Attending the Writing Center as a Client

I've never formally gone to anyone to seek help with my writing before, so this was a very new experience for me. I think I'm one of the people who thinks to themselves, "I don't NEED a writing center, those are for people who can't write theses." However, I think what the consultant I met with today helped me with are things I would normally spend an hour staring at, knowing it didn't sound right, but not quite sure how to fix it.

The first thing my consultant did was have me read my paper (a 2.5-page English paper) aloud, which I was expecting. I noticed one or two missing words, and another area where I made a reference to an event I hadn't yet explained. Otherwise my essay read well, and then the consultant asked where I thought I needed help or improvement. I pointed out a certain paragraph, and my consultant said she wasn't sure of the significance of an event I'd mentioned. This event was actually the climax of the book, but I hadn't mentioned that in my paper. I'm sure that was what that paragraph was missing--some hint of the relevance of the evidence I was trying to use.

My consultant then did something I hadn't expected after all our minimalist approach readings, and drew my attention to my introduction and a quote I had tacked on to my thesis statement. She asked me what the purpose was, and really it had no relevance to the thesis, and it wasn't really referenced in any of my explanatory paragraphs, so I cut it. I then asked about another paragraph that I felt wasn't "flowing" well, and my consultant suggested a "map," or a sentence that gives an overview of the paragraph, and I'm very confident that that will be a good solution.

I'd like to make one final point--that writing these notes down in the first place (first in my notebook and now online) has really solidified the whole experience more. I think that writing about the improvement process will make the suggestions and advice my consultant gave stick in my head more, and I think I will be more conscious of them in my future assignments.