Should I require my entire class to use the Writing Center?
No. We want you to encourage your students to utilize the Writing Center as part of their strategy to strengthen their writing skills, but we do not suggest that visits be required for an entire class. The logistical and pedagogical rationales are outlined below.
- While CEWC services complement the instruction in writing courses, we do not have sufficient staff to accommodate individual consultations for all the students in all courses.
- Students who visit under some form of requirement do not typically benefit from a consultation as much as those who come of their own volition. They may wish to visit very briefly, simply to obtain a proof-of-service form. Such visits have the potential to develop into beneficial consultations, but often they diminish access for the more self-motivated students.
- If you would like one of our Writing Specialists to develop a workshop specifically tailored to your class, or if you would like to ask about an embedded peer tutor or a regularly paired Specialist, please contact the Associate Director, Evin Groundwater, e.groundwater@uci.edu.
How to Instruct Your Students to Utilize the Writing Center
- How to Instruct Your Students to Utilize the Writing Center: This one page document describes the center’s three types of services as well as answers some frequently asked questions for instructors.
Workshops
- Workshop Request Form: Instructors, use this form if you want to request a specialist to visit your class. Advance notice of at least one month is required.
Writing Center Materials
- Writing Tutorial Referral Form: Instructors, use this form if you want to refer a student to the Center and want a report on what was covered during the consultation.
- Resources for Sentence-level Choices: This page contains resources for composing and reading sentences.
Course Planning
- Writing Requirements: An overview of writing requirements at UCI.
- CWC Faculty Resources and Guidelines for Upper-Division Writing Courses: Upper-division writing course guidelines, as well as instructions on how to propose such a course.
- Sample Syllabi: Sample syllabi from past upper-division writing courses.
- Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse: The WAC Clearinghouse offers a tremendous set of resources for faculty who teach both writing across the curriculum and writing in the disciplines. Research reports and scholarly studies complement practical advice in this must-see website.
- Teaching Multilingual Students: Teaching techniques & activities offered by faculty across disciplines to promote an inclusive classroom environment
Research
- Past CWCC Research: One-time and ongoing research projects in writing studies, composition studies, and writing across the curriculum by the Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator.
Writing Program Links
- Humanities Core Course
- English composition sequence
- First-Year Integrated Program
- Program in Academic English / ESL
Academic Honesty
- UCI Academic Integrity Policy, from the UC Irvine Academic Senate Manual.
- Academic Honesty Tips: A tipsheet on proper source citation & avoiding plagiarism, created by UCI instructors.
Comprehensive Writing Guides
- University of Wisconsin Writer’s Handbook: A student writer’s handbook with tips on everything from style to essay development to grammar and punctuation.