WAC Newsletter Submission Guidelines

The WAC Newsletter editorial board invites article submissions from faculty and administration across KU. Responses to previous issues' articles are also welcome. In addition, we welcome book reviews on subjects pertinent to WAC. We also invite suggestions for future themes and article ideas.

Publication Philosophy
The WAC newsletter is a publication that supports the WAC initiative at KU and the practices of the KU Writing Center. To that end, we welcome submissions that align with our mission and philosophy. Some of our main philosophical points are bulleted below:

• Writing is a process
• Writing is a skill that cannot be learned in one or two classes but requires constant attention and practice
• There are many characteristics of effective writing (correctness, formation of ideas, coherence, organization, and clarity to name a few). No single one of these characteristics alone defines “good writing.” They all must work together.
• To improve, students must receive quality feedback that focuses on one or two measureable issues from one assignment to the next. We are a teaching institution, and so this feedback should be structured as such, and not as an editorial service or pointing out every single error in student papers.
• The KU Writing Center provides support for students in many ways aside from paper review, and the paper review is a holistic review, not an end-of-the-process proofread or correction service.
• Adult students have a great deal to offer. We feel strongly that students have much to share with the KU learning community concerning the languages, experiences, images, and inquiries of their home and professional communities (Lambert Stock, 2006, p. 12).
• Meaningful learning technologies influence how we write and how we teach writing.

Ideas for articles include:

• Your pedagogical approach to or best practices for teaching writing
• Your pedagogical approach for referring students to the Writing Center
• How the WAC initiative works in your classes or discipline
• Issues surrounding the WAC initiative
• Humor
• Book reviews
• Resource/technology reviews
• Technology and writing
• What WAC means to students (a student guest column)

Manuscript Guidelines
Recommended article length is 500-800 words, although longer pieces will be considered. Articles should conform to APA style and be professionally written. The audiences for this newsletter are faculty, administration, and executives of KHE. Use active voice, and revise academic papers so they are in tune with the newsletter style of writing. Please do not recycle conference papers or academic papers without proper revision for the audience, purpose, and tone of the newsletter.

Send submissions as a Word document email attachment to Diane Martinez dmartinez@kaplan.edu. Also include the writer’s:

• Name
• Position
• School affiliation
• Email address
• Phone number
• Picture (Images should be formatted as jpeg files and sent as attachments.) (Pictures do not have to be formal headshots; we encourage fun and interesting shots appropriate for a newsletter. Also, the pictures are small so be sure we can clearly see your face.)
• A fun and interesting fact about yourself that few colleagues know about you

The editorial board of the WAC newsletter reserves the right to edit submissions as deemed appropriate. In some cases, articles that need further development or do not adhere to submission guidelines will be returned to the author with suggestions for revision. Articles may be held for later editions.

Submission Deadlines
November Issue: COB, Wednesday, November 11
December/January Issue: COB, Tuesday, November 24

References
Lambert Stock, P. (2006). Writing and School Reform. Retrieved from The National Commission on Writing Web site: http://www.writingcommission.org/report.html