Does your college/community have a writing center?

In college, I worked as a writing consultant at my school's writing center. People would come in with a paper, other piece of writing, or idea, and we'd sit down and talk about it. Afterward I'd write a summary of the consultation while logging them out. Alyssa's post on writing to ask for a job with help from a friend reminded me of that, but in this case from the other side.

It occurred to me that some disabled people/people with disabilities might have a writing center available to them, either explicitly to serve the community, at school, or at a school but open to the community like mine was, but not know about it or its benefits. As someone who spent 3+ years as a writing consultant and student with communication and executive function impairments, I think I can say something on the matter.

What is a writing center?

Writing centers are varied, so my description might not fit the one(s) you have access to, and some of this relies on hazy memory/hearsay, but I'll do my best:

Writing centers generally fall into the category of "peer tutoring"--where students work with you one-on-one to improve your skills or develop a particular piece of writing collaboratively. Not all writing center consultants (also called tutors and a variety of other things, but I'll go with what my title was) are students--some may be professors or, especially if it's a community writing center, people with degrees and experience in teaching writing--but even those with more official qualification will likely approach you as equals. When my boss, an exceptionally brilliant professor, gave consultations, students were often surprised to discover afterward that he wasn't a student as well.

Writing centers may (and probably will) serve other functions as well:

• Provide a place to write and/or resources on writing. My writing center was pretty small, but if we had room someone could stay with their laptop or pencil and paper and work without having to break their groove by driving home or going to a distracting dorm room. We were also located in the college library, and the writing books were in our room.
• Give workshops, either in the writing center space or by coming to you. We gave workshops that anyone could go to, presented in classes when a professor wanted us, and went offsite to try working with youth programs (I never did that, alas).
• Hold writing groups. The local community writing center often holds writing programs to empower groups like veterans or abuse survivors.
• Provide online tutoring (e.g. using email or Facebook) and/or other online resources

Writing center pedagogy is an academic field with conferences, blogs, and at least one journal, so that teenager helping you with organization and flow might be doing academic research on gender or disability in the writing center. Most consultants probably won't be experts on the pedagogy, given that they're busy undergrads, but will know of its existence and be influenced by its seminal ideas or at least buzzwords.

As a field of discourse, writing center pedagogy strikes me as awkwardly earnest and very liberal. We were taught to be "non-prescriptive, non-directive, and non-hierarchical," and there's a real tension between the people the writing is often for (professors, people at work) and the writing center philosophy--which wants to be non-judgmental, to value voice over prescriptive/proscriptive, usually bullshit grammar rules, to focus on process over how the end result is supposedly supposed to be, and to make "better writers, not better writing."

At the same time, we're trained with praxis in mind--applying theory to practice--and we quickly realize that adjusting to an individual's needs at a given time is really the main part of our job. And, yes, the literature has long since noticed this.

Here's a blog post referencing this because I don't have any actual academic references on hand. The post is by Sarah Groenevald and refers to Nora Brand and Logan Middleton:

Nora and Logan, both doing research on Writing Centers and disability, helped me think about this even further. Nora, in her research, ended up organizing instructors’ responses to learning disabilities into four categories: direct engagement (focused attention on aspects of a student’s writing that are affected by his or her disability), overlooking (focused attention on any element of a student’s performance that is not related to his or her disability), celebration (recognition of the positive attributes of a student’s disability) and individualization (tailoring methods to specifically meet the needs of a student). She outlined the pros and cons of each kind of response, but concluded that each of these can be appropriate at different moments and with different students. While no tutors adhered entirely to one category, all of those she interviewed did at times practice individualization. And Logan also ended up talking about how important it is “to target the individual student and give them the tools they need to succeed.”

Meanwhile, Pomona College's writing center talks about adjusting the "non-directive" stricture for students who need it:

So, how can we apply these strategies to our consultations?

-take a more direct approach in consultations with LD students; the student may require more structure than other consultations.

Sidenote: I am personally not so keen with generalizing advice like this to all LD (learning disabled) writers, so I would have phrased that as, "Ask the writer if they would like or benefit from you taking care to provide structure."

As an example of how liberal writing centers tend to be, here's the first sentence of the local community writing center's self-description on its home page:

The SLCC Community Writing Center (CWC) supports, motivates and educates people of all abilities and educational backgrounds who want to use writing for practical needs, civic engagement and personal expression.

The visit

You may be able to walk in, schedule an appointment online, and/or schedule an appointment by phone. Some will require rigid time slots (probably 30, 45, or 60 minutes), while others like mine are more flexible. We tried aiming for 45 minutes, if it was less than 20 minutes that was a warning sign that we weren't going deeply enough, and some stretched up to 2 hours. If you can walk in, you may be able to come back later that day after working on your writing independently, or you may have to schedule a series of appointments with maybe 2 a week.

