As a consultant in the Writing and Media Lab, I strive to dialogue with other students about their writing in order to improve their overall skills as a writer. I hope to encourage students to feel confident in their writing so they feel comfortable learning about writing and how to improve. I want to be a resource for my peers by listening to and helping reflect upon pieces of writing. I think writing can always be improved, but it is sometimes difficult to implement those improvements without the suggestions of a third party. I hope to be that third-party view to suggest and discuss potential changes.

Writing has become more of an individualized activity through stress placed on students in academic settings. Without understanding the realities of the peer review process of academic writing, students do not end up writing to the best of their ability. Students struggle through the writing process alone, from interpreting a prompt to generating ideas to crafting those ideas into a piece of writing to polishing that piece of writing, because that is the educational system in which they are educated. Students mostly undergo individual testing, so they understand education to be an individual process. Instead, education could be a communal experience through which students and teachers work together to learn and teach each other.

The method of consulting returns to this more communal learning process. It allows students to engage in critical discussion with other students about pieces of writing to improve that piece of writing and the writer’s future writing. Instead of a proof reading, grammar focused discussion with right and wrong answers, consulting is an educational dialogue in which students work together to learn. Students can share their experiences through this process to create a richer learning experience for the writer and the consultant.

I think the most important part of consulting is that the consultants learn about writing as well. We are not simply imparting our writing knowledge on less-educated students; rather we are engaged in the learning process with the writer. I believe consultants should learn about the writer through their writing, about the topic of the piece of writing, and about writing in general during a consultation. Writers develop any piece of writing based on past experiences. This could include grammatical knowledge from formal education or street knowledge from life experiences. Because each person has a unique background and upbringing, his or her writing style and is different, and the information included is specific to that writer’s experiences. Consultants have the opportunity to learn about students through their writing, and I think this allows consultants to effectively engage and develop with writers.