How Much is Too Much?

When I first began my journey in English 383, I struggled (as you could see in my earlier posts) with the concept of making better writers, not necessarily better writing. After some reflection, I think that I struggled with this idea because of the way that I learned to write well.

When I was younger, my parents would read my writing and show me where I had made errors, whether they were sentences that didn't make sense or a comma that was in the wrong place. The next time I would write, I would concentrate on the mistakes that I had made earlier to ensure that I did not make the same mistake twice. Granted, I was about eight years old and my errors were minor, but I truly believe that that is the way that I learned to write. I think that I had to come to terms with the fact that not everyone learns that way and that fixing a peer's writing won't always make that peer a better writer.

As a result of the many readings that we have done and my own personal observations, I think that I now understand the concept of minimalism in the writing center. While there are some errors that we could simply point out to the writers, in order to improve the writer in the long-term, they must find and correct errors on their own. This is not to say that we cannot lead them to those errors, but rather that we must take more of a "behind the scenes" role during consultations.

I do not think that anyone would respond to a writing consultant pointing out an entire essay's worth of errors to them, the way that I had when my parents had edited my papers. I think that I have come to the realization that we are not authority figures, like parents or professors, but play the role of a knowledgeable friend who you would go to when you don't understand a concept. While your friends might help explain general ideas to you, the only way that you will truly grasp a concept is if you come to conclusions on your own. I now understand that idea and plan to carry it with me when I become a writing consultant.

Practice Makes Perfect

It is hard for me to believe that I am already halfway through my second semester of sophomore year at the University of Richmond. Semesters have come and gone, and before I can process what is happening around me, it will be September and I will be jet setting to Prague to study abroad for four months.

English 383 has been one of those classes that, when I reflect on 2012 thus far, I feel that I have learned the most. The readings have been provocative and have allowed me to think about writing, both my own and that of my peers, in new ways. But, as I have mentioned previously, I feel that the skills necessary to become the kind of writing consultant that I want to be can really only be taught through practice, not reading. For this reason, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to read a paper written by a peer and practice what I have read and seen.

Dr. Essid warned me before I read Kelsey’s paper that it was a strong one; he was not joking. The biggest issue I had with Kelsey’s paper was the lack of periods, which turned out to be a computer error and did not take a way from the strength of the writing. I found that the strength of the paper was beneficial for me to practice my commentary, as I had to do particularly close reading to find errors.

One of the issues that I had with Kelsey’s paper was her use of rather long sentences. There were a few times that I found myself reading a sentence two or three times because it was difficult to comprehend all of the information that she was giving to the reader. During our conference, I brought up the issue. Kelsey replied that she has always struggled condensing her sentences, which caused me to think of Bartholomae’s Study of Error. It is important that we as consultants analyze why our peers make the errors that they do so that we can properly address them. Because this issue has been a recurring one for Kelsey, I knew that I would not be able to properly analyze why she struggles with run-on sentences in the amount of time that we had together.

I wrestled with the issue after class that day and during my relaxing spring break. Then, one day, my sixteen-year-old brother came home from school. I asked him how high school was treating him, which caused him to launch into an elaborate explanation about the physics project he was doing for the science fair. Although three years younger than me, my brother is much smarter than I am. That, combined with my total lack of knowledge about physics, meant that I found that my brother was throwing so much information at me at one time that I could not possibly comprehend everything that he was saying. I simply smiled and nodded and when he scurried away from me, I realized the answer to my question about Kelsey. Kelsey is clearly a strong writer and an intelligent person. I believe that these two character traits contribute to her struggle with run-on sentences. I know that Kelsey has a lot to say but, despite the strength of her writing, sometimes gives the reader more information than they can process in one sentence. I suggested to Kelsey that she utilize “craftman’s distance”, followed by a reading of her paper aloud to spot areas where the reader may become confused.

