What to Expect During Your Session
When you arrive in Bierce Writing Commons, you will be greeted by a student assistant at the front desk. The student assistant will help you sign in and direct you to your consultant for the day. Your consultant will welcome you and talk with you to determine what type of assistance you need that day.
You can expect that your consultant
- will listen carefully. Consultants give their full attention to the writers they collaborate with, so they will want to know what you wish to work on.
- will suggest a plan for the consulting session based on what you describe as your needs. Consultants usually suggest addressing higher order concerns (content and development of ideas) before lower order concerns (punctuation and grammar).
- will ask you a lot of questions.
- might ask you to read your work aloud so that you can "hear" it together.
- might offer to read your work aloud so that you can hear your ideas through another voice.
- will prompt you to find solutions to the writing concerns that you have.
- will end the session by summarizing -- or asking you to summarize -- what you accomplished and what you will do after the session.
Do NOT expect that your consultant
- will write on your paper. You are the writer. You own the paper, so you are the only person who can write on it.
- will tell you what to say in your paper. Again, you are the writer, so the ideas must come from you.
- will correct your grammar and spelling errors. Your consultant will help you learn strategies to be your own best grammar and spell checker.
- will tell you what grade your paper will earn. That decision rests with your course professor.