The Hazards of Hats

People simplify too much. People are prone to underestimate the complexity of seemingly straightforward endeavors, tasks, or occupations. On college campuses this manifests itself through professors assigning too much work for students to enjoy the material, students overcommitting themselves to extracurriculars, or over-programming and regimenting student schedules.

Like most professions, writing consulting is not as one-dimensional as it may seem. Sure, the title "Writing Consultant" itself gives you a clear idea of what that person's job is, but titles can be misleading. For instance, even though a math teacher's job is to teach math, he also has a responsibility to act as a mentor, encourage positive behaviors, and engage his students outside of class through activities or clubs. Comparably, a good writing consultant adopts a whole host of roles associated with their actual "job".

In the third chapter of The Bedford Guide to Writing Tutors by Leigh Ryan and Lisa Zimmerelli the other types of roles that writing consultants fulfill are discussed. They include the ally, the coach, the commentator, the collaborator, the writing "expert", the learner and the counselor. While all of these different "hats" that consultants can put on sound like positive amplifications of the impact a good writing consultant can have on writers, I would like to throw out some cautionary measures before we get too involved in this hat dance.

Ally - A good writing consultant wants to win over their tutee, but the process to achieving a trusting relationship can be hazardous. Consultants need to be careful to avoid badmouthing professors or criticizing grading policies. The problem with making allies is you can make enemies.

Coach - Sometimes you want your player to win so bad, you cheat. Consultants who want their tutees to do well may be tempted to write portions of the paper for them or suggest too much. The writing has to remain the writers.

The Commentator - When trying to get a writer to see the broader context of the writing process, consultants need to make sure they don't impose their process on others. If it works for the consultant, great, but tutees need to have enough space and constructive support to forge their own process, even if it differs from their tutor's.

The Collaborator - Consultants need to know when it is appropriate to make suggestions and when it isn't. Suggestions should be provocative, not declarative. If a writer is using the same phrase too many times, ask if they can come up with synonyms. If not, suggest one, and leave it at that.

The Writing "Expert"- Consultants want to be professional. They want to know what they're talking about. But no one's perfect, and consultants need to be able to swallow their pride and look up grammatical technicalities and use the writer's web tool so that they don't end up making their tutee's papers worse rather than better.

The Learner - Just as tutee's can plagiarize from their consultants, consultants may "learn" a thing or two from their tutees. Consultants need to be able to distinguish between building others with others versus thoughtlessly adopting them.

The Counselor - Writing consultants who know their tutees well may be tempted to take too large of a role themselves. Consultants need to recognize when they are not in their area of expertise, and contact the appropriate person to deal with troublesome situations.