Throughout Kelsey’s paper, I found a grand total of one grammatical error: the issue of colons versus semi-colons. I am familiar with this grammatical point; I find that I often struggle when deciding which is appropriate. Although this was a minor error that only occurred once in the paper, I attempted to think of how I would handle a more serious grammatical issue during a consultation.

I know from my own past grammatical struggles that it is more beneficial to understand grammar than to memorize it. I believe that Glover & Stay say it best: “Through an understanding of grammar, as opposed to rote memorization of forms, students can begin to see connections between grammatical choice and audience, and, more important, they can begin to understand what these choices say about themselves as writers and as human beings” (Glover & Stay 130). This quotation shows that grammar should be more than a list of rules that writers should memorize. It should become a part of their writing “ritual”, as grammar could have an effect on how the reader views the strength of the writer. During conference, I showed Kelsey a Writer’s Web page on colons versus semi-colons. Writer’s Web allows writers to have a reference point that, hopefully, could become a part of their writing ritual. I want to make using Writer’s Web in consultations part of my writing consultant ritual, as I believe it is an important resource that begins integrating grammar into the writing process.

There was one sentence in Kelsey’s paper that immediately brought me to the discussion we had had the class before regarding offensive papers. Kelsey had written that “in today’s society”, midgets are viewed in a humorous light, rather than the supernatural one that they were portrayed in Native American religion. That one sentence quickly reminded me of Gorkemli’s experience with a xenophobic paper. I used Gorkemli’s technique of paraphrasing what was written in the paper in hopes that Kelsey would “[hear] and [become] aware of possible differing reactions” to what she had written (Gorkemli 10). Because she had been quite vocal during our discussion in class two days earlier, Kelsey immediately recognized that her “easy generalization” had led to something that could have been viewed as offensive to the reader.

Although the generalization in Kelsey’s paper could have been viewed as offensive, I was, and this may sound strange, happy that it was in there. I was nervous in class the day before at the thought of being in a consultation with an offensive paper. Dealing with a mildly offensive comment with someone that I knew from class was a perfect first experience. Now, if I was faced with an offensive paper or comment within a paper, I think that I would have a much better idea of how to handle it.   

Another reason that I enjoyed this midterm assignment so much is that I was given the opportunity to be consulted by one of my peers. Lauren read a history paper that I had written during my first semester freshman year. I wanted to use this paper because I had written it before I was entirely comfortable with how to write for college. Before class, I was excited to see how Lauren reacted to the paper and what comments she had for me.

Lauren’s style of consulting was to be as warm and encouraging as possible. Her enthusiasm for my writing made the consultation insightful and enjoyable. I admired the way that she integrated so much of what we had learned in class into her comments, but her friendliness and openness were two qualities that really stood out to me during the consultation.

After my consultation with Lauren, I realized that being able to analyze and edit a peer’s paper is only makes up half of the job description of a consultant. The other half is much more personal. We must make the writer feel comfortable, open up to the writer about our own experiences, form a relationship, encourage them, push them…all while showing some amount of restraint. We are peers, not professors.

Now, time is continuing to fly. There are only six weeks left in this semester, which, to me, is mind-blowing. But after this English 383 midterm, I realized exactly how much I have learned thus far. I know that the remaining six weeks will make me feel exponentially more comfortable with my future role as a writing consultant, but I am now confident that I will be able to take the theories of the classroom and put them into practice in the Writing Center. 

Who Knew?

My time in English 383 has been an enjoyable one thus far. I have found the readings to be interesting and attention-grabbing and the activities that we have done in class have been helpful. I have found myself picturing how I would handle certain situations if hired as a Writing Consultant.

The aspect of English 383 that has surprised me throughout the semester has been the amount of training that potential Writing Consultants must all go through before gaining a spot on the fourth floor of Weinstein. I suppose that I had known that the Writing Center didn't just pick students on a whim to advise their peers' writing, but I didn't realize the extent of the training that so many Consultants before me have gone through.

