My First Shadowing Experience

                Last week I was able to observe my first writing tutoring experience.  It was interesting to be on the outside, and quite a bit less stressful I would imagine.  But what I found, from this one experience, is that I do not need to stress as much as I first thought.  The girl asking for help was incredibly nice, bright, and talkative.  We spoke to each other even before the writing consultant came and she explained that she needed him to review her application for an internship this summer abroad.

                As soon as the writing tutor entered the room, he was casual but still professional.  He greeted her, asked what she needed, and then sat down to work with her.  The entire conversation lasted about twenty minutes, in which he read her article and then offered ideas to better convey her enthusiasm for the project.  Interestingly, one of the things that he spoke of was to delve right into the information; by stating upfront what she wanted to do with this programs, she would be bringing the reader in and not holding him or her at a distance.

                Richard Lanham, a professor at UCLA, speaks about the importance of making language “clear and concise.”  His fourth point in his “Paramedic Method” is to draw the reader in immediately, telling them clearly what is going on.  I believe he makes a great point here—even if it may take a while to accomplish this smoothly and is easier said than done. 

                The point here is that the writing consultant helped out the writer; he pointed to places that needed strength, that needed the dramatic pulling in of the reader, to set her application apart from the others on the table.  The writer left happy, refreshed, and able to set to work on her paper, one written by herself, and not by the writing tutor.