someone remembered and enjoyed an interaction with you enough that they were willing to follow-up about it.  Doesn’t this give you the same satisfying feeling as clean sheets on your bed, a full tube of toothpaste, or a good laugh with friends?

In my first semester working at the Writing Studio, I’ve found that a majority of the writers that come to see me are now “regulars.”  Sometimes we work for a few sessions on the same personal statement and other times we make edits to weekly online posts.  Regardless of the tasks, one of the benefits of having regulars is that we are slowly able to build professional acquaintanceships.  By this, I mean that I usually find the time to ask about some previous work we’ve done, a class they’ve mentioned as challenging, or even something slightly more personal as their off-campus job.  It’s also nice to recognize their faces and be able to call them by name.

None of these inquiries about little things are monumental investments of my time or mental effort.  As a matter of fact, I’m genuinely interested in hearing how their progress in class reflects the effectiveness of our work together. I hope to encourage the students in such a way that they’ll know they’re valued and remembered, and that their hard work is appreciated…especially as they progress towards their writing goals.

By Anonymous

Writing Centers and Minority Students

The reason I first became interested in writing centers was somewhat of a selfish one - I wanted an experience that was close to teaching so that I could add something nice to my resume before I graduated from Florida State University. Over the years, my relationship with writing centers, tutoring and students in general has become infinitely less surface and has altered my view on things a lot more than I initially anticipated.

Growing up, the extra work that educational workers put in with me was the only reason I was able to succeed. As a hispanic woman who came from a home that was not only unstable but also quite poor, free programs that were designed to help students with things like speech impediments, reading comprehension and writing were things that I constantly found myself attending before, during and after school. Eventually, I was able to overcome my speech impediment. I began to understand what I was reading and actually enjoy it. I also developed more self esteem, and felt comfortable being a total book nerd who also loved writing. In the year before I started these extra programs, my parents would never have believed that their daughter would enjoy reading, writing and speaking.

Despite all of these personal experiences, it was not until I began working with students from all walks of life (Florida State University’s writing center really only drew in traditional, young, caucasian students) that I started to understand the nuances of being a minority attending college for the first time. If these students come from a family of immigrants, much like myself, it is not uncommon for them to feel unsure how to navigate college life, and college writing, in their position as a first generation student. Typically, Although these students have a familial support system, they may be managing their own student affairs by themselves, seeking financial aid, advising and other needs without a great deal of parental support. It’s important to note that this is not because their family doesn’t care, but rather than they don’t know how to offer support to their child about a system they are unfamiliar with. Similarly, these students may be unsure about how to navigate their college writing if they are juggling a background of struggling with school and having to traverse multiple languages. This is where we come in.

I find that it’s extremely important to keep in mind that these students, whether they are “traditional”/young students or older individuals coming to school after starting life anew in the US, that every error or slip-up they make in their writing choices is a step forward. For minority students that are coming to college for the first time, regardless of their language status, I remind them that the shift in writing style is difficult for every student - not just them. High school writing differs greatly from college writing, and just because they were unsure about their writing back then doesn’t mean they will fail in college.

For the non-traditional student who moved to the United States, I find that it is extremely humbling to remind myself that these individuals likely held a comfortable position in their home countries, but were forced to make difficult decisions and leave for one reason or another. One student I had was a successful lawyer in Iran. Another was an emergency room doctor in Columbia. Both of these students were now attending community college and trying to work their way up to attend a school like the University of South Florida so that they can start again by receiving (another) bachelors degree and attend medical or law school all over again.

On top of going through the normal steps found in every writing session, considering the circumstances and backgrounds of the students can influence you to approach the session just a little bit differently. Taking the time to vocalize and address that, yes, the student is currently making mistakes, but there are countless students who come into writing centers that only speak English who make the same errors. The fact that they’re writing a paper completely in English, taking the time to work through it on their own then bring it in for feedback, creating another draft, and then dedicating more time to improve their writing and understanding (not just their paper) is an incredible step. Whenever I take the time, usually towards the end of sessions, to vocalize sentiments like these, the student seems to visibly relax and leave with a renewed sense of direction and hope, realizing that they are not in this alone despite the differing circumstances in their backgrounds.

By Nancy Roque, MA Library and Information Sciences

Consulting as a non-English major

Having never visited the writing studio at USF before this semester, when I started working as a consultant here, I was not exactly sure what I was in for. After a three-day orientation at the start of the school year, I started to think that I might have gotten in a bit over my head. [For clarification, this is not to say that I felt intimidated by any of the people or the setting, because actually it was very refreshing to interact with non-engineers. Hint, hint- I’m an engineer.] What I began to consider was: What if my writing skills are not advanced enough to support some of the writers? What if I cannot recall some English language rule that I learned back in high school? I’m not an English major- far from it.

