By Cassy Sottile
News Editor
Washington College Review (WCR) published its first round of student work on April 20.
The first upload includes two First Year Seminar pieces — freshman Ian Adams’s essay from Associate Professor of Business Management Michael Harvey’s “Becoming a Citizen Leader” course and sophomore Emma Cease’s essay from Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Studies Dr. Rebecca Fox’s “Science of Reality TV” course.
“The two papers are very different, from very different fields, and help showcase the scope of FYS courses we [WC] have available,” junior and Managing Editor of WCR MacKenzie Brady said.
WCR publishes work from FYS courses, W2s — which have been loosely defined to include writing from any 100 or 200-level course, W3s — which have been defined as writing from any 300 or 400- level course, artwork from any course regardless of level, and a student capstone experience issue in fall 2020, according to Brady.
WCR also published their “Faculty in Focus” piece with Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dr. Emily Steinmetz two weeks ago, according to junior and WCR Editor-in-Chief Justin Nash.
“In [Faculty in Focus pieces], professors respond to questions about how they write and revise and give advice for students as well. Every professor approaches writing so differently, but the advice is always spectacular,” Nash said.
WCR holds two submission periods — one in the second half of the fall semester and the other in the first half of the spring semester. Students can submit their work to washcoll_review@washcoll.edu.
“For this semester, we have decided to move to a rolling publication schedule to help distribute the editorial workload. Next week, we will see a batch of pieces from W2 courses, the week after that will feature W3s, and we will finish out with artwork,” Nash said. “W4s, more commonly known as SCEs, will come out in the fall.”
The sections will be uploaded to the WCR website on Monday mornings and announced on their Twitter account, according to sophomore and Associate Editor for Media and Design Erica Quinones, who is also a news editor for The Elm.
“Putting together this issue has been a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. Because of COVID-19, we moved from an issue with a firm publication date and launch party to one with a rolling publication date,” Brady said. “We are still open for SCE submissions, so seniors should absolutely send their theses our way.”
As the WCR issue rolls out, there will be a lot of work from across campus at every level. The community should look out for senior Meg Klink’s painting “June 2, 2008,” according to Brady.
“I really enjoy our selection of W3 works; because we are a journal of the liberal arts, we obviously have a diverse submission pool including pieces from across departments,” Quinones said. “But the W3 lineup this year is probably the most variable in topics, representing the excellent work coming from all subjects.”
Nash is also excited about a piece in the W3 category.
“‘Miles Morales as Influence or Influencer: Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Spider-Man in Diversity Discourse’ by senior Heber Guerra-Recinos. As the title suggests, the piece analyzes Miles Morales’s appearance in the Spider-Man comics and tries to decipher whether Marvel’s diversification of superheroes was preempting or in response to reader demand,” Nash said. “The research is really well done and falls within the discipline of book history, something with which not many people are familiar.”
WCR helps students read papers in their discipline or across disciplines, which likely will help them with their own research and writing, according to Nash.
“The one thing that every student at WC has in common is that we are all doing academic writing. No matter what major you are, what citation style you are working in, or what kind of essay you are writing we are all constantly writing and developing those research and argument skills that will get us jobs and help us in the workforce,” Brady said.
WCR showcases the work all campus departments are putting out side-by-side and allows readers to see the overlap and interdisciplinary approaches within academic studies, according to Quinones.
“If you are studying the rhetoric of a historical leader — take our good boy George — a political science major may focus on his speeches, letters, and so on. But an art history major may instead turn to the physical depictions of him — the statues, paintings, and engravings commissioned or popularized. Both are valid approaches and they can inform and strengthen each other, but it is not necessarily an overlap you would conceive of without seeing the scope of studies within each discipline,” Quinones said.