The writing consultant will ask you what you want to work on. Note that if you have more than one piece of writing, disclose all of them at the beginning--don't finish one essay or application and whip out another stack of them. You may come in without anything already written--you can come in at any stage of the writing process, including brainstorming or getting over a mental block.

Usually, if you have a draft already, the consultant will read it silently or ask if you want to read it aloud or have them read it aloud. Some students with certain writing problems benefit a lot from reading the paper aloud--they see typos or bad wording that they didn't just on the page. Others actually correct typos or improve on the writing without noticing they're not reading exactly what they wrote, which can itself be a major clue to the consultant. However, consultants may choose to read silently either for speed, to help their own concentration, or to accommodate their own need to, say, re-read certain parts several times. Some follow pedagogies that prohibit them from writing on the page, or even taking notes on a separate pad--others may ask you if they can write on your paper and then do so, sometimes cryptically, sometimes in notes you'll understand later. (I would often use a small dot or line in the margins as my note system.) They shouldn't write on your paper without asking but might out of habit--call them on it if you can. Because many consultants benefit from marking papers, our center had a policy of preferring printed papers rather than electronic form.

Before and after reading the paper, the consultant will attempt to ask you important questions: What is this writing for, what are the requirements (bring a copy if there's anything to bring), is there anything you're unclear on about the requirements, what do you want help with, what is your writing process, why did you put this sentence here, etc. You will likely also have to provide them with enough knowledge about the specific domain to understand the paper, and whether that word means what you think it means (hey, not everyone consultant can be an expert on neuropsychology, business writing, microeconomics, Hamlet, nursing abbreviations, guppy breeding, and real estate in northern Colorado, no matter how hard we try). You can and should ask questions and work through misunderstandings, as well.

Note that it's really easy for consultants to auto-pilot into micro-level issues (like punctuation, spelling, and mechanics), especially if you're a non-native speaker or have another obvious set of issues at this level of writing. We're trained to focus on higher-level issues at first, but sometimes understanding whether the paper is clearly organized and clearly develops its ideas is hard, but micro-level issues aren't. For this or other reason, you may have to cut the consultant off and redirect the consultation yourself--and you absolutely would be right to do so. Conversely, if you mainly want help with micro-level issues and you don't have a compelling reason to need it, the consultant might balk at being your proofreader--especially if your piece has significant higher-level issues. As I said before, consultants should tailor the consultation to your needs, so if you just brought in real-world writing, like a cover letter or soon-to-be-published pamphlet, or your professor docks heavily for punctuation mistakes, they may be completely willing to take on a proofreading role. But if they start to do so and realize your paper doesn't even make sense, they'll probably try focusing on that, instead.

A disorganized list of specific things that might happen in the writing center:

• The consultant gets you talking and makes an outline based on what you're saying.
• The consultant gets you talking and makes you make an outline based on what you're saying.
• Arrows get drawn on your paper indicating rearranging paragraphs or relocating sentences.
• The consultant has a confused thought about something which prompts you to realize something and go into a flurry of writing several sentences or reorganizing things and you both realize that it is now awesome.
• The consultant takes dictation for you, because you're saying very fluent things but your writing is much more awkward.
• The consultant tries teaching you a grammatical structure but can't rewrite your sentences for you, instead modeling the use. You may or may not be able to apply it in your own writing.
• You realize you need to completely rewrite your paper.
• You butt heads. Maybe the consultant thinks you need to completely rewrite your paper and you don't.
• You reread your paper, can't tell the consultant what you meant, and start rewriting it based on a conversation with them.
• The consultant realizes you don't know how to cite things correctly and are accidentally (or maybe intentionally?) plagiarizing. Side track into citation land.
• The consultant happens to understand your domain pretty well and helps you sharpen your analysis.
• The consultant doesn't understand the domain very well but you get ideas about how to sharpen your analysis from revisiting the paper.
• You get started on a paper and that's mainly what you need, not any specific help they give you.
• You have your anxieties allieved now that someone else has signed off on your paper, and that's all you really needed.
• You become a regular and greatly improve as a writer over time.
• You become a regular and mainly get help on areas you will always be limited in, but that's perfectly fine.
• You talk through life troubles. The consultant may be happy to be a surrogate therapist or may set professional boundaries that don't include getting this personal.
• Resumes, fiction, Prezzi, cover letters, application essays, brochures, poetry, essays, personal narratives.

Finding a consultant

If you don't go to a school with a writing center, look for a community writing center or contact a local college's writing center and see if they take community members (mine did, but at a lower priority than students).

If you can, I would talk to the consultants before making an appointment and try finding someone who will work well with your particular type of writing (or even your particular issues). Note that consultants do help other writers with disabilities, whether disclosed or not disclosed. Many but by no means all of the regulars are regulars because they have disabilities (or something that isn't a disability but is a lot like one, like being a non-native speaker).

I went to a small school with a relatively large writing center staff, but in any case, if you're a student, the consultants really are your peers so you can actually make friends with them, and a friend might be the person who works best with you. Or just try different consultants.

