As a consultant, my hope is that I encourage writers to feel confident in their writing enough to seek constructive criticism. This criticism will produce better writers and not just better pieces of writing. I think it takes someone who is secure with what they have written to accept suggestions to change and improve it. In my experience, students who come in unsure of their work do not feel comfortable speaking up for their writing choices. I often question writers about choices they made in their writing, not because it is wrong, but because I think it would useful for them to talk about why they made the choice they did. Unconfident writers assume that any questioning from an authority constitutes a wrong answer. I want to help create writers who can explain their choices and discuss potential options for that instance and for other pieces of writing in the future.

I think this goal ties into the title of “consultant” well. The title of “tutor” suggests a sense of authority that I want to avoid. Instead of being the more knowledgeable authority on writing, I want writers to see me as a peer giving constructive criticism to improve writing as we discuss their writing together. As a consultant on a college campus, writers may be discouraged from engaging in a discussion about their writing as they struggle to meet class due dates. North introduces the process of a writing center by describing writers as people who want and need to talk about the writing they have done (439-440), but students sometimes lose sight of the importance of talking through writing as they become overwhelmed by classwork.

As a consultant, I want to break this cycle of writing and add discussion back into the process to allow for constructive criticism and improvement. North claims, “tutors…measure their success…in terms of the changes in the writer” as “they observe…and are charged to change it…in ways that will leave the ‘ritual’ itself forever altered” (439). Though he uses the title of “tutors,” I still embrace this goal as a Writing and Media Lab consultant. In my opinion, creating better writers overall is a more fulfilling goal than improving individual pieces of writing. Changing the writing process can improve writing in the future, an important skill in our communication driven society.