I like to consider myself a professional student and a semi-professional college-tourist.
My junior and senior year of high school, I toured an uncountable number of schools. I threw myself into college applications and after a time, almost every tour seemed to follow the same pattern: Welcome to (insert college name here) My major is (insert major) here is our beautiful library! Here is our Writing Center, where student’s get help with writing! The tour-goers would nod and smile politely, and a few visiting students would always roll their eyes.
I was always the student, I am ashamed to admit, who scoffed a little at the Writing Center. I, personally, did not think that I would ever have to use it. I always did well with my writing and I thought that the Writing Center was a place where students went when they struggled with their papers. In my time at college I have noticed that there is a similar attitude among my peers; we do not want to admit that we went to the writing center for help. We walk around campus with a smile on our face and we tell everyone that everything is fine and that everything is going well. There is a strange reluctance to seek help from others. We want to prove ourselves in college. We want to show our professors, our parents, and the world that we can handle whatever anyone throws at us.
This attitude is ridiculous.
We are college students. We are not invincible. We are not machines. Our papers are not always perfect, and sometimes we need help. That is okay.
I did not quite realize this myself until I began working at the Writing Center this fall. I took a class in the spring semester where I learned how to help teach writing, and how to work in the Writing Center. Writing is a complex craft, and no one has mastered it. This year, I have learned to deeply appreciate the Writing Center and everything it has to offer. The Writing Center is a place where I can find help with my papers in so many ways. Furthermore, my fellow writing consultants are not only immensely talented, they are also incredibly kind.
The Writing Center, at least my Writing Center, can help students with any stage of the writing process. We brainstorm, we help dissect a particularly complex prompt, we help you organize your thoughts, and we help with grammar and edits and citations. The Writing Center is a place where you can craft your paper into the best paper it can be.
Any student can benefit from a tutoring session in the Writing Center. Your first draft is never perfect, and it is always beneficial to have another set of eyes examine your argument. As someone who did not really utilize the Writing Center until this year, I can tell you that it is immensely reassuring to have another person tell you that your argument makes sense. Another reader will help you catch mistakes you did not even know you made, and will overall make your paper stronger.
My fellow tutors and professional consultants in the Writing Center are some of the kindest, most genuine people I have met during my time in college.This might come as a surprise to people. I have noticed that there is a fear of judgment or uneasiness when one first comes to the Writing Center. Students are frightened that their paper will be torn to shreds. This is never the case. In my personal experience, the Writing Center is one of the most comforting spaces on campus. It is full of people who want only to help you succeed, and who are some of the most funny, kind, and intelligent people I have ever met.
Writing is not easy. As a professional student, and trained peer tutor, I am no longer ashamed to say that I have been to the Writing Center. I think that my sessions in the Writing Center have made my academic writing stronger, and have certainly brought more joy to my life.
College students, please take a draft of a paper you are struggling with to the Writing Center.
I promise you will not regret it.
I never have.