Sometimes writing centers are very time-limited. In those cases, and some others, you may be able to hire a writing consultant as your own tutor outside of their writing center hours, or pay them to do additional work with you and your paper. I had a couple times where I worked with someone after hours or provided extensive electronic feedback on a paper and they gave me a $20.

Or, as Alyssa did, just go to a friend who doesn't ask you to pay them. I enjoyed what I did and wasn't doing it for the money, and I'd still help someone with their writing if they came to me and I had time.

Some thoughts on the writing process

Alyssa's post is basically a reflection on her writing process for this particular piece of writing. I'm certain it's a wildly different writing process than she uses for her blog posts. One thing that might help if you're facing a brain-blanking writing task likes hers, or just want to breathe new life into your writing, is to translate one form of writing to another. In the "ask for a job" example, that could mean starting with a free-write reflection on past experiences that qualify you for the job, and another on why this job opportunity is interesting. You might have to block out the "qualify you" and "job opportunity" part if you're like me and that kind of thing produces enough anxiety to freeze your thoughts. Alyssa's penultimate writing sample is basically an illustration of this, where she's written a series of responses to related questions her friend guided her through. You may be able to come up with a set of questions (or get someone else to provide you with them) that will be re-usable next time you do a certain type of writing.

Another possible step to add to your process is to get a template or example of that type of writing, especially if it's open-ended, something you don't understand well, or, conversely, a highly formal writing form. A lot of business writing, including the job letter, probably falls under that--it needs to be formal and concise, so following a tried and true format is a good idea. When someone came into the writing center needing help with a cover letter, I'd pull a business writing book off the shelf and flip to the right page. They even have different formats for email vs. print cover letters. Even for academic essays, you can google to find an example of that type of paper, or ask your professor if they can share past years' students' work. For me, seeing other students' work could give me confidence that my own way would fall within the parameters of the assignment, because the good example papers tended to be diverse.

Finally, my most specific suggestion in this post--from Alyssa's post, it sounds like the scaffold her friend gave her didn't do much for her. (It may have helped the friend, and deserves credit for that). This scaffold is basically an outline of the content of the letter, but that's not the only way to do an outline. In a functional outline, you list the purpose of whatever you'll be writing in a given position, rather than (or in addition to) the content.

Judging from the tightness of the final draft of Alyssa's letter, it's pretty clear that she and her friend had a clear implicit understanding of the functional outline of the letter. I can't help but wonder whether starting with a functional outline instead of the content scaffold would have been at least somewhat more useful to Alyssa (or maybe to someone else reading this one day!).

State purpose—asking about research position in specific area

Remind addressee that you were in their class and did research in a related area under them

Introduce qualifications: Interest and past research in field

Give past research professor's info as reference/for verification/credibility

Describe research (in order to show you know what you're talking about and that it was related)

Describe how research went well and give evidence that professor trusted you

Relate past research back to current project you're trying to get hired for—shifting focus from your research to yourself as research assistant, in order to segue into good personal attributes

Good personal attribute is language skills

Conclude politely with request for reply, including non-binary option in case addressee doesn't immediately say “yes!” (offer to supply references)

Here's a more generic version of this:

State purpose—you're asking for a specific job

Introduce yourself/remind addressee who you are if you've met

Establish qualifications:

Name drop (technical terms you've known from working, people/organizations more prominent in the field who you've worked with) while letting the reader know what your experience actually is

Give a highlight or two of your most impressive successes during those past work experiences

Mention any additional skills or experiences that are highly persuasive but not tightly coupled to the specific position

Remind the person of what you're applying for and nudge them to visualize you in the job by saying you'd be good at it

Conclude by saying you're hoping for a response and offer to provide further information

So, here's me trying out this version of the scaffold by pretending to ask for a job at the community writing center. For kicks I'll make it less formal, more email-y:

Hi <Whoever>,

I'm writing in hopes that you'll have a position available at the <name of organization>. My name is <name>, and I worked with <former coworkers who work there> during my 3+ years as a consultant at the <my college's name> Writing Center under <name of director>. I enjoyed the creativity and constant challenge of each unique writer and each piece of writing they brought in, working across domains of discourse, abilities, cultures, stages of the writing process, and levels of writing. In the two years since I graduated, I have done highly collaborative work in information technology at <name of current company>, where I was promoted rapidly to my current title, Software Developer II. My supervisor describes me as passionate in pursuing the best solution for the company and exceptional in time management and completing tasks. I hope to translate my history of one-on-one and small-team work with culturally diverse people, my understanding of business and technology, and my experience as a writing consultant at a liberal arts college into a connection with the community of <place I'm applying to>.

I'm looking forward to your reply and will be happy to answer further questions and supply references. Say hi to <former coworker that still works there> for me.

Best wishes,

<My name>

I've geeked out and gone on too long in this post, so I'll end my composition musings here, but if anyone's interested in further talk, I say, “Bring on the discourse!” (Message me.)