New issues of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric’s two student publications, Stylus: A Journal of First-Year Writing and Imprint, have been released. The new issue of Stylus can be found here and the new issue of Imprint is available here.
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Stylus publishes outstanding writing and research produced in UCF’s first-year composition courses. Imprint, meanwhile, is a magazine with the mission to “entertain, empower, and evoke action” to which any UCF student can submit. The publications share a common goal of putting a spotlight on student writing. Debbie Weaver, faculty adviser for Imprint, explains: “At the university, the only reward most students receive for their writing is a grade. And while there is satisfaction in receiving an ‘A’ in a class, having their writing published in an existing student publication presents an opportunity to showcase and validate them as writers differently than what exists in the classroom.”
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Many student authors do not expect their writing to be able to find an audience, but these publications make that a reality. Jaydelle Celestine, an Event Management major published in the newest issue of Stylus, says, “Having my work published makes me more conscious about the way I write, and places an emphasis on the quality of my work because I never know who could be reading and the opportunities that could be attached as a result.” Since both Stylus and Imprint are published online, their potential reach extends beyond the immediate UCF community. Authors who first appeared in Stylus have even had their writing re-published in textbooks used across hundreds of college campuses around the country.
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Stylus and Imprint also seek to shift students’ views of the work they do in their courses, demonstrating that their writing can do more than simply meet the requirements of an assignment. Sophomore Arielle Feldman, whose essay, “Galaxy-Wide Writing Strategies Used by Official Star Wars Bloggers” appears in the new issue of Stylus, argues for the importance of student writers finding ways of linking what they are learning about in their classes to their individual interests. “Being published in Stylus means that I get to share my passion of writing with other students, while also hopefully showing them that essays don’t have to be ‘boring,’” Feldman says. “You can write about a subject that interests you and still create something that the academic community will appreciate.”
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Stylus and Imprint will be accepting submissions for new issues throughout the Spring term. For more information on submission guidelines and to read previous issues, please visit their websites.
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Stylus: A Journal of First-Year Writing – https://cah.ucf.edu/writingrhetoric/stylus/index.php
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Imprint – https://cah.ucf.edu/writingrhetoric/imprint/
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