I knew that I would not fully understand what this new job would demand of me until my first consultation. I have spent a lot of time in the past tutoring students and working as a TA for a variety of engineering/science/math courses, but never for a subject so personal as writing. This is a significant shift for me that I am realizing I truly enjoy. A tutoring session in math, though student’s mathematical competence can vary dramatically, often follows the same structure: explanation of a concept, going over of example problems, and then practice practice, practice. (Seems a bit dull, I can see why it’s not for everyone.) Transitioning from this seemingly emotionless practice, to thoughtfully guiding people to be better writers, has evoked a new side of me that has been hidden behind the “science-y stuff” stored in my head for years.

Though some writing pieces brought to the writing studio are far more personal than others, I knew from the start that it would be important to gauge a writer’s personal connection to their piece, in order to give appropriate feedback. My first consultation ever was with a writer working on her personal statement for an application to pharmacy school. Her paper was written well, but lacked a good hook and any pizazz. She had significant experience working at a pharmacy, and I spent some time trying to getting to know her and getting her to divulge an outstanding experience that she could describe to start her essay. By the end of the consultation, not only had her personal statement dramatically improved, but I also felt a connection to the writer and her application to the program. (I wish we had a way to get updates on these applications!)

Any concerns I had before starting working at the writing studio have since dissipated. Even as a non-English major, I am able to showcase my experience as a writer and a reader to any writer who sits down at my consultation table. Not only am I encouraged by the potential improvements I can assist in delivering to incoming writers, but also by the restructured ways of thinking and teaching that I am gaining myself.

By Melanie Pickett, PhD Environmental Engineering

Helping Students Understand Annotated Bibliographies--Amy Bolick

In the studio this fall, I’ve been working primarily as an embedded tutor with an ENC 1101 class made up of 50% INTO students. The students in this class have been a pleasure to work with, and the experience has helped me grow as an instructor. It’s been great to spend such a large block of one-on-one time with writers who are working on the same projects that my own students are writing. This helps me to better identify the gaps in student understanding, and to refine ways of explaining important concepts. I am then able to apply this insight in my own classroom.

One of the most significant trends I noticed is students’ difficulty with the concept of an annotated bibliography. I had many embedded tutoring sessions where students would bring rough drafts of their annotated bibliography, and ask me when they were going to “Write the paper.” They could not understand that the annotated bibliography was the entire project. Additionally, I found that many students were intimidated and lacked confidence, simply because they were unfamiliar with the term annotated bibliography.

A large population of studio clients are freshman composition students, every last one of whom must produce an annotated bibliography. To help them navigate this assignment, I decided to make a worksheet for the writing studio that would briefly summarize its purpose and layout. The worksheet explains the purpose of an annotated bibliography, the format, the information that should be included, etc. This information will help students to better understand the significance of the assignment they are completing.

I am a firm believer that students perform better on assignments when they can see the value in them. The worksheet that I created for the annotated bibliography presents the assignment as a valuable research tool that can be helpful with any class for any paper. My goal is for students to not just produce an annotated bibliography, but to understand how this exercise can help them for the rest of their college careers. 

By Amy Bolick, MA Rhetoric and Composition

The Rewards of Working in a Writing Studio

Having spent the last year working outside the Writing Studio, I’ve come to realize and appreciate more fully what it is exactly that makes this line of work so fulfilling. Some background info: I’ve been involved with private tutoring and writing center consulting for the past 5 years now and I’m going into my 4th year of teaching. I’ve been working with writers individually and in groups for much of my professional life, and I find the most rewarding capacity to work with writers is in the WS.

Before this semester started, I reconnected with an old writer of mine (from 2012-13). But some info on how we came to work together: She came to me a few weeks into the 2012 fall semester, an ESL PhD student in Engineering, looking to improve her communication skills in English. She’d worked with other consultants, but, as you’ve surely experienced, some consultants have a stronger connection with certain writers. We worked together twice a week for the duration of that academic year and developed a strong professional relationship that became a friendship. The opportunity to develop strong professional relationships with writers with such different interests and backgrounds is the first thing that makes this vocation so fulfilling.

During our pre-semester meeting this year, she told me that she had published the articles she was developing in our sessions in the top-tier journals in her field (ah, the reproducibility afforded to us by prepositional phrases [passive voice is the best]). The scholastic year we worked together (plus an additional year or so working with another consultant) provided her with the skills, confidence, and competency in English to produce the quality of work she set out to create.

