Writing Spaces Announces CFP for Fourth Volume

The following CFP was announced by the editors of the Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing book series.

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, an open textbook series for undergraduate composition is back, under new editorial management! On the heels of our recent relaunch with Volume 3, we seek proposals from diverse perspectives to build on our current offerings. Each Writing Spaces volume contains peer-reviewed collections of essays, all composed by teachers for students, with each chapter available for free download from our website under a Creative Commons license as well as on the WAC Clearinghouse. Volumes are also published in print through Parlor Press. With your participation, we hope that volume 4 will expand the online database of chapters to upwards of seventy different classroom texts for teachers of writing. We invite proposals for chapters of Writing Spaces Vol. 4. Each proposal should consist of a 500 word abstract that clearly summarizes the proposed essay, and indicates whether (or not) and how student voices and/or visuals will be included. Proposals will be accepted until May 22, 2020. If you haven't taught with or read Writing Spaces yet, be sure to familiarize yourself with essays in the most recent volume. Contributions should center the first-year writer as primary audience, drawing on narrative and personal approaches to create an accessible and reader-friendly text. Student voices and examples are encouraged, with appropriate permissions, and original or freely-licensed visuals are encouraged. Collaboratively written essays are also welcome. While we would gladly review proposals on a wide range of topics, we do have some particular interests for this volume that have emerged in light of our survey of readers, editorial board interests, and our review of previous issues.

• interpreting and implementing feedback from instructors and peers
• global Englishes, translingualism, code meshing, indigenous rhetorics
• writing for social change, community-engaged writing, social justice, public rhetorics
• writing in the disciplines (WID), writing across the curriculum (WAC), writing for specific professions or fields
• digital rhetoric, digital writing, new media, technology, ubiquitous computing, wearables, surveillance and privacy
• eco-composition, place-based writing, digital places and platforms
• student resilience, connecting to campus resources, and building community

In addition to these topics we also invite potential authors to make a proposal that builds on and/or updates an existing essay, especially:

• Kerry Dirk, “Navigating Genres”
• Dan Melzer, “Understanding Discourse Communities”
• Ben Rafoth, “Why Visit Your Campus Writing Center?”
• James Purdy, “Wikipedia is Good For You!?”
• Laura Bolin Carroll, “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis”
• Matt Barton and Karl Klint, “A Student’s Guide to Collaborative Writing Technologies”
• Randall McClure, “Googlepedia: Turning Information Behaviors into Research Skills”

Proposals are due no later than May 22, 2020, and are to be submitted as a .doc, .pdf, .rtf, or .odt file via email to editors@writingspaces.org, with “Volume 4 Proposal, [Title]” in the subject line. Editors will review proposals by June 1, 2020, and will invite some authors to prepare manuscripts for peer review. Final submitted essays will be approximately 4,000 to 6,000 words (no longer) and will be written for a student audience. In addition to the essay, authors will create brief instructor resources and discussion questions that will be published to the Writing Spaces website for instructor use. The publication of the 4th volume is planned for Summer 2021. More information for authors is available in the authors’ area of our website: http://writingspaces.org/authors. Please email any questions to editors@writingspaces.org. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing is published in partnership with Parlor Press and the WAC Clearinghouse.