Writing Center Usage Policies

What to Expect During Your Consultation

Writing consultations are a collaborative conversation between a student and a Writing Center consultant during which you’ll discuss your writing and strategies for how to improve it. To aid that process, please come to your consultation ready to discuss the writing that you’re working on, and most students find it beneficial to bring a copy of the writing that you’d like to discuss, and the writing prompt or assignment details - you will need a digital copy for online consultations, and either a digital or hardcopy for face-to-face consultations. We have desktop computers and paper available, however you may prefer to bring your own laptop, tablet, or notebook.

Focusing on Revision Instead of Editing

Because writing is a complex process that requires you to adapt writing strategies and skills to many different situations, our focus is on helping you make improvements that you fully understand and can apply to future assignments. As a result, our consultations include a discussion of which aspects of a piece of writing are most in need of improvement, why that’s the case, and how that improvement could be accomplished.

This process of prioritized improvement is what we call revision. Revision can occur at any stage in your writing, and includes attention to the expectations of your audience, your ideas, organization, grammar, and many other aspects of your writing. Since revision requires your active engagement with these different parts of your writing, our consultants do not edit your writing and return it to you. We are happy to help you identify patterns of error in grammar use, however you should be willing to discuss different aspects of your writing in order to identify how an audience perceives the many elements of a successful piece of writing.

Using Our Scheduling System, WCOnline

To gain access to writing support on days and times that work best with students’ schedules, the Writing Center provides WCONLINE, a scheduling system that allows you to choose the specific service, date, and time that best suit your needs.

Creating Your Account in WCOnline

To create an account, visit WCONLINE, click “Register for an account” toward the top of the page, and enter the requested information. You should use a valid email address and your seven-digit UH ID number when registering. It is important that you only create one account and accurately input your information because it will be used to send appointment confirmations and notifications, as well as to help you check-in on the day of your consultation. Passwords can be reset by opening the “Reset your Password” link on the login page.

Scheduling a Consultation

Once you have registered, you should choose a service from the list on WCOnline’s homepage, and click “Log in.” Consultations can be scheduled by clicking on an available appointment, identified as a white box on the schedule, and then entering the information requested in the appointment form (note: the appointment form is a pop-up window, so you may need to allow pop-ups in your browser in order to access it). Once you have entered your information and selected “Create Appointment” at the bottom of the form, the box identifying your scheduled consultation will appear yellow on the schedule, and you will soon receive a confirmation email.

We strongly recommend that appointments be scheduled in advance of your desired date and time in order to guarantee availability.

Consultation Availability

Appointments can be scheduled until 24 hours beforehand through WCOnline. While we try to arrange our schedule to accommodate as many students as we can, our schedule often books completely. Therefore, we cannot guarantee availability and suggest making appointments several days or more in advance, especially during busy times of the semester such as the middle of each term and prior to finals. Restrictions on the number of consultations that students can make may apply based on consultation availability. If students need to book same-day appointments or cannot find availability, they should contact the appropriate program manager listed on the scheduling page of each service, or call the Writing Center at (713)743-3016 or send an email to writingcenter@uh.edu.

Consultation Check-in

The UH Writing Center is located in the Classroom and Business Building (CBB) on the second floor. Consultation check-in is in room 228.

On the appointment date, students should arrive on time. A consultant will greet the student, conduct the meeting, and take the student through the end-of-consultation process. If there are any problems connecting with the scheduled consultant, you can notify a staff member in room 220 and we will be happy to help.

Missed Consultations and Running Late for Appointments

If a student arrives 10 minutes or more after the scheduled start time of a consultation, or if a student does not appear for an appointment, the consultation will be marked as “missed.” Two “missed” appointments on a student’s account will prompt WCOnline to disable the account.

To let your consultant know that you are running late, to get help re-activating an account, or for solutions to other problems with WCOnline, please call (713)743-3016 or email writingcenter@uh.edu.