By Melanie Dostis, News Staff
The student writing composed in Northeastern’s required writing classes will soon be publicly displayed after the launch of a new online journal, NU Writing.
The journal is an initiative of Northeastern’s writing program and will include student work of all genres written for First-Year Writing or Advanced Writing in the Disciplines classes.
“All students will have the opportunity to publish something and imagine themselves as writers,” said Michael Dedek, an assistant to the writing program overseeing the formation the journal.
The idea for the journal has been discussed by the writing department since last semester but Dedek has been pushing it into existence since January.
“[The journal is] in its infancy right now – in the embryonic stage,” Dedek said.
“Right now we’re trying to figure out how to get more students to know about it.” said sophomore business administration major Sage Witham, who serves on the journal’s editorial board. “I never would have heard about if it hadn’t been for my professor.”
Witham serves on the editorial board with four other students who have a diverse range of majors including business, nursing and math. One of their primary goals is to reach out to all types of students.
“I have never heard of NU Writing – ever,” freshman Sarah Wilson said. “But that might also be because I’m an engineering major and I’m only in college writing because I have to be.”
The editorial board is developing a Twitter account, as well as posting flyers and chalking announcements to stir up interest around campus.
All students, including those who took First-Year Writing or or Advanced Writing in the Disciplines prior to this semester, can submit pieces for review. Dedek hopes to receive more than 100 submissions and post the journal online toward the end of the semester. Around 20 students have already sent submissions to the editorial board for consideration.
While it is not a requirement, some professors are encouraging students to submit their work to the journal.
“It’s a great way to showcase student writing,” said Kimberly Freeman, the director of the Advanced Writing in the Disciplines program. “Future students can see what is being done in class.”
Dedek said he hopes the journal will grant some permanence to assignments that might otherwise be filed away and never read again.
“Classroom writing is isolated, it could fade away if it lacks a good audience,” Dedek said.
Freeman said the main goal of the writing program is to share student writing. Previously, the writing program held a contest every year and winners received a gift certificate to the bookstore. Their work was published in a small booklet which was then purchased as required reading by future students taking the class.
“It allowed for a limited domain,” Dedek said. “Ideally some sense of community would arise [from the journal].”
Freeman said NU Writing has a chance to widen students’ perceptions of what their writing could be.
“It’s a kind a of visual exploration of the writing that goes on,” Freeman said. “It shows the wide variety of writing that is done in the program.”
While the journal’s success is not guaranteed, Witham hopes it will become embedded in the writing program.
“I hope it becomes that when you take a writing class, submitting your paper to the journal becomes standard, and that we will be able to publish a physical journal one day,” she said.
Dedek explained that for now, he hopes to publish the journal once a semester online.
“More and more people are using the Internet,” he said. “Hopefully, it will push students to publish more often, maybe even publish their own blog.”
