Satellite Observation #2 - Library

I worked with the same consultant for my second observation today. The client was also an ESL student, and she had an essay for a graduate school application that she wanted to go over to "refine" her writing. Again, the consultant explained that they would mostly look at structure, content, etc., and then go over grammar and sentence structure if there was time at the end of the session.

The consultant read the paper aloud this time, and where he saw larger problems he simply drew a star in the margin to come back to it rather than interrupting his reading (he also explained to the client what the stars were for). The main thing this student needed to work on was clarifying a few vague terms that she used in her introduction and conclusion but did not refer to in the body of the essay. To help organize the essay better, the consultant flipped the paper over and made a quick outline for her to follow. He made a numbered list of the topics she wanted to discuss in her essay, and then pointed out how she should go through these items in order in the body of her paper, then summarize briefly in her conclusion. The student understood immediately.

Overall, I think the writing center environment in the library normally would have been very similar to the main office, but today was an unusual day since the consultant I observed was late and somewhat rushed his first session, and then another consultant didn't show up at all, so many of the sessions were interrupted by clients wondering where their consultant was. Since these consultants are prepared for the half-hour instead of hour-long sessions, I don't think that actual length of the session had anything to do with it.