Additionally, every week she spent hours upon hours outside of our sessions reading advanced English texts, harvesting unfamiliar words, and experimenting with more sophisticated idioms and syntaxes. Working with someone so brilliant and motivated 1) makes my job exceptionally fulfilling, and 2) brings the beauty of language and writing to the fore, even in the most desiccated of academic disciplines. And how refreshing it is to find art again here.

I mention this last point because it’s so easy for me to find myself lost in texts that obscure the very thing I love (sure, there can be pedagogical value in this...). Sometimes I find myself so far removed from writing-as-art, as a mode of expression or catharsis, that I question why I pursue this advanced degree. I don’t think I’m alone. But that’s why the Writing Studio is consistently rewarding. It’s so important to remember why it is I do the things I do. Probably the same for you, too.

So I left USF for a year and now she’s on her way out. She’ll do brilliant things with her career. But before she left, she referred equally brilliant and interesting/interested colleagues to work with me. Again I’ve got the opportunity to work with a student of language, someone that just last week spoke of the artistry in academic writing and how it bleeds into all other modes of communication. Once again I find myself in awe at my writers and how inspiring/inspired they can be.

By Ryan Blank, PhD Rhetoric and Composition

How to Handle a Creative Writing Session

In the event that you are taking on a session with a creative writer at the Writing Studio, you’ll want to feel confident and prepared to ask the right questions or guide the writer along the way. Like all sessions, you’ll still want to start with the preliminary questions: 

Have you been here before? What are you working on? Is it for a class? Is there a specific prompt or guideline? 

Importantly, you’ll want to ask the writer what genre they’re working on. The main genres circulating now are fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and comics. Below are steps on approaching each genre.

Fiction and Creative Non-fiction:

These two genres may be grouped together because they’re actually quite similar. Both are predominantly concerned with telling a good story. One major difference is that one should be true and the other can be imagined or created. But, both are working with plot, story arc, and turns; things that progress the story and make it interesting.

You can look at the differences this way, too: Fiction is creating or imagining story and chaos where Creative Non-Fiction is making sense or creatively arranging the chaos that happens in everyday life.

Nonetheless, things to talk to your writer about will be these major elements of craft: plot, story arc, and turns. Minor, but still important elements of craft, will be things like setting, scene, and characterization; things that, if more specific vs. vague or general, make the story better. This is actually important in all writing—the need for specifics in place of vague or general ideas.

Poetry:

Poets will mainly be writing in Free Verse or Form. Free Verse means that the poem has no rules, thus the writer has no rules or form to follow. They are absolutely free to play with the line breaks, the tabs or spacing, the visual aesthetics, and the word choice. Form poetry will come in the way of Sonnets or Villanelles or any other type of poetry that has rules or follows a specific form, meter, or rhyme scheme. For these, it’s important to know the rules for each type. Luckily, you can look these up or check the Handbook of Poetic forms, the book we have here in the Writing Studio.

More generally, poetry is concerned with word choice, sound, rhythm, and line break. Because poetry is often short, the attention to detail and connotation of chosen words is extremely important. As for sound and rhythm, it’s great to have the writer read aloud, and for you to then read aloud as well, so that you both have an opportunity to hear how the words are melding together. Does it sound awkward? Is it a tongue twister? Is there too much alliteration? Where the line breaks is also an important factor as the reader’s eye will focus on the last word in the line. Usually, a good rule of thumb is to suggest to break the line on an image word, or a more meaningful word than an article or a word like “of” or “the.” It can be more effective to end the word on an image. Here’s an example of what I mean:

Richard Siken’s line from Anyway:

“He was pointing to the

moon but I was looking at his hand.”

The line breaks on the word “the” which creates an emphasis on the word “the,” but the word “the” is not significant to the poem, but rather a tool to get to and image. It would be more effective to form the line like this:

“He was pointing to the moon

but I was looking at his hand.”

The line is now breaking on the word “moon” which gives emphasis to the word “moon,” provoking an image. This is just one tip that can be helpful to give to students who are bringing in poetry.

Comics:

Comics are picking up steam as a genre. 

*A note on the term: Some people also call these “Graphic Novels” but it’s important to note that cartoonists and Comics writers prefer the term “Comics” in place of “Graphic Novels.” This is because the term “Graphic Novel” was given to the genre by marketers aiming to elevate the genre, so that people wouldn’t think that it was immature or young, like the comic books you may have read as a kid. Cartoonists today prefer for their work to not be referred to as “Graphic Novels,” arguing that you should just call them what they are: Comics, instead of trying to elevate the genre or make it loftier than it is. 

If you are given a Comic by a creative writer, it’s important to look at the work page by page. Are the panels in a logical order? Does the action that’s happening between the panels make since? Are you, the reader, confused about what order to read the panels in? These are some basic questions to ask as there can be confusion, at times, with panel order in Comics. 

