It's a gloomy Wednesday, you're drenched from hiking up the hill in the pouring rain, and you can feel your stress levels beginning to rise with each step you take. You have a test tomorrow, a paper due the day after that, and you don't know when you're going to have time for a lunch break--next Tuesday, maybe? You're on your way into the writing center, paper clutched tightly in hand, and you just want this day to be over with.
You round the corner and walk into the room, located on the main floor of Cherry Hall, for the first time in your academic career. Perhaps you are a freshman still finding your way in this great big world of academia or perhaps you are a graduating senior who doesn't really want to be here in the first place. (You won't tell your tutors that, though, will you?) You cross over the threshold, taking in the round tables with multiple students filling them. You don't think you can even differentiate who is helping whom. They're all student, each and every one of them--like you.
"Can I help you?"
You turn your head and smile at the person sitting behind the reception desk. You think you might recognize her from one of your classes.
"Yes, I was wondering if I could meet with someone about my paper? I've heard this is where you go," you say.
The girl smiles at you.
"You've got it," she says. "The sign-in sheet is right behind you. Someone will be with you in a moment, if you want to have a seat."
You nod, reaching for the pen and paper. You fill out the necessities--name, student identification number, time of day, and course title--and then take a seat on the couch beneath the white board. As you wait, you spend your time checking your phone and trying not to guess at which student you'll be sharing your work with.
Writing is an extremely personal thing for you. You both love and loathe the process, and you can't help but feel your cheeks flush and your heart beat erratically any time someone dares to look too closely at the words you've carefully placed on paper. Sometimes you're extremely grateful that you don't have to be present as your professors read your assignments--the red pen is bad enough. Sometimes there's a little and sometimes there's a lot, but either way it breaks your heart.
Sometimes, more often than not, you think, you can't even bring yourself to read the tightly scrawled notes.
"Are you ready to get started?" you hear. Your head snaps up, eyes falling on the speaker.
You nod at this person who must be your tutor and follow her to one of the round tables in the corner of the room. You can't help but note that you have a rather nice view out the window from where you're now seated. The cherry blossoms are dancing in the wind, the skies beginning to cloud with another April shower. It's almost calming in a way--the calm before the storm. You wish you hadn't forgotten your umbrella, though.
"So, what can I help you with?" the tutor asks.
"Grammar," you say immediately. Grammar has always been your weakness, the biggest drain on your confidence. If you could only make it go away, eschew all the rules, then you would be more than happy to. Unfortunately, your professors, it seems, disagree with that philosophy.
The girl sitting beside you nods, picking up a purple pen and uncapping it.
"Mhm," she says. "What is your assignment about? What class is it for?"
You launch into your explanation of the assignment: what it is, whom it's for, and all the problems you've been having with it. You don't like your thesis at all, and you're not feeling confident about the third paragraph, but you really like the way you bring out this one point in paragraph five.
You tell her all of this, watching a smile spread across her face.
"Okay," she says. "Let's start with that thesis statement then."
The next half an hour passes by rather quickly. Together you read through your paper, catching errors and inaccuracies on occasion, but also finding strong textual analysis and well-written content. It's not a perfect draft, but it doesn't have to be: it is a first draft, after all.
When the minute hand eventually signals the conclusion of the session, you're feeling good about your paper. There were some hiccups along the way--that's life--but you leave feeling more confident about your paper than you did before you walked through the door a half hour ago.
Two weeks later finds you in the writing center again. This time, you work with a different tutor--one who is just as nice and helpful as your tutor before. For this paper, you don't even have a draft written yet, just an idea that's beginning to blossom in your head. You tell your tutor as much, and he nods encouragingly.
"We can work with that," he says with a laugh.
Together your chart the trajectory of your paper, filling in a blank outline with your words and ideas. It's more than just going through the motions, you think: it's progress.
When you leave this appointment, you have another scheduled a few days down the line.
"Come back whenever you're ready," your tutor tells you. "We're happy to look at another draft with you."
And you do.
The Writing Center at WKU offers support for all students who are enrolled at the university. We offer services in two respective locations, Cherry Hall 123 and the Commons at Cravens Library, as well as online appointments for students attending WKU's regional campuses or exclusively taking online courses.
Contrary to some misconceptions, the Writing Center isn't simply an editing service. Instead, we work with students to help them improve their overall writing abilities, not just a singular paper. We're there for you at any stage in the writing process, whether you're brainstorming or looking at a final draft.
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