College Writing Center

What to Expect at an Appointment

During a Writing Center session, you will typically go through the following.

• Check in at the front desk and meet your consultant.

• Enter a little information in our database. This just takes a couple of minutes, and it helps different consultants and Writing Consultants and Fellows keep track of the issues an individual has worked on in past sessions.

• Work with your consultant to establish a goal for the session. By exchanging questions and answers about the project you’re working on and about the writing process, you and the consultant will begin a dialogue that will help you become more aware and in control of your writing.

• Continue the conversation and work towards your goal by using any of the following strategies, which may include:
  • clarification of your prompt,
  • tape-recording your brainstorming so that you have a record of your ideas as they are expressed orally,
  • discussion of your central ideas,
  • reading aloud of your paper,
  • close examination of your thesis,
  • explanation of grammar rules and usage,
  • outlining of your paper,
  • discussion of teacher's comments on a draft,
  • work on sentence or paragraph-level style issues, and/or
  • discussion of your writing strengths and weaknesses.

We typically use only a few of these strategies in a session. Whichever strategies you use, you should expect to have a dialogue in which you ask and answer questions about writing.

• Review with the consultant, and create a brief action plan so that you can move forward with your writing.

Last Modified: Monday, 05-Mar-2007 10:25:25 EST