General information for all genres:

Whatever genre you are working with, it’s important to look for holes in the story, or places that don’t make sense. Could one area be clearer? Could the language be more specific? Could the writer do more showing instead of telling? Could they use more images and less abstractions? 

If you ask these questions, there’s no way you won’t help your creative writer. 

By Annalise Mabe, MFA Creative Writing

Facing Obstacles To Helping Students With Personal Essays

This year I've faced some push-back regarding personal essay writing that I did not notice last year. More than one student has resisted following the three-part format on our handout. The three dissenters I consulted cited wanting to be original and have a personal statement that is different from everyone else's as the reason they did not want to follow a format. The irony is, before we workshopped their writing, their personal statements were full of generalities and cliches and lacking truly original content.

The way I approached this obstacle was by emphasizing that the format we suggest for personal essays allows for a lot of originality, especially with the "hook" beginning. I encouraged the students to think about something about themselves related to the discipline of the graduate program they're applying to that no other student could say and then to write about that as their "hook." I explained as long as they found a unique angle and dug in deep, their essay would be original.

Each time a student pushed back against the personal essay format, I found it easier to convince them to adhere to the format in a shorter amount of time. Just a couple sentences about how beginning with something personal and unique will stand out to the graduate program admissions committee is enough to get most people to at least begin their essays with a personal hook.

Many students come in with essays that contain a lot of information that is essentially their resumes in sentence form. I view this as a very rough version of the second part of the personal statement in our format--the part where the student explains what makes her a good candidate. For this, I explain that the graduate committee is going to be rushing to read a high volume of personal statements and doesn't want to take extra time to analyze the meaning of all of this info. Although the student might think it's obvious why their past experiences make them a good candidate, I encourage them to spell it out and explicitly write that X experience will make them a good graduate student because of Y. When I tell them many graduate committees will not take time to figure out Y on their own, the students are much more willing to reframe this section. I assure them that they won't sound arrogant as long as they use professional language and don't make any grandiose claims. Now the student is on board with 2/3rds of our personal essay format.

For the final 1/3rd, I explain to the student that because of the economy, there have been many more people going to graduate school in recent years less because they are passionate about it and more because they can't find a job or aren't yet ready to face the "real world." I explain that a graduate committee will be trying to weed out the students who don't know why they're going to graduate school, which is why it's important to explicitly write details about what the students plans to do in school and beyond. Just a few sentences and then they're on board with part three of our format. By this point, we are working toward an essay that fits our format and is also much more original than the one the student brought in.

Encouragement Goes a Long Way

Most of the students we help at the Writing Studio come to us with a feeling of anxiousness and fear over their writing. Whether the student is a native English speaker or second language learner, the feelings are very similar. Often times, we get into the mode of "tutor" and mechanically offer the same kind of advise over and over because most of our students need help in the same areas: grammar, sentence structure, and organization. As a tutor--our auto-pilot switches on for many reasons. We are tired, we know these issues inside and out, or we sometimes hear the same questions being asked by our students. Whatever the case may be, we should always remember to slip in a few words of encouragement, so that our students feel good about themselves and their writing.

As a composition instructor, each semester I hear students' anxieties about their writing--they often feel insecure, unsure of themselves, and lost in terms of writing in specific academic styles. I also notice that instructor feedback can be an overwhelming and disheartening experience for beginner writers of academic prose. While, this is not an excuse to "take it easy" on students, I feel, in the studio, tutors have a responsibility to interpret instructor feedback and ease students' minds with  a little positivity.

Sometimes a simple, "really great progress today during our session," goes a long way in making the student feel good about what they accomplished in a short time. I take the first few minutes of each session to ask the students how their week is going, what kind of classwork they have coming due, and an overall "how are you feeling today?" Most of the time, students are merely expected to perform and when someone genuinely stops to ask them how they are doing, this simple gesture can really brighten up a foggy or overworked student's day. Even if the student comes to me with a failing paper, I encourage them by saying they are taking positive steps by coming to the studio to get help. As we progress through the session, I make eye contact and make mention of how focused they are or what great ideas they have about their work.

In closing, sometimes in our busy lives with our busy schedules, it is worthwhile to take the time to encourage our students. They need the positive feedback as well as the constructive--

Navigating the Compression Sessions

Compression sessions, for those of you who have been part of them, are fun and challenging at the same time. For the unaware, compression sessions are part of the new set of initiatives kick-started by the USF Writing Studio at the turn of the year. 25 minute sessions instead of the regular 50, with a maximum of 2 sessions in an hour instead of the regular one and things pick up a lot of steam right from the word go. 

