Our Executive Committee shares their own experiences, advice, and tips on developing a research identity, selecting conferences to attend and academic journals to read, and other professional issues.
You can watch the video recording here and view the presentation notes here.
Are you relatively new to WAC Studies? Are you unsure of what it's really about? What do WAC scholars do? What do WAC administrators do? What's the difference between WAC and WID? What are the major journals in the field? You can find all these answers and more in this info-doc!
In this document, our advisory board members discuss their insider knowledge of what they aim to write or what they look for in IWAC conference proposals. For example, some of this advice includes making sure your contribution moves beyond your own campus, emphasizing what the audience will take away from your presentation, and ensuring your title is both accurate and interesting!
Our Executive Committee have contributed accepted conference proposal from various conferences in our field to provide samples of what these proposals can/should look like. Even more, the authors have added marginal comments on these proposals to further explain and make transparent their rhetorical choices! We hope you'll use these as guides as you draft your own conference proposals!
Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference, Alisa Russell
International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference, Justin Nicholes
National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing, Allie Sockwell
Association for Teachers of Technical Writing, Charley Silvio
Words of Hate, Jake Chase
Our Executive Committee reviews how to prepare journal articles and the logistical process of publishing. They also also share and welcome stories of triumph and failures!
You can find the Google slides, additional resources, and video for download here.
Watch the webinar here!
→ When there are so many amazing people in the same place at the same time, sharing their thoughts, ideas, research, and scholarship, it is impossible to not be impressed and inspired to continue work in the WAC field. That is how I felt at this year’s IWAC conference. The range of research topics and conversations between seasoned scholars and those who are emerging in the field, as well as those who are still in training, graduate students like myself, reminded me why I chose the path of becoming an academic and making my contribution to the field. Among many things I learned this year at IWAC, I would like to point out one which had the biggest impression on me. For a long time, I considered myself to be an ally for those who do not get the same treatment as I, as a white woman, do. While I cannot change the color of my skin in solidarity with those who are not treated equally due to their skin color, and while I cannot change the society and the individuals who support racism, I have always thought that the least I can do is to be an ally to anyone who is being hurt, mistreated, disrespected and deprived of what is available to others. However, thanks to Neisha-Anne Green and Frankie Condon and their performance at IWAC, I learned what it means to be an allay as opposed to be an accomplice. I believe I have been an accomplice, I just didn’t call it that. And why does it matter anyway? It does. A lot! Now I can continue supporting those who are underrepresented and unprivileged with my acts, but I can also explain to the others why being an allay is not enough and why we all need to be accomplices until there are no more mistreatment and crimes against people of different races.
→ IWAC has been an interesting experience for me. Most delegates I met were local. There were a few delegates from Hong Kong, the city I represent. My excursion to Tuskeegee was amazing and I am glad I booked it. Most talks I attended were intellectually stimulating. I have also made new friends. One of the talks has opened up an avenue that I had been stumbling to find for a long time. So thank you IWAC!
→ I'm struck by the kind of magic that happens when a diverse group of individuals bring their unique experiences and insights into a shared space. I'm especially thinking about the workshop I attended: the facilitators allowed each attendee to share their local context, their recent successes, and their recent challenges. As someone just coming into the field, it was incredibly encouraging to watch members of this field find shared experiences and collaborate toward solutions. We really do accomplish much more together than we do alone!