Thomas,
I commend you for your thoughtful and intelligent response to the objections
in this discussion. Students publish their creative writing in college
literary magazines, so why not start a student academic journal? The point
behind the academic community is to encourage an exchange of good ideas,
readings, interpretations, critical thinking.
Plagiarism is always a problem, but it should not stop students, or anyone,
from writing. There are plagiarism detectors available (for example,
turnitin.com), and teachers have access to them.
As an undergraduate teacher of composition and literature, I have observed
that students are motivated to write and read if they have a sense that
their work matters to an audience. Also, if the students are invited into
the discussion about the texts, they get excited about the works, and web
publication is one way of extending the discussion to a wider sphere, beyond
the teacher. If a student journal encourages discussion and thereby improves
student learning, why not pursue the idea?
How many faculty have never learned anything from their students? How many
faculty have never gotten ideas for research from students, even the weaker
ones? In a journal, there might just be an article with useful insights
that would spark further exploration of the topic.
Moreover, Shakespeare did not write just for academics. He wrote for
audiences. The point behind the journal should not have to do with career
advancement or graduate school, but advancement of our knowledge and
understanding of Shakespeare, in his own spirit of writing for people on
many levels.
Furthermore, do we halt web publication or display of art, stories, and
other work by students in K-12 schools and in colleges and universities just
because the authors are not professionals? If we encourage student
performances of plays, art, creative writing, most of which is still in the
formative stage, why not academic papers? Whatever motivates learning should
be encouraged! The more students practice their writing for audiences
beyond the classroom, the better. Thomas, I wish you much success in your
brave endeavor. Good luck to you!
Elza C. Tiner
Geraldine Lyon Owen Professor of English
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Lynchburg College
-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Larque [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, May 31, 2002 2:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: International Undergraduate Shakespeare Journal
> I have real qualms about the professionalization of undergrad studies: >
quite apart from the concerns others have already expressed. Against
> current trends, I believe the university system these days is pushing
> even graduate students into giving papers at conferences, and
> submitting papers to journals, etc., too soon and too often; and an
> undergrad journal moves these pressures back even further
> into yet earlier academic years.
Well, all that I can really say here is that as an undergraduate myself I
already want to get published, and am very proud of the fact that my theatre
and book reviews have been published in a prestigious academic journal
("Shakespeare Bulletin") - something that most undergraduates would not get
the chance to do. It is certainly true that I am unusually obsessed with
Shakespeare, but I am fairly certain that there are other undergraduates out
there who, like me, would very much like to have their work considered and
published. Very simply, if I am wrong, and this is not something that
undergraduates want to do, then there will be no submissions to my Journal
and the project will fail.
The main point is that undergraduates will not be forced to write for my
Journal. Nobody will fail their course or lose marks for not doing so. On
the other hand there are certainly a good number of students who are, at
least in principle, interested in doing something extra-curricular involving
Shakespeare. At the two universities where I have (very casually) canvassed
for students interested in Shakespearean projects, there have been four to
five immediate responses from each institution. Multiply this by the number
of Universities who would be able to access an online Journal over the
Internet and there must be hundreds if not thousands of potentially
interested students. They should certainly not be forced to do additional
work on Shakespeare in their spare time if they do not want to, but at the
same time they should not be prevented from doing so either.
>Why should undergrads want to
> publish academic articles unless they are going to go on (to grad
> school, to journalism, etc.)?--in which case they will be able to publish
> from these other venues soon enough (and with more to offer).
> Whatever happened to the idea of gradual development?
Well, as a Part-Time student, "soon enough" for me means in five years time.
That is a pretty long wait, and I'm impatient. Furthermore, this argument
could be used to suggest the abolition of just about every student society.
Why should undergraduates want to write for a college newspaper / work for
campus radio / act in college productions when they could otherwise wait
until they are professional journalists / actors? The answer is that they
enjoy doing the work and gaining the experience, and also they get to try
out the activity to see whether they would really want to do it for a
living. Not all student newspaper writers become professional journalists,
and I wouldn't expect all of the students who write for an undergraduate
Shakespeare Journal to become professional Shakespeareans either.
>Moreover, undergrads thinking about going on to grad studies should
> be warned against starting a trend whereby, e.g., to get into MA/PhD
> programs universities may start expecting undergrads to have
> published something already. Ratcheting up the pressures and
> demands associated with applying to and getting
> into grad schools is NOT a good idea.
It would be very flattering to think that my idea could even be considered
likely to catch on in such a way. The truth is, however, that one small
undergraduate online Journal (run by an undergraduate) is very unlikely to
change the world's postgraduate applications systems. I would like to think
that those who write for my proposed Journal will have an additional hook to
help them pull themselves into a postgraduate course, but probably only to
the same extent that their application would be improved if they had an
active role in the University English Society or wrote for the student
newspaper. This should benefit those willing to take part in the project,
without changing in any way the opportunities of those who do not and who
simply have one less thing on their CV.
I would certainly not want to do anything that would actually damage the
prospects of undergraduates. I am not convinced that an Undergraduate
Shakespeare Journal would cause such damage.
Thomas Larque.
"Shakespeare and His Critics"
http://shakespearean.org.uk
