Outside the Writing Center

            I was recently asked to read over a few application essays for my best friend at another college.  She is applying for an extremely competitive academic program in the nursing field.  If accepted, she will have a set academic track and an immediate career out of college.  However, if she is denied acceptance, then she must declare a separate major or wait another year to reapply, without a guaranteed spot in the program.  Given the importance of the essays, I gladly accepted her request to read over what she had written.  I would like to note that I was not the only reader of her work-she asked for the advice of other friends and family.  However, I challenge those who read this to think about the way that you would handle this situation: it’s your best friend asking for a second opinion, the essays are crucial for her acceptance, and there are several suggestions that you would like to make.  What would you do?

            I began my email “session” by reading over the prompts and her responses.  As I made notes in the margin, I suddenly realized the ethical dilemma I was a part of.  How much direction could I give?  I listed several general suggestions, commenting on the need for more formal language, and a few grammatical errors that I noticed.  To me, this was an acceptable approach to the situation, as I was not supplying very direct opinions or specific wordings of the passages.  However, I knew that I would have written the essays differently and therefore struggled with how much I could respond.  At times, I found myself commenting on how to reword certain passages.  It was difficult to keep the suggestions very general and leave the writer responsible for her work, but I understood that this was the best way to approach the situation.

Moreover, I believe that our friends and colleagues here at Wittenberg will ask for similar advice.  There will be times when we are not working at the Writing Center, but will be called upon for help.  How are we to respond?  I know that an outside “session” would not count as a formal visit to the Writing Center, but there will be writers that feel as though it could suffice.  I challenge those who read this post to think about the approach I took with regard to my best friend’s essays, commenting on what you would/would not do differently.  Also, what do you think we should do when other writers want our help outside of the Writing Center?