Consultations

We book all of our appointments through our consultation site. Log in with your Berea username and password on the main page and select a date/time you’d like to meet with a consultant. After you answer a few questions and confirm your request, you’ll receive an e-mail confirmation of the appointment.

A lot! Once you arrive, your consultant will ask you questions about your assignment and you’ll set some goals for your time together. They may also let you know a little about their writing background.

If you already have a draft, they may ask you to read it aloud and take notes on what they hear and how it aligns with the assignment. If you don’t have a draft, they may begin asking you questions about the topic, related readings, or your opinions. Taking notes during this conversation can help you shape your first draft.

Your consultant may give you suggestions from their own experiences with related assignments or pull resources to add additional elements to your work. They might also give you some writing prompts and ask you to freewrite for a few minutes.

At the end of the session, your consultant will ask you whether your goals were met. They may also send you some resources via e-mail. After the session, they will write a short summary of the session for our/your records. If your appointment is required, your consultant can send that summary to your instructor.

Consultations can last up to 50 minutes. If you need additional time, you can make an appointment for a later day. We ask that writers avoid making multiple appointments per day and instead take time to digest and implement the feedback from their Writing Studio sessions.

We will not automatically tell your professor you came to the Writing Studio. If your appointment is required by your professor and they’d like “proof” of your attendance, let us know. We can send a short summary of the appointment to them after your appointment.

Yes. To cancel or reschedule your consultation, you’ll log on to our consultation site and select the date-time you reserved. You should be able to select “Cancel appointment” and confirm the cancelation via a pop-up window.

Technically, no. We have pens, paper, and some shared laptop workstations you can use to access your assignment and any drafts saved in the cloud. However, it’s very helpful when folks bring a copy of their assignment and any related resources they’ve gotten in class. Most students bring their personal laptops, related readings, an assignment sheet, and a course syllabus. The more information we have about the context you’re writing in, the more we can help you.

Not at all. We work with folks at all stages of the writing process, which means we can help you even if you’ve just received your assignment sheet. Bring what you have. We’ll make the best use of our time together.

You can try! When you make an appointment, you have the option of selecting a specific consultant. We will always try our best to honor your request. However, this is workplace full of human beings, so sometimes, folks can’t make it to work and/or we need to move appointments around. That may mean you have to work with a different consultant than you originally planned.

All kinds! L&I 200 research paper? Yes! EDS 150 Final? Of course! Film Analysis? Uh huh! Marketing Plan? You know it! Artist Statement? Bring it in! Gilman Scholarship essay? Let’s go! Because our writing consultants come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, we’re eager to read work from a variety of disciplines.

Absolutely! A number of our consultants (and our director) are creative writers, so bring on those poems, plays, essays . . .

This is a common misconception about writing centers. Although many of the papers we read do come from courses in General Education, English, and Education, we love to work with–and are ready to support–writers from across the disciplines.

Of course!

Yes! Just like in a typical writing session, you’ll want to share some guiding questions and set some goals with your consultant. (“Do you follow my argument?” “Am I loud enough?” “Do my slides have too much text?”) Folks who needs some extra space to practice their presentations are also welcome to use our workshop room if it’s available.

Sometimes. We usually recommend that if folks are looking for academic articles, books, etc. as part of their writing process, they spend some time with Berea’s dedicated research librarians. Research librarians are experts at helping students find useful materials for their projects. To work with them, make an appointment online or stop by the Reference desk in Hutchins Library to see when one is available.

The Writing Studio consultants are a team of Berea students who represent all different disciplines and writing backgrounds. They were selected through a rigorous hiring process and receive a significant amount of training (via an academic course and weekly labor meetings). They are folks who have proven themselves to be generous readers and curious scholars, and they are excited to work with other writers. That said, they are also learning as they work. So, thank you for making appointments and being patient as they learn how to best help you.

Berea does not allow us to share student staff information on the berea.edu site, but we try to keep our consultation site updated with some consultant information. (You may need to mouse-over each name to get more info.)

You’re also welcome to drop by and read the staff profiles posted near the Writing Studio’s entrance.

All Writing Studio consultants take GST 280: Tutoring/Writing Pedagogy in the fall semester of their first year of work. They complete projects where they shadow other consultants, record and analyze their own work, and learn about key philosophies and figures in the field of writing studies. They also learn additional skills from our weekly labor meetings and specialized projects/tasks.

Apply! Each spring, we open up applications for a limited amount of time (typically beginning in February). To apply, you’ll first want to make sure applications are open via Berea’s Handshake portal. Then, complete a consultant application. We’ll reach out to schedule an interview once we receive your application and associated materials. Please note we do not hire first-year students.