Writing Centers
I just submitted the workshop packet for my third MFA residency this June. In a delayed, it’s-too-late-to-change-it discovery, I realized that I have basically written the exact same thing for the third submission in a row. Not only that, I submitted it with errors: a typo, an incorrect verb tense shift, a missing coma. The details of my essay are different of course, but the theme is the same, and I am still struggling with sequential verb tense agreements within a piece. One of the reasons I opted for a career in the creative arts instead of a career in medicine (and it was between the two) was because I was pretty sure if I had a patient I would leave the syringe with the life-saving antidote by the water cooler, would be actively involved trying to locate it as the patient’s blood pressure dropped before I realized where I had left it, and would then be running back at breakneck speed to their bedside, hoping it wasn’t too late. I get distracted.
For the last three months, I have been a teaching assistant for an “Introduction to the Humanities” class at a nearby community college. Each week, the students complete a module that includes films, readings, and discussions, and which then finally concludes with an essay on what they have learned. After reading their essays week by week, I have come to know the writing patterns of each student: their themes, their grammatical errors, their lack of attention to detail. At the same time, I have also seen the efforts students make to try to be understood. Some of them are really struggling. The sentences are often run-on, the ideas aren’t clear, and the punctuation seems haphazard. They are excited about what they want to say.
It sounds just like me.
I am supposed to be a graduate student, able to write flawlessly with perfect grammar and punctuation, right? If I don’t know something, I should be able to look it up, right? Submissions should be perfect, but sometimes I can’t see the problems. I can’t remember the rules for numbers: do the small ones get written out, or is it the big ones? It’s like someone is always saying, “go north for two blocks and then go west for three;” I am always looking up at the sun, and I am not sure where I am, but I have to get there in a hurry. Sometimes I am embarrassed by my mistakes.
When I discussed my editing problems with one friend, she suggested I read my work aloud. For me that’s not always the best solution, since I already know what I want to say and can control the rhythm. Another suggestion she had was to print my work out and read a page or two at a time, and not all in one sitting. By breaking it up, I would be forced to concentrate on making sure every sentence and paragraph made sense. The final suggestion she had was to ask someone for help. Good idea! Who?
The professor that I am assisting recommended that before the students in the Humanities class submit their midterms, they take their work to the college’s Writing Center. The Writing Center, like the one on so many campuses across the country, has tutors available by appointment and drop-in, ready to assist students with their writing assignments. After reviewing their midterm essays, I could tell immediately which students had followed the professor’s advice. Their work had fewer errors. Their sentences seemed clearer. Their voices had more confidence. The professor has now made it mandatory that each student go to the Writing Center at least once before the end of the semester.
I am requiring the same of myself. Antioch University has an online Virtual Writing Center for its students. Any student in any program at any of Antioch’s campuses can submit writing projects to the center online. It is then reviewed by one of several peer consultants who first read what the assignment is, what class it is for, and note areas that may need special attention. Recently, I submitted the first eight pages of an essay that needed to be twenty pages. I wrote that I was having trouble with the conclusion. I said I needed stronger transitions. I was pretty sure I had caught the punctuation errors, but I know even with Strunk and White’s chapter on quotations, even with Purdue Owl’s chapter on quotations, I sometimes get lost in my character’s dialogue; would the peer consultant please be so kind as to mark any errors?
Less than twenty-four hours later, I received a kind letter back with an explanation of some of the things I might pay attention to. The document itself was marked with comments that suggested writing more in some places, or writing less in others. The peer consultant asked me really thoughtful questions like, “Can you tell me what you mean here?” I was smitten.
With her feedback, I was able to extract the remaining twelve pages that I needed. It hadn’t occurred to me to strengthen a particular scene with more dialogue. I didn’t realize I had said the same thing in two paragraphs. She also kindly sent a link for help with punctuation. The peer consultant had simply done a review of my work. She didn’t give me points or a grade. She made recommendations. Her only intention was to help my work get stronger.
I plan to use the Virtual Writing Center for as many of my projects as I can for the rest of my time here at Antioch. I will be telling anyone who is a student to use his or her campus’ writing center. I will keep in mind when I am editing someone else’s work that my intention is to help their work get stronger, clearer. More importantly, I will remind myself that asking for help is what I need to get better at, too. I can ask for that. I can do that.
