Entry from Thanksgiving week

I won't actually be working in the writing center after this class, but a lot of people who do work in the center have told me things like, "It's such a great job!", so I think I'd like to analyze that a bit.

First off, writing center work is part-time like almost every other on-campus job at MSU. But one thing that makes the WC a good workplace is the required 10-minute break after two hours of consulting. Not only is it nice to have a refresher, but it's very comforting to think that your employer (the center) actually cares that your work doesn't get burned out. Similarly, if consultants have any kind of problems with their clients, they are highly encouraged to seek help from one of the center directors. Having good chemistry between "management" and employees is key for a solid relationship, and it keeps the atmosphere in the center positive, which is essential since the more our clients feel at ease, the more we will accomplish with them.

The work we do in the center is not very difficult in a traditional sense. Writing consultants aren't necessarily better writers than their clients at all--usually they just act as an outside pair of eyes, which is great since the consultant doesn't have to know anything about the topic of the paper to tell if it makes sense, progresses logically, or has a strong argument. To me, the most difficult part of consulting was putting my own thoughts into words when describing to the client what I thought was a problem, or rephrasing it again when they didn't understand what I meant. But for the most part, consulting is "easy"--we read the piece, ask a lot of questions, and often the work gets done for us as the client either answers the questions, restates something in their own words, or decides how to rewrite the sentence with little help from us.

And, at the end of the day, writing consultants are doing a good thing for other people (often their peers, which can make the experience even more rewarding). The satisfaction of having given back to the MSU community is great when the client thanks you for all your help after a session, and getting paid on top of all that is great, too :)