"Perspectives on the Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum: A Dialogue Between the Sciences and Humanities"

The Peer Consultant Perspective

As far as Peer Consultants are concerned, one consultant stated, “I feel like a student should walk out of the Writing Center feeling confident—that means I’ve done my job” (PC 14).  This response from the survey given to Peer Consultants and Writing Mentors in the Writing Center summarizes the main goal of the facility:  to help students on any aspect of the writing process with which they walk through the door.  However, doing so can often be a challenge as no two papers are ever the same, even if the papers are written for the same instructor’s assignment.  Therefore, having all consultants feel they have done their job and leaving students to walk out of the Writing Center feeling confident, as the above response puts it, often involves the consultant knowing how to handle papers that are not only diverse in the ability level of the writer, but also in terms of the various discipline-specific papers the Writing Center handles.

One recently proposed way of helping consultants in the Writing Center handle papers from outside a consultant's major has been to conduct a series of mini workshops designed to give students an idea of what to expect from various fields.  This suggestion was raised by a Peer Consultant in the Writing Center, and of the 20 students working in the Writing Center who completed surveys, 17 stated their agreement in desiring the Writing Center to prepare them in advance for working with papers in disciplines other than their own.  However, the suggestions of what types of advanced preparation consultants desire vary with some saying manuals would be helpful (PC 20), others stating demonstrations on how to approach papers from different disciplines would be valuable (PC 17), and still others believing workshops would be the most beneficial (PC 14).

Furthermore, survey responses from Peer Consultants seem to indicate working with papers from outside the disciplines they are familiar with can become problematic.  When asked how consultants respond to papers with scientific topics where their knowledge is limited, 15 of the 20 surveys indicate that the Peer Consultants tell the student that they are “not familiar with the topic, but[...] can critique [his or her] format” and other aspects of the paper (PC 13).  The 15 consultants who responded in this way indicated some variation of the above statement, often including that he or she asks if another consultant will aid in the consultation (PC 18), or if no one else is knowledgeable on the subject, reference materials are utilized (PC 20).  Although some responses to the survey indicate that students feel more comfortable working with papers from the humanities or social sciences, several survey responses indicate that the consultant reacts to papers from humanities or social science courses in the same way as they would science papers:  by asking questions about the content, explaining his or her level of familiarity with the subject matter, including other consultants in their discussion, and consulting manuals or reference guides. 

Interestingly, the survey responses from consultants in the Writing Center for the remainder of the survey questions are much more diverse than the other two groups of people surveyed.  Such results are not surprising, however, because the Writing Center employs students from across the academic majors and divisions found at Wilkes, and several students employed in the Writing Center have minors in fields outside of their major concentration.  Therefore, the group of employees currently working in the Writing Center has a diverse background of experience and abilities, which is certainly beneficial given the various writing expectations of the professors from different departments across campus.

Despite the range of background experience the Peer Consultants bring to the Writing Center, all students who work in the Writing Center do so with the common goal of demystifying the process of writing for those who come to the center.  Through the processes of consulting with others as well as utilizing manuals and reference guides, the Peer Consultants are not only aiding individual student writers, but are also helping themselves as they learn and expand their abilities in many genres of writing which will certainly enhance general writing knowledge.  Furthermore, Peer Consultants seem to agree that the Writing Center is a valuable place for student writers.  As one response puts it:

the Writing Center is beneficial for students of all majors even if it is just because they get another person’s perspective on their paper.  One rarely asks oneself[...] "Does this make sense?" so to have someone else read [the] paper with this question in mind can be eye-opening.  [...] the process of taking your paper to a different audience other than your professor is helpful for [science students] as well [as anyone else].  (PC 8)

This particular response echoes what several segments of the population at Wilkes seem to be indicating—that having others look at writing, beyond whether or not they can comment on the topic itself—is a beneficial and invaluable tool to have at one’s disposal.  In fact, this response raises the point that students often do not ask themselves if what they are writing makes sense, which is an important component of the writing process.  As the above consultant points out, having another set of eyes looking at the paper, regardless of whether or not that person can discuss the subject of the paper, is still a worthwhile experience.