Two Leading Observations

I had two consulting sessions today that I wanted to share my reactions about. I thought my first client was going to be a no-show, and I was surprised when he sauntered in after over half an hour. I don’t know if this is me being overly sensitive, but I got the impression that he didn’t care that he was late, or that he was making my job as a consultant more difficult. His late arrival didn’t leave us with much time to go over his five page formal paper, but I decided to make the best of it. He expressed the usual concerns about grammar and mechanics, but also wanted to make sure he had fully developed his argument. He had been to the Writing Center before and was familiar with the normal way sessions are conducted, but this meeting was a bit different. Rather than having him read his paper aloud to hear any mistakes for himself, I skimmed the paper to get a sense of his argument. I tried to address a few key Higher Order Concerns that were interfering with the overall clarity, but he seemed resistive. Every time I tried explaining how a particular issue was unclear or hindered his argument, he balked at making any changes. I wasn’t trying to force him to do anything, but I wanted him to understand how, as a reader, I was confused.

As the session started winding down and it was clear we wouldn’t be able to cover everything, I switched tactics. I had him look at each of his paragraphs and decide on what its main theme was. Then we looked at his introduction and conclusion, and decided if they included these points. My goal was to get him to examine the way he had structured his argument and determine if the conclusion he had made was the one he had been going for, and if he had covered all of his bases. Overall, it was far from an ideal session. We were both rushed and I feel like our communication kept breaking down. When the student left, he seemed fairly satisfied, but I don’t think this session compared favorably to his earlier experiences with the Center.

My second session also showed up half an hour late, but she clearly had been running to get there. She was obviously very stressed and I did my best to help her calm down. The paper she brought in was due in two hours (which probably explains why she was so stressed). She was an ESL student and she stated that she just wanted someone to check her grammar. I explained that I would look over her paper and address the most significant concerns, and if grammar fell into that category, so be it. As it turned out, grammar was a major factor affecting the clarity of the piece. Though as consultants we are taught to try to see beyond issues of mechanics, I was forced to take a more directive approach than usual. As a result, when there was a major shift in language between the first and second paragraphs, I had reason to take notice. Apparently she simply inserted the abstract from an article, changed a handful of words, and labeled it her summary. I tried explaining to concept of plagiarism and the necessity for paraphrasing and proper citation, and she seemed surprised that the rules were “so strict.” When I asked what citation style she was supposed to use, she revealed that she had never even heard of MLA or APA. To say that I was both dumbfounded would be an understatement. I’m well aware that different cultures have different ideas about plagiarism, but I couldn’t believe that none of her other classes at MSU had ever mentioned plagiarism or citation. I tried to get her to think about ways she could rephrase things, but she didn’t understand why she needed to make changes when the original author said it so perfectly. Finally, I was forced to end the session because it was after 5 o’clock. I tried impressing upon her one last time the severity of plagiarism, and the importance of changing the problematic paragraph before she submitted her paper. I can only hope she took my advice.