From experience, I get the sense that most writers are unsure of how to navigate through these sessions and maximize their output from the studio. They come in with more than 2-3 issues to address and you as the consultant (and someone with the experience of navigating through these sessions) are often faced with the need to make judgement calls on what can and cannot be achieved in the ambit of this short, 20-25 minute session. This often comes as disappointing news for the writer, but most of them (barring one or two from my personal experience) take it well. So once the ground rules are established, it is often an optimization process in the head as to what takes precedence for discussion and what doesn't. 

The most common types of feedback sought from me have been structural and grammatical in nature. Grammatical feedback often referring to sentence level interventions is one that requires a lot of tactful navigation from the consultant and I have often found myself treading dangerously through the thin line between elucidating my stand on the difficulty of the task at hand and sending back the writer disappointed. Sentence by sentence intervention is often impossible and it's important to let the writer know what the temporal limitations that these sessions entail. The focus is strictly on finding specific patterns of errors and zipping through the writing piece so as to achieve maximum output from the session. It is often considered wonderful if the writer comes in a set of questions in his/ her mind to be addressed during the session. If they are still insistent for sentence level edits (which some of them have been with 8-10 page long essays), I have learned to cautiously direct the writer towards other tools that may be present for them to address sentence level edits such as Grammarly, in the interest of greater good. 

A few writers have also approached me with the need for structural feedback (Is this all flowing together?). These I feel are the most challenging ones as a writing consultant in that the short nature of the compression sessions makes it almost impossible for us to read through the whole piece and figure out the placement of each train of thought in sequence. Therefore, I often ask the writer to divide the writing piece into many keywords (say, two keywords per paragraph) which convey the main essence of it. This is often helpful even during the regular sessions, as it can be used as a guide to refer back and build up your own decision tree for the topic at hand. Structural feedback pertaining to flow of thought could be very easily dealt with in this manner.      

In summary, the compression sessions make you think on your feet and there is a lot of responsibility to make that 20-25 minute session as productive as feasible for the writer. I haven't seen a writer who has left the space unhappy (as yet!), some writers have also showed up for their second and third appointments. It was all wonderfully giddy feeling in the head until a writer pointed out to me that she felt she felt she got more out of the compressions than the regular sessions. Food for thought, maybe. 

By Nikhil Menon, PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering 

A Personal Statement of Confession

CONFESSION: Personally, I don’t love writing. You might think that could pose a problem for me as a writing consultant. However, I *love* talking to people, and I *love* stories. That is probably why I like my job so much, and, more specifically, why I enjoy helping students develop their personal statements.

It wasn’t always this way. When I first started at the Writing Studio (we called it the Writing Center back in those days) in the winter of 2013, personal statements were probably my least favorite type of consultation. You know why. They are too often formulaic, boring, and/or generic—reading like a not-so-funny mad lib instead of revealing the personality and uniqueness of the applicant. This is not the students’ fault. Most of them have never written a personal statement before, and you know they are practically given directions that look something like this:

PERSONAL STATEMENT MAD LIB

Instructions: Please fill in the (blanks) with your information to create a unique personal essay that demonstrates your qualifications and interest in being considered as a candidate to our program.

Para 1: I’ve known ever since I was a little (boy/girl) that I wanted to be a (nurse/doctor/dentist/etc).  (School or program here) is awesome. Please pick me for your program in (name a field of study or professional discipline).

Para 2: I am qualified for your program because: I took (list 3 classes in your field of study), participated in (extracurricular activity) and (service or professional student organization), and I shadowed (name of a doctor or professional you know) at ( organization/hospital/institution/etc).

Indeed, I dreaded these mad libs and felt pretty useless in my ability to help students improve their essays until one day last summer when everything changed. I met Andy.*

Andy was a student from Cuba who was working on his application to dental school. He brought in a complete draft of his personal statement, which looked unremarkably like the mad lib above. He wasn’t really looking for help with his content, he told me; he was more worried about grammar because English was not his first language. When we read his statement together, he mentioned that he had nearly completed dental school in Cuba before moving to the U.S. to pursue his education, but he didn’t say why he left. Out of curiosity, I asked what prompted his move.

It was then that I learned about the politics of medicine in Cuba. I also learned that when Andy moved here, he had to start all over in every way. He had to begin a U.S. undergraduate degree before even applying to dental school, he had to learn English from scratch, and he had to completely support himself financially throughout this process.  After listening to his story I was both shocked and touched by the sacrifices he’d made to pursue his dream. I felt like I knew Andy personally, and I wanted him to be a dentist. Moreover, I knew that this was the story he needed to tell; this was the person that the admissions committee needed to see to ensure his shot at an interview. 

