Celebrating Student Success
This annual, open access journal showcases outstanding student papers from various sections of ISUP’s first-year courses: ISP100 Writing for University and Beyond, ISP010: Basics of Writing in English (BoWiE), as well as utmONE Scholars Seminars.
The papers are derived from a "writing about writing" approach to pedagogy, which is the first of its kind in Canada. As such, the journal features compelling perspectives from students with diverse backgrounds, interests and experiences.
The journal also serves as a celebration of student success after a year filled with challenging social, political, and educational circumstances.
The Publication Process
Led by ISUP's Writing Studies faculty members, the papers included in each volume represent the crème de la crème from our classes. Students across ISP100, ISP010, and utmONE Scholars Seminars are encouraged to submit their papers.
The submissions are then anonymized and distributed to editorial teams (each comprised a faculty mentor and volunteer student reviewers) for review. Successful papers are assigned a faculty mentor who supports the student writer through various revision processes.
The initiative offers students a host of learning opportunities. Students with successful papers have the opportunity to engage in a publication process which closely mirror academic publication processes. Furthermore, they receive one-to-one mentorship from a writing faculty member and, in turn, continue to build upon the writing foundations developed through their courses.
The journal is supported by numerous volunteer student reviewers who also benefit from several learning opportunities:
- They each participate in a training session that introduces them to academic review processes;
- They work in small teams led by a writing faculty member, allowing them to build connections with mentors and peers;
- Students learn to collaborate, negotiate differences of opinion, and adjudicate a host of excellent papers.