What to Expect During Your Session

Please silence all electronic devices when arriving at the Writing Center. After you check in for your appointment at the front desk area, the Writing Center Coordinator will notify the Writing Consultant of your arrival, and you’ll be escorted to an appointment room.

While each 45-minute session between a Writing Consultant and student will vary and be tailored to the student’s needs, following is general overview of what to expect during a session:

• After introductions, your Consultant will open the session by asking questions about the writing assignment you’ve brought and asking for your input about what you’d like to focus on and specific areas of concern you have
• This is the time to share with the Consultant your assignment sheet and any other materials you’ve brought
• Your input—including your goals, areas of confidence in your writing, and areas with which you’re not satisfied in your writing—will guide the session
• You and your Consultant will review areas of your paper together; your Consultant may ask you to read aloud parts of your essay as a self-editing strategy
• By reading aloud, students will often be able to hear and correct errors or areas that don’t flow well or come across as cohesive
• Based on your main concerns and goals, the Consultant will respectfully draw your attention to manageable problems or patterns of error in the current draft (given the assignment’s requirements and your own writing goals), provide feedback, and discuss strategies to strengthen your writing process and the paper under review
• Your Consultant may suggest scheduling another appointment if needed

Keep in mind that your paper will remain under your authorship and authority; the Writing Center suggests that you record comments and discussion points directly on your paper in order to effectively make revisions after your session.

Before wrapping up the session, the Writing Consultant will reinforce what has been discussed and may ask you to summarize what you’ve learned and your next steps, in order to check for understanding.

What to Do After Your Writing Center Session

• Fill out an evaluation form after your session ends to let us know how your consultation at the Writing Center went that day
• Refer to the notes you recorded during your session
• Develop or revise your paper as soon as possible while the information from your consultation is fresh in your mind
• Schedule additional appointments, as needed, to continue working on your assignment or bring a new one

The Writing Center looks forward to collaborating with you!