Faculty FAQs

A: Yes! Here is one for First Year Writing Program courses that can be used for other courses too:

The UIC Writing Center, located in 105 Grant Hall, offers free one-on-one tutoring sessions for courses and help with any other academic or professional writing from the Wednesday of Week 2 through finals week. You can schedule appointments with a tutor for in-person or online sessions.

The tutor will be able to work with you for up to 50 minutes per appointment.

To schedule an appointment, visit my.wconline.com. For more information including any updates, visit our website at writingcenter.uic.edu. If you ever have questions or would like help making an appointment, please contact us: writingcenter@uic.edu.

You can learn more about the Writing Center through this video: Welcome to the UIC Writing Center!

Any UIC student who has completed English 161 with a B or higher is eligible to take our semester-long tutor training course, English 282, 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 282 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 282 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.

After every session, usually within 24 hours, but by the end of the same week at latest, tutors write up a Writing Center 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, so that they can then forward it to any instructors 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 by the end of day they attended a tutoring session, and forward that to you when it does.

Please note that because we have a limited number of email sessions available, and these do not involve writer attendance and participation, we ask that instructors only offer extra credit for online or in-person sessions.

Another best practice we recommend if offering extra credit is to ask students to complete some kind of short reflection on what they took from the experience to earn the credit. We’ve found this helps students make the most of the 50 minute session.