Instructor FAQs about promoting the Writing Center to students

A: Yes!

The Writing Center peer tutors will be available from Wednesday of Week 2 through the end of Finals Week. You can choose to work with a tutor three ways. You can schedule an in-person session and meet with the tutor in 105 Grant Hall. Or you can chat with a tutor through a zoom-like space provided by the Writing Center. Finally, you can ask a tutor to provide comments by email on a section (up to 3 pages) of your writing.

You will find tutoring conversations are respectful and friendly. Tutors will begin the session by finding out more about your assignment. Together you will decide on what you would like to focus on in the session. Tutors are ready to help you even if you have no writing and wish to start an assignment. Tutors can also help if you already have writing and would like to take the next step. You can work on any writing, not only on writing for this class. Many students come to work on personal statements, job applications, and the different writing assignments in their majors. Tutors will help you make choices, share their own writing experience, and provide resources so you can complete your assignment with confidence after the tutoring session is over.

If you are using the Writing Center for the first time, tutors will be happy to guide you through your first session. You can learn more about the Writing Center through this short video: https://youtu.be/kC2-QTf-Wgo

To schedule an appointment, visit https://uic.mywconline.com/. For more information including any updates, visit our website at https://writingcenter.uic.edu/.

If you ever have questions or would like help making an appointment, please contact us: wconlinehelp@gmail.com.

Any UIC student who has completed English 161 or the equivalent with an A or B is eligible to take our semester-long tutor training course, English 222, which is part Writing Center pedagogy seminar/part apprenticeship where students tutor 2 hours a week on a volunteer basis for credit. Students who complete 222 are then eligible then to apply for a paid staff position. It’s a competitive hiring process, since we have more applicants than openings, but students who do well in the class and in tutoring feedback have a great shot.

For any student interested, here is a sample course description:

English 222: Peer Tutoring in the Writing Center:  Introduction to Theory and Practice

English 222 prepares students to tutor writing from all academic disciplines and levels. The course is reading- and writing intensive, drawing on established theory and evidence-based practice from the field of writing center studies. As part of the course, students tutor two hours a week starting the fifth week of the semester. Students continue to meet in class in small sections capped at 12 throughout the semester, analyzing their sessions, critically engaging theories of tutoring, conducting research, and developing collaborative approaches to tutoring that foster an inclusive community among fellow UIC students. With its emphasis on integrating learning with practice, the course is ideal for students of all majors who would like to develop professional skills, especially critical thinking, communication in diverse environments, and leadership.

Prerequisite: A or a B in English 161 (or the equivalent transfer course) or in other courses that have a substantial writing requirement.

The UIC Writing Center offers a limited amount of in-class visits. The purpose of a WC class visit is to
–introduce our services,
–allow students to meet some of our tutors,
–explain the benefits of peer tutoring,
–and to get students registered for a WCOnline account so that they may start booking appointments.

At this time, we are offering two types of class visits:

1. Introduction to services (35-50 min, but flexible)– 2-3 tutors and one of the directors will give an interactive presentation on our services, including instructions on how to register for an account and book a tutoring session.

2. Tutor panel (50+ min)–3-4 tutors and one of the directors will form a small “panel” to answer students’ questions about peer tutoring, academic writing, time management, and college life at UIC in general.

Depending on the needs of your class, you may request one or both of these sessions. For classes of 15 students or less, the visit may take place in the WC (Grant Hall 105). For classes larger than 15, we will visit you in your class.

All requests for class visits should be submitted using this form. If we cannot schedule a visit on your first choice of times, we will follow up with you and try to schedule a time later in the semester. We will do our best to visit your class, but scheduling conflicts may preclude our meeting every request.

If we cannot provide a live presentation, we can offer a recorded version. You will be able to let us know on the form.

Students can benefit from a visit later in the semester as well as earlier. For both, students tend to make appointments right after the visit — sometimes, it is even better that they come for the more substantial assignments in the second half of the semester.

If you have any other questions about UIC Writing Center class visits, please reach out to our Graduate Assistant Director and class visit coordinator, Katie Brandt at kbrand7@uic.edu, and she will be happy to assist.

After every session, within 48 hours, though usually sooner, tutors write up a “client report form” documenting the session with a letter to the writer summing up the work they did together and next steps. It gets emailed automatically by wconline to the writer as a “Writing Center Report” (see image for example), so that they can then forward it to any teachers who need proof of attendance. So if you’d like to know about student visits, you can tell them to look out for the Writing Center Report email that should come to them from wconline within 48 hours their session, and just forward that to you when it does. If a student doesn’t receive the Writing Center Report, they can call the Center or stop by the desk, and we’ll be sure to resend.