This week, I observed Maggie Burch in the Writing Center. It was amazing to me to see the things that we have been discussing in class come to "life" right before my eyes. She took the time to find out what the writer hoped to get out of the session and paid attention to the professor's comments, two aspects of being a Writing Consultant that have been emphasized over the past six weeks. I think that, like so many other skills that one learns, I got a much better idea of what being a Writing Consultant means by seeing the actual process, rather than just learning about it in the classroom.

I have learned so much, as my peers before me have, from only a month and a half of class, and I am sure that my knowledge will continue to grow as the semester progresses. I am now more excited than ever to begin my career as a Writing Consultant here at the University of Richmond. I can't wait to start.

Grammar Snob

My father is British. He is your prototypical Englishman and loves when "his language" is spoken and written the way it was meant to be. Being my father's daughter, I have inherited his fondness for proper grammar, which has been both a blessing and a curse during my academic career.

One of the aspects of becoming a Writing Consultant that I have struggled with thus far is that we are not meant to fix every grammatical or spelling mistake in the papers that we read. I understand why we must restrain ourselves, but I must admit that I have had difficulty doing so in the first two commentaries that we have done in class. I think that I must, and will, find a happy medium between being the grammar snob that I am and using a writer's grammar mistakes as a long-term writing tutorial.

Personally, I find it difficult to pay attention to a paper that has a glaring number of grammatical and spelling errors. I would love to find out if professors have the same difficulty that I do when students do not have a grasp on grammar rules. I believe that most of them would agree with my claim that an overwhelming number of errors can detract from the perceived intelligence of a student. For example, I recently read a peer's paper in which he had spelt pamphlets 'pamflits'. The ideas of the sentence and paragraph were good ones, but I could not take the paper as seriously as I would have if he had spelt the word correctly.

I think that addressing sentence-level concerns will be one of the more difficult tasks that we are faced with as Writing Consultants. As we saw in Bartholomae's "The Study of Error" and the videos from "The Fix-it Shop", most students find it difficult to see their own errors. I believe that an effective tool would be to write out examples of sentences with errors similar to those made by the students, in hopes that they would be able to find the errors in the "consultant's" writing that they could not find in their own.

I wish that I knew a more effective way to show my peers the importance of proofreading their papers for glaring grammatical errors. Being a business major, I cannot tell you how many horror stories I have heard of potential internships or jobs lost due to obvious language problems. I hope that I can learn a way to show my peers that these rules do not simply affect your life at UR, but could affect your life after as well.

Afraid of Grades

Since my elementary school days, my mother has been pushing me to get good grades. She would always say, "You don't want anything bad to pop up later on, do you Claudia?" Being the timid six year old that I was, I would nod and race off to do my homework at the kitchen table. As time went on, my mom continued to push me in academics. I could not tell you how many times I heard, "Do you want to get into a good college?" during my four years of high school.

Obviously, my hard work paid off. The University of Richmond is a wonderful institution that has opened so many doors for me. That, however, does not mean that my mother's nagging has stopped. "Do you want to get a good job?" is all I hear now, but based on where I am today, I know that she has my best interests in mind.

The thought of being a Writing Consultant is a bit terrifying. Because I have always been pushed to get the highest grades that I can, it scares me that advice that I give (or don't give) could affect someone else's grades. Here, papers are generally a large portion of your final grade and, as I have learned in the past, getting a C on a paper only makes you have to work harder to pull yourself into the A range.

It is an honor to even be considered to be a Writing Consultant at UR. The influence that you could potentially have on a peer's grade is frightening and exciting at the same time. I worry that I will skip over an entire plagiarized paragraph, which could cause my peer to have to face the Honor Council. I am afraid of not understanding the given assignment entirely, which could cause me to give awful advice. It scares me that my words could affect someone else's paper, final grade, job prospects, life.

I know I am being a bit dramatic, but that has always been the way I have thought about my own grades. I think that as I become more comfortable about what a Writing Consultant actually is (through my observations and practice), my fears will subside and I will be able to help my peers to the best of my ability.