Entry 4 Part 1

I've been in the center a lot this week. Mostly because I had a difficult paper to write and wanted to "try out" the center from the other side. I had consults with both Justin and Shawn that both went really well. Even though they are both new as consultants, I really got a lot of good ground covered in each consultation.

While working with Justin we went over some basic brainstorming. I knew what I needed to write about and I had some of the main points I wanted to cover with some relevant quotes, but I just couldn't seem to get the paper jump started--that's where Justin came in. He basically looked at my stuff and started asking me questions. I responded and we began to have a discussion about the overall themes in the paper. It was helpful and fun. I never doubted Justin's ability as a consultant, but I was pleasantly surprised with how beneficial our consultation was.

After writing a draft, I met with Shawn to get some ideas for expansion and to see if I was getting my points across clearly. Again, this was a very successful consult. Shawn helped me realize what points in my paper were interesting and worthy of expansion and he also helped me figure out my shortcomings.

Overall, I was really impressed with the quality of our new tutors in the center. I got so much from my consults and feel like it helped me write--and re-write and re-write and re-write-- a great paper.