Andy was hesitant at first, but agreed to take a second stab at the statement.  After several more drafts, he wrote a truly amazing essay. When I say amazing, I don’t mean that the writing was spectacular or even unflawed. His statement was amazing because he was actually in it. His story and personality transcended the text of the page, created the presence of a unique person.

I am convinced that all of our students have a story. I am convinced that they are each unique and passionate about something. I know there is a reason that they feel motivated to pursue the career/scholarship/internship to which they are applying. My job is simply to get them to tell me about that. I do this by asking questions and listening. I do this by reflecting back to them what I hear them say. I do this by trying to see them as a person, not just another applicant. If at the end of a meeting with a student, I have a sense of who they are, if I can get a taste of their passion and personality, I know I will be able to help them convey those qualities in their personal statement.

I love talking to students and helping them find their stories. It is the best part of this job because it is enjoyable and because it really helps them with their writing.

By the way, Andy received interview invitations from ALL of his top schools, and, after interviewing with the top choice, he was admitted into their program. I know all of this because he came back and told me, thanked me. He believes his personal statement was a key component of his success. What he probably doesn’t realize is that his personal statement was a key component in my success at becoming a better writing consultant.

Not Always the "Yes" Boi: When Writers Want You to Enlighten Them

Consulting isn’t just about making writers better students, it’s about making them better writers. For the most part, the writers I’ve worked with over the last semester and a half have had the same vision for themselves as I have – to figure out the writing process and work through it. But once in a while, there are those silver-tongued, manipulative gems who want not just your input, but your brain added to their work.

“You can enlighten me,” they’ll say. “I can learn from you. You are a feminist with so much knowledge about gender discrimination.”

True.

“You understand these theories better than I do and since you are doing your Master’s in Women’s Studies, you can analyze these things better.”

Possibly true.

“So I’ve done my best on this paper and I’m hoping you can add some more information to it. If you help me, I know can get a good grade.”

False.

It’s easy to get taken in by the flattery. I’ve found myself falling for it often enough that I now use the rouse to get my writers to engage more with their work. But being on the receiving end as a tutor isn’t pleasant in any way. I find myself caught in a bind where I need to be polite and professional without shutting down my writer. How do you let writers know that you’re trying to help them help themselves without shutting them down?

Not a simple question, but here’s my tactic. I usually inform the writer that I am happy to give them reading material on anything I may (seem) to know more about. Usually, they don’t want to do the extra reading so they come back with the quintessential “why don’t you just tell me?” Challenge accepted. “True, I could. But topics like this are usually very subjective and up to interpretation but so-and-so has critical insight on the very subject you are addressing, so that’s definitely something you should read.” Segue accomplished. After a little tug-of-war, if things aren’t going anywhere I resort to a more serious approach. “This is a Writing Studio; we’re supposed to be working on the writing process. I can’t really be tutoring you on a topic of interest.” As can be imagined this doesn’t sit very well with writers, so I follow up with the fact that the only reason I know what I know is because I’ve done the readings I recommend. So asking me to add to the paper isn’t really fair to me because I’m not getting the grade. Fortunately, so far this approach has worked wonders. While writers still leave with a prickly after burn, they’re quick to recognize that they are asking for too much.

There’s a world of difference between asking for help and feeling entitled to it. I keep this in mind. Often I have to remind myself of this, especially under such circumstances. Sometimes, students think that writing studios are supposed to help with the piece itself. It helps to clarify that we really are only supposed to help with the process of writing it. And if they expect more, well we’d love to help you, but tough luck (and good luck)!

By Sam Obeid, MA in Women's and Gender Studies

Branching Out

Some of my favorite consultations are those I have with “regulars.” With some regulars, consultations become less like a job and more like a coffee date with a friend, and I have often caught myself laughing a bit too loudly in a space designed with quiet connectivity, contemplation, and work in mind. Sometimes this draws looks from those I share the space with – perhaps of curiosity, perhaps of irritation – and I do try to be mindful, but sometimes I get lost in the person, the writing, the relationship, and everything else fades into the background. I love watching these writers grow, helping them work through ideas and tough spots, and witnessing their successes and continual improvements.

I love these sessions, which makes what I’m about to type just a little bit painful:

Sometimes regulars need to see other people.

I know that we consultants know the utility of multiple perspectives; however, I have realized that, in this case, what consultants see as useful, writers often see as unnecessarily laborious and, perhaps, inconvenient. It is within this realm of conflicting thought that I find myself all but shoving my favorite regulars out of my Writing Studio nest into the caring arms of other consultants.

I suggest: “You know, I think it would be a good idea to make an appointment with another consultant to talk this over. Multiple perspectives are really useful.”

I argue: “Sure, you’ll have to explain your work to someone else, but that’s part of the process. When you’re forced to explain your work to people over and over, you’re forced into constantly organizing your thoughts and pinpointing your thesis/purpose/ideas/etc.”

