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Writing 180, Writing Conference

Writing 180 is a .5 unit credit/no credit conference course. Students must complete fourteen hours of Humanities Center time during the semester in order to receive credit.

Throughout the year, during scheduled hours, the Humanities Center is staffed by English instructors. Students who enroll in Writing 180, Writing Conference, may regularly discuss and explore assignments and writing strategies in an individual conference with an instructor on duty.

Frequently Asked Questions About Writing 180, Writing Conference

Where is Writing 180?

Conferences take place in the Humanities Center, Room A303, in the Humanities and Fine Arts Building at Irvine Valley College. Drop-in conferences are available Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m, and on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon. Please remember that the Writing Conference schedule can become quite busy, and you may have to wait to see an instructor.

What kinds of help can I get in Writing 180?

The Writing Conference is structured around your need at the time of your conference. You can come for help at any time during the process of writing your assignments--during brainstorming, drafting, outlining, composing, revising. Or, you can converse with a Writing 180 instructor to explore and discover your ideas. Here are a few writing activities that Writing 180 instructors customarily address during conferences:

understand an assignment
generate ideas
pre-write
develop a thesis
recognize and address an audience
organize supporting points
acknowledge resources
revise earlier drafts
improve proofreading and editing skills

Writing 180 instructors do not, however, proofread, edit, ghostwrite, or research any student writer's work. Instead, the Writing 180 instructors act as collaborators engaged in a dialogue intended to help you to become a better, more confident writer.

What sorts of assignments can I bring to Writing 180?

Writing 180 instructors help you tackle a range of assignments from courses across the curricula offered at the college. Here are just a few:

journal entries
lab reports
summary-critiques
analytical and interpretative essays
familiar essays
document analyses
research papers
college admission biographies
letters
creative writing

What should I bring to the Writing Conference?

You need not bring a completed paper. Many students discover that by conferring with a Writing 180 instructor during the writing process, they are able to generate ideas that help them write more thoughtfully when they return to the assignment on their own. Bring your assignment, your draft, part of your paper, your ideas, your working thesis--whatever you have at your stage of the writing process.
Keep in mind that the most important thing you bring to the Writing Conference is a question, a concern, and a willingness to improve your writing abilities.

Humanities Center
Irvine Valley College
5500 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, California 92618

Email Linda Thomas, Chair of the Department of English,
with questions regarding Writing 180.

See Schedule of WR 180 Instructors for Fall 2002
Return to Humanities Center Main Page