“What’s that?” is the response I receive most frequently when I tell friends I work in the Studiolab. Usually, I respond by saying, “You know, that place in the basement of the library with all of the computers.” While this description often results in an “oh that place” epiphany, it barely begins to scratch the surface of what the Studiolab is or what my job entails. As a consultant, I am trained to provide assistance with multimedia projects, from video editing to powerpoint presentations, as well as helping fellow students with any stage of the writing process.

Though these responsibilities may seem straightforward, each consultation is different, based on a variety of factors, including the outlook of the student, the type of project, and the stage of the project. Therefore, there is no real rubric to follow in doing a consultation, especially when it comes to writing consultations. While writing consultations are the most challenging due to their variability, for me, they are also the most rewarding, because I feel that this is the area where I can most directly help fellow students.

A consultation that I remember particularly well is one that I gave while working in the Studiolab this summer. To me, it represents why working in the Studiolab can be rewarding. For this consultation, I helped an adult student, who was taking a summer class on Shakespeare. The consultation itself was no different from the many I’d done before. In fact, when the student left, I felt that there was more I could have done to help, but was limited by time constraints. A few days later, I ran into this student on campus. He told me that his visit to the Studiolab had really helped him in writing his paper and said his professor was pleased with the progress he’d made.

A challenge in giving writing consultations is that, often, I am unsure of how much my advice has helped a student improve their paper. With such a limited time frame, it is virtually impossible to cover every aspect of a paper that needs improvement, so I am often left a with the feeling that I could’ve done more. This memorable consultation, however, showed me that we, as consultants, assist students in ways that we don’t even realize, simply by being willing to help.