Writing Intensive (WI) Program

Program Goals

UH Hilo's Writing Intensive Program is part of a UH system movement to incorporate more writing in courses from all disciplines. A "WI" course is a discipline-specific content course in which writing plays a major integrated role. Students can enroll in course sections designated as "WI" to gain greater understanding of course content through writing and learn how to write in ways appropriate to that discipline.

The hallmarks of a writing intensive course are:

1. Writing promotes learning of course materials.
2. Writing is considered to be a process in which multiple drafts are encouraged.
3. Writing contributes significantly to each student's course grade.
4. Students do a substantial amount of writing.  Depending on course content and the types of writing appropriate to the discipline, students may write critical essays or reviews, journals, lab reports, research reports or reaction papers.
5. To allow for meaningful professor-student interactions on each student's writing, Writing Intensive classes are restricted to a maximum of 20 students.

Writing Intensive Course Requirement

Students are required to take three Writing Intensive (WI) courses for graduation. At least one of these WI courses must be numbered 300 or above. 

The WI requirement for transfer students varies depending upon year of entry and transfer credits accepted by UH Hilo. (See the current UH Hilo Catalog for details.)

Check the current course schedule to see what classes are designated writing-intensive courses in any given semester. Please note that the selection varies each semester and classes may be cancelled prior to the start of each semester.

Link to WI Assessment Rubric

Writing Center

The Writing Center provides assistance to students on academic writing assignments in all disciplines. Under the supervision of the Writing Coordinator, tutors help students to work on critical thinking skills, discover and develop topics, generate information to support ideas, organize information, refine the style of a paper, and edit their own papers. Tutors can review a previously graded assignment (with instructor permission) to help students improve future performance. 

For More Information

Please contact Karla Hayashi, karlah@hawaii.edu, for additional information on the Writing Intensive Program and the Writing Center.