Tag Archives: Writing

Focus on Forms: Annotated Bibliographies

Do you sometimes reach the end of a semester and can’t remember anything about texts you read at the start of the course? Or, have you compiled a long list of Works Cited for a project and find that the sources are starting to run together in your mind? An annotated bibliography could help with that! For this series, “Focus on Forms,” we’ll be highlighting writing forms you may encounter in your courses and delve into any unique qualities they hold, beginning with annotated bibliographies.

Annotated bibliographies are like Works Cited pages with opinions—housing collections of sources with a short synthesis that may include a brief summary, key themes relevant between items, and how these sources contribute to your project’s goal. This index of citations evolves from a static list with the added information that assesses the accuracy of the pieces and relevance to your overall research goals. They can also be a bit tricky because annotations depend on concise, powerful execution to not only capture key elements of the text but also reflect their importance to your research project or interests. This is a curated collection; the pieces selected should consider what is unique about each text and how it contributes to the collection as a whole. Annotating a bibliography can help solidify a text’s resonance with your research or assignment and bring out new directions for your project (or remind you what ideas belong to what text at the end of a long semester). All in all, an annotated bibliography can test your research skills, synthesizing abilities, and increase your capacity to write concisely and powerfully to create a highly useful reference document.

For more on the mechanics of creating an annotated bibliography, check out Purdue OWL’s excellent breakdown (with links to guidelines for MLA, APA, and Chicago style citations): https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/annotated_bibliographies/annotated_bibliography_samples.html .

Want to learn more about creating a curated source list? Chat with a librarian during their “Ask a Librarian” hours online, over the phone, or in person at the McNairy Library: https://www.library.millersville.edu/home .

Have questions about bibliographies, sources, citations and more? The Millersville Writing Center is ready to help: https://www.millersville.edu/enwl/writing-center/ .

Beating Writer’s Block Tips: Alternate Starting Points

Welcome to February and welcome back to our series on beating writer’s block. Last week was about engaging with your class materials (articles, textbooks, videos, etc.) and giving yourself time to process new information. This week we’ll look at another possible stumbling block you may be encountering.

Now that you’ve consumed the content and given yourself time to process, this time when you sit down you produce something but after an hour it is only an elaborately drawn “The” at the top of your page. What gives? You may be facing a second hurdle: feeling trapped by the way you think a paper “should” be written.  Sometimes you may feel obligated to follow a linear construction for your paper – starting with an intro and finishing with a conclusion. I’ve got great news for you! You don’t have to start at the beginning! If you’ve caught on to a good idea, follow it to its fulfillment, even if you know it is not the first concept you will introduce in your piece. Write down everything that comes to mind. Writing down what you know will set the foundation for you to engage with the parts of an assignment that you may be struggling with. If you’ve encountered a composition course, you may have heard a professor say that “writing is a process,” which is to say that you have options in how you approach an assignment and these approaches will not be the same for every piece you create. Finding an alternate starting point, such as creating an outline, storyboard, or even just a keywords list with knowledge you want to include can engage your mind with a new infrastructure to help you move past a writing approach that isn’t working for you. 

The Millersville’s Writing Center (https://www.millersville.edu/enwl/writing-center/ ) can help you with this and more. Tune in next week as we continue this series and best of luck with your upcoming fourth week of class! 

Beating Writer’s Block Tips: Content is King

by Becca Betty

A new semester is here and Spring is right around the corner, prompting thoughts of fresh beginnings and launching us into new aspirations for 2023. However, as students and writers we can sometimes encounter difficulty in facing down these new beginnings, many times coined as the phrase “experiencing writer’s block.” Over the next few weeks, this blog will be posting some tips on getting started and adapting our mental frameworks to overcome common stress-points while writing. The advice that follows is drawn from my own experience as a student and writer and is by no means an exhaustive list but rather a starting point from which you may form your own systems for combatting rhetorical clogs in your critical thinking process.  

To start off with, content is king. A deep understanding of the materials you are working with will form the basis of a strong argument. So, you’ve read, listened to, watched, or otherwise consumed your media of interest and sit down to write out your assignment and …nothing happens. Hurdle number one: the thoughts aren’t coming. My advice is to stand back up and take a step back from the assignment to give your mind time to process the new information it has just consumed. Processing new knowledge takes time, a luxury we don’t often afford ourselves as students with approaching deadlines, but even giving your mind a five-minute break before returning to the task at hand could give you the extra push you need to get started. This is kind of the biological equivalent of the technological standard “have you tried turning it off then turning it back on again?”  

The Millersville’s Writing Center (https://www.millersville.edu/enwl/writing-center/ ) can help you with this and more. Tune in next week as we continue this series and best of luck with your upcoming third week of class! 