Laura Stouffer

Philosophy of Consultation

As a linguist who has worked with multilingual speakers, my main focus when it comes to consulting is not perfecting grammar, but to make sure the writer’s ideas are presented well. I aim to help writers brainstorm ideas, organize their thoughts, and use appropriate language for the task at hand.

The first step in a good consultation session is to initiate a conversation with the writer about what they are writing and doing some brain-storming. When writers bring in papers, closing the computer or flipping the paper over and having a conversation about the topic allows ideas to manifest a little more organically. One student I was tutoring for an upcoming English test, which included a writing section, had difficulty writing about the example questions that could be on the test. One of the questions was, “What would you change about your country?” Not wanting to say something bad about his country, he did not know what to write about. I started a conversation about things I would change about the U.S. and he got some ideas from my examples that he could apply to India. I ask the writer to write down ideas as they come up in conversation because, as the Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors points out, this is a good brain-storming activity. Then, once the writer has a good amount of ideas written down, they can use those ideas for their writing.

During a session I want to know what the writer’s goals are for the piece that they are working on and ask about their current writing strategies. Have they written an outline or did they just write ideas as they occurred? Many writers struggle to create outlines for their writing because the idea of thinking out the entire paper beforehand is too overwhelming, so they might write a bunch of ideas down with very loose organization. One writer I helped with this issue was a friend who was worried about meeting a deadline. She had put off writing the paper because she was unsure of how to organize her thoughts. She wrote a bunch of ideas down before thinking about how they could relate to each other and support her thesis. This was the first thing I noticed when she asked me to read it. The Oxford Guide suggests using a point-predict strategy to check for a clear and logical organization of the ideas presented. I found things to add or remove to support a more logical flow this way. I asked her to read back passages that seemed difficult to understand and helped her find ways to rephrase her ideas. This method proved to be very effective because it helped her focus on the crucial points of her paper.

Writing in a second language is writing in another culture, which can make things difficult. In the case of cultural differences, one culture’s writing style may not fit the professor’s expectations. I give writers advice about how an American student would organize a paper, because it’s likely different from what they would do in their first language. I reviewed a short paper for a multilingual writer that used too many hyper-formal words and phrases, which was common for writing in their culture. I explained that this type of language can distract readers from the essay’s main points and helped them find simpler words and phrases to use. In this case, I advised the writer to use more direct language and clear supporting examples in order to make it easier for the audience to understand his ideas.

All languages share one specific thing in common: being a vehicle for meaning. My hopes as a consultant are to help all writers find their voice and express it in their writing by helping them generate new ideas and put them into writing in a direct, organized manner.