I rationalize: “I’m not saying that you need to talk to every consultant at the Studio, but more than just me is a good idea.”

I self-deprecate: “I mean, I think I’m generally pretty helpful, but there are other people here who know more about different things than I do, and they might offer you much better suggestions than I can.”

I plead: “Just make an appointment with one other consultant here and see what happens.”

I negotiate: “You can have two consultations per week – you could keep your appointments with me and make a few appointments with someone else.”

I restate: “Multiple perspectives are so helpful for all writers, teachers, thinkers, etc. Someone else might be able to offer you something that I can’t, or might think of things in ways that didn’t even occur to me, or motivate you in ways that I don’t. Different viewpoints are very useful.”

Most of the time, I can eventually convince reluctant regulars that working with people other than me is a good idea, but, sometimes, they’re absolutely set on writer-consultant exclusivity.

Of course, the important thing is that regardless of whether or not writers take our advice, we are there for them, and if each writer only ever works with one consultant, at least they came to us in the first place. However, for the rest of my Writing Studio career, I will continuously (if gently) urge writers to take advantage of the breadth of knowledge, skill, and insight that the Writing Studio consultants have to offer.

By Joanna Bartell, PhD in Communication

She Wanted Me to Tell Her What to Write

She nodded vigorously and waved her hand, wrinkling her nose and furrowing her brow when I asked if she’d been to the Writing Studio before. Of course I’ve been here. I’ve been here a hundred times. I know all about this place, she gestured. Her description of the assignment was vague and scattered, but I chalked that up to having spent a lot of time with it – after all, she had 8 pages of completed work in front of her, and her assignment sheet was marked up, so she had clearly read the assignment through. What really caught my attention was that her objectives for our session were unclear: she wanted to know if her paper was right… and grammar. When I tried to get her to clarify her objectives, she repeated a similarly unclear line: “I just want to make sure it’s… that it’s correct. And that it’s clear.”

            “So, you want to ensure that you’re answering the questions your professor asks you in the assignment, and that your answers are organized and easy to follow?” I pressed.

            She pushed the assignment paper in front of me and pressed her finger into one of the assignment sections. “Like in this section,” she explained, her finger pressing on the header, “I need to answer these bullet points.” She jammed the point of her finger into each bullet point.

            This student was clearly stressed. I gently explained to her that we could go through and ensure that she was addressing each point of the assignment, but that I could not speak to whether or not they were “correct” or “incorrect.” She acknowledged that I could not tell her if her explanations were “right” or “wrong,” which seemed like a good start. However, it became clear to me in the first short section of the paper that what this client really wanted was for me to tell her what to write.

            This type of client – the type that wants you to tell them what to write and how to write it – can be particularly frustrating. For one thing, the clients themselves are often already frustrated, which is a difficult way to begin a consultation. Perhaps the most difficult part of engaging in this type of consultation, though, is the murkiness of it all: the client has unclear issues and/or objectives, and you have a hard time zeroing in on what the client wants or needs. In some instances, the client may not know that they want you to tell them what to write, which may lead to them feeling frustrated that you’re not helping them like they feel they need. In other instances, the client may be fully aware that they want you to tell them what to write, but know that you cannot/will not. Thus, they frame their objectives and questions in ways that are often unclear, confusing, and difficult to keep up with.

In my example above, the client seemed to know that she wanted me to tell her what to write, but knew that she could not directly ask me to tell her. Thus, her objectives were unclear, and the questions she asked as we read through her work required consistent re-interpretation. The further we got, the more frustrated she became, until she finally began asking me questions such as, “What do I need to write?” “What else should I talk about?” and “What do I need to add?”

I, of course, did not answer any of these questions.

From my experience, writers who want consultants to tell them what to write are experiencing a combination of “low writing confidence” and “something else.” The “something else” can be anything from a fear that they have not properly addressed the requirements of the assignment to a lack of confidence in their own ideas, connections, and conclusions.

These are some of the basic things I try to do when I encounter a writer that wants me to tell them what to write:

• First, because I believe that this behavior is largely based on a lack of confidence in the writer’s ability to write, understand, connect, and explain, I work toward building their confidence in their work, especially concerning their observations, connections, and conclusions.

• When writers ask questions regarding whether something is “correct” or “complete,” I turn the question back on them. If they press by asking if their writing “meets the requirements of the assignment,” I slowly go through each point of the assignment and ask where they addressed a particular point in their writing, effectively turning the question back on them yet again while simultaneously showing them how to answer the question.

• When writers ask questions such as “what else do I need to add?” I answer clearly and concisely, and again turn the question back on them: “Well, I don’t know. What do you think you need to add?”

• Even though I refuse to address the question that the writer is really trying to ask – “what should I write?” – I do try to help them figure out what they want/need to write about by asking them questions that force them to make connections between the assignment and their observations and conclusions.

• I recap and encourage, often at the end of each section, and definitely at the end of the session.

While these sessions can be some of the most difficult, I find that they are often also some of the most rewarding. Despite the fact that my client left our session feeling frustrated that I didn’t give her what she wanted, I saw a shift in her confidence to explain her ideas and to answer her own questions.

I call that improvement, no matter how reluctantly it was made.

By Joanna Bartell, PhD in Communication

Writing gurus and sneaky hate spirals: On navigating the brainstorming session

I think some of my favorite sessions are the ones involving brainstorming or pre-writing, because these are the sessions where so much is happening all at once.  For one thing, writers in this stage­­­­­ ¾ beginners and veterans alike, albeit to different degrees ¾ face the daunting challenge of putting ideas into words, arranging the words in a way that conveys those ideas, and ultimately making all those little ideas translate into one major idea that will make sense to the intended audience. Needless to say, there is quite a bit of anxiety attached to this task.

Feeling overwhelmed, a writer may attempt to take that piece of advice we’ve all been given a million times and just write. Don’t get me wrong; free writing is an extremely helpful thing to be comfortable and familiar with. And for many people, free writing can come easily and naturally. But for so many others, myself included, trying to jump into writing a piece can become even more paralyzing than just thinking about what needs to be accomplished. With a nod to Alli Brosh[1], I like to refer to what happens next as the “sneaky hate spiral”.  I’m sure you’re at least vaguely familiar with the Spiral. It starts with the inability to “just write”. This quickly turns into the overwhelming sense that there is nothing in your life, work, experiences, research, analysis, interpretations, or whatever that is good enough to be preserved in print. This realization then seems to confirm that obviously your project seemed so challenging initially because you really have no ideas. You’ve reached the depths of the Spiral, and all of the sudden, you’re doomed forever. No one can help you because you’re the only one in all of history to experience this.

So many of our writers come to us because they need help climbing up and out of the sneaky hate spiral, whether or not they’re even aware they’re in it. I also think many of them, particularly the younger undergraduates, assume that as consultants, we have long since become immune to writer’s block, writing anxiety, the sneaky hate spiral, or any other brand of complication that plagues writers. So, these sessions host writers who, in addition to being overwhelmed by their assignments, discouraged by their complete lack of writable ideas, and upset by their inability to free write, are now in the presence of a writing guru. Terrifying.

Pre-writing and brainstorming sessions are where I think our writer-centered philosophy is especially important. True, the other stages of the writing process are all in important in their own rights, and all benefit from the writer-centered approach. Let’s face it, though - you can’t get to those other stages until you get past the first.  So, helping writers develop skills to navigate this first stage is one of the most important things we can accomplish as consultants. There are a few things I’ve found especially helpful to work into these consultations, depending, of course, on each writer’s specific situation:

• Break it down: Approaching a writing task as a whole is far too intimidating for many writers to be able to enjoy a comfortable writing experience. I start by having my writers draw a “skeleton” outline and put it aside. I’ll ask what kinds of things he or she wants to include in the piece, why these things are relevant, and what they contribute to the piece. Have them start small, and work outwards.

• Connect: I had a writer a few weeks back who was supposed to be writing about a turning point in her life. She wanted to write about a relationship she’d been in, and her subsequent experience of “moving on”, and subsequently finding her faith and her passion for the violin. The only problem was that she felt this experience was not worth writing about and would do nothing to “reach” others. As it happens, I had also been in a similar situation recently. Without divulging personal details, I mentioned this. She immediately realized she could reach others with her story, and suddenly her confidence in her topic jumped.

• Relate: I mentioned earlier that writers come in with the assumption that were all writing experts, immune to falling prey to writing pitfalls or common errors. This is false. If appropriate, let them know this by sharing some of your own trials and tribulations with writing. For example, if your writer is having a hard time with organization, try to think of an instance when your own work suffered in the same way. Share that experience.

• Let them know they’re not unique: In terms of writing difficulties, of course. In the same vein as the last bullet, letting writers know they’re not alone in their struggles in hugely beneficial. Think about the student who just cannot get the hang of APA in-text citations, and swears there must be something wrong with them. Now think of how many times this week you’ve had the same conversation with other writers. Let them know they’re not pioneers in their problem areas.

By Veronica Suarez, MA in Women's and Gender Studies

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[1] If you haven’t yet read Hyperbole and a Half, drop whatever you’re currently working on and do it. NO EXCUSES!