Instead of showcasing satisfying papers with a golden star, first-year students are sharing their work in bold print in "The Best Required First-Year Seminar Writing Anthology."
The blue bound collection of writings was an idea constructed by Michael Sinowitz, director of the writing program, who thought it would be a positive way for first-years work to be recognized in outside of their seminars.
"I gave copies of this all to people teaching [a First-Year Seminar] this year as a way of providing them with both assignment ideas and samples of good student writing they could use in their class," Sinowitz said.
Sinowitz reached out to professors for a First-Year Seminar (FYS) writing contest in November 2012 asking them to nominate up to two students for their writing pieces to be considered for the writing contest. The collected work came from various fields of study such as psychology, English and anthropology.
The writing curriculum committee was made up of nine professors from different disciplines, including Sinowitz. Initially the goal for the contest was to choose the top three writers out of the works submitted and reward them with a cash prize and a signed and personalized copy of George Saunders' "Tenth of December." As the committee went through the rest of the submitted works, they decided to add an additional seven pieces to make the anthology.
Jennifer Everett, assistant professor of philosophy, was one of the three editors of the Anthology, and she also took part in the process of deciding the best pieces of writing. Everett said all nine of the committee members sat in the same room passing papers back and forth while sharing their rankings on the written pieces.
"It's a really complicated thing assessing writing but what we did was...a really rough assessment," she said. "If we had discrepancies like, here was a paper that some people thought was great and some people thought was really not good at all, we would have the discussion about why one thought one thing or another."
Everett also emphasized that the committee didn't get into specific ranks by using a letter grade system. It was more about why the content was enjoyable.
In its final product the anthology consists of topics from stories about the risks in Las Vegas to voluntary amputations and Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). Both Sinowitz and Everett were satisfied and believed they met their goal of getting an array of works for the anthology.
"That was something that we hoped for from the very beginning, that it wouldn't be a whole bunch of either creative writing or a whole bunch of English writing essays-just some things that would show the breadth and disciplines that could teach great writing," Everett said.
Sinowitz was able to get copies printed this summer, but unfortunately, due to funding, he was only able to get 100 copies. The committee decided to hand out copies to every faculty teaching a FYS this year.
Sophomores William Cobb and Corby Burger were happy to receive a copy of the anthology too. Cobb was in the Las Vegas seminar taught by Wayne Glausser, professor of English, in which the class talked about the elements of pop culture and history that connect to Las Vegas. Burger was part of the "Into the Wild" seminar taught by Ellen Bayer, professor of English, and they took trips to the Nature Park and reflected on their experiences through writing.
Initially Cobb had mixed feelings about his work being showcased in the Anthology.
"I thought it was going to be 50 freshmen and just, I'm a few pages and a footnote; I didn't know it was going to be short...which made it cooler."
In addition to the writers' piece, each professor that taught the student's class wrote an introductory note briefly explaining the assignment and why they chose the student's work.
Sinowitz expressed that bringing together all these works was enjoyable for him. He plans on offering this opportunity for every incoming class so they have a chance to showcase their work.
Cobb said his FYS helped him learn a lot about writing, which became significant to this contest.
"Don't write boring papers in college especially in your [FYS], that's when you could push the boundaries like you couldn't in high school," Cobb said.
Burger also thought that continuing this anthology would benefit first-years because it will give them confidence in transiting from a high school writer to a college writer.
"If you come here and look up to these seniors or juniors and see the amazing things that they're doing it's a little intimidating," Cobb said. "But if you realize that [first-years] can do this-they can produce college quality writing."