This week, we had several students who needed help with personal statements. Ali was in the Writing Center with me, so we both tried to help the students brainstorm ideas. I was in the middle of helping one student when I stopped and asked him, "So, is this helping?" He had seemed a little taken aback by the whole situation.
He finally said he had come in for grammar, and hadn't expected us to discuss things like clarity, flow, and theme. I told that, except for a few small errors, his grammar was fine, but with personal statements, you've got to try to make them interesting and at least a little bit different from every other personal statement the graduate school receives. He agreed, and said the session was really helping him.
But I wonder if it's intimidating to students when we tell them about other issues with their paper when all they want is grammar help. I usually try to ask the student what they think they need help with, and go from there. If something else pops up, I'll definitely mention it, but otherwise, I try to let them lead.
These students have never been to the writing center before, and I don't want them to say "oh yeah, this helps, thanks!" while we're there, but, because they've felt intimidated, curse our names when they leave because they think we told them they should write their personal statement OUR way.
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