Expanding Impact of Undergraduate Research: Literary Undergraduate Research at the University of West Georgia and Beyond

FAIN: ZH-258466-18

University of West Georgia (Carrollton, GA 30118-0001)
Leah Haught (Project Director: May 2017 to present)

The expansion of an undergraduate research journal dedicated to critical work on literature, film, theory, and cultural studies at the University of West Georgia.

This proposal seeks funding to support the expansion of an Undergraduate Research Journal, LURe, open to undergraduate students nationally and run by undergraduate and graduate students at the University of West Georgia (UWG). Our aim is to continue growing the national outreach of the journal, both by increasing its presence on college campuses across the country and by inviting published authors from other schools to present their work at the annual Undergraduate Research Conference that occurs at the same time as the journal's release. Furthermore, we seek to increase the professionalization opportunities associated with working for LURe by paying our senior editorial staff, initiating formal internships as part of a new Editing and Publishing BA Certificate, inviting plenary speakers to the conference, and increasing student involvement with conference planning.

Associated Products

2018 Undergraduate Research Conference and LURe Release (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: 2018 Undergraduate Research Conference and LURe Release
Abstract: Come listen to students present compelling talks about literature, film, and philosophy.
Date Range: October 11, 2018
Location: University of West Georgia Campus Center

2019 Undergraduate Research Conference and LURe Release (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: 2019 Undergraduate Research Conference and LURe Release
Abstract: Come listen to students present compelling talks about literature, film, and philosophy.
Date Range: October 24, 2019
Location: University of West Georgia Campus Center

ENGL 4304: Advanced Writing in Disciplines (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: ENGL 4304: Advanced Writing in Disciplines
Author: Kevin Casper
Author: Leah Haught
Abstract: How do we process language and intention? What patterns and strategies are employed by readers and writers across disciplines to effectively give or exchange information with different audiences? This course approaches these questions from the perspective that writing well and communicating productively is of paramount importance in the professional world. Feedback from Fortune 500 executives lament the lack of candidates possessing the “soft skills” invaluable to the 21st-century workforce, a workforce where the static, stable skill sets from the past no longer apply in our dynamically changing global economic and cultural landscape. Being “future proof” today means being able to critically and thoughtfully react to unknown and unfamiliar contexts and to reinvent and reimagine our thinking on the fly; this kind of work is what work itself is becoming. Given these high-stakes writing expectations, it’s understandable that some anxiety may linger, even amongst students closing in on graduation, around what it really means to learn to write with an effective style. By pairing a deliberate, technical examination of English language syntax with an applied, productive practice of rhetorical theory, English 4305 will help students become more confident in both their understanding of how the English language functions and their abilities to compose with that language to meet myriad rhetorical purposes. After completing a series of modules focused on specific syntactical patterns and rhetorical strategies, students will apply these refined skills to two practical, professionally oriented analytical projects, thereby empowering them to feel better prepared to start their chosen careers. Thus, students from all departments will benefit from this course’s focused, upper-division study of some of the more technical aspects English language structure and usage, and how this language actually gets applied to critical thinking and writing in the real-world disciplines they are pre
Year: 2020
Audience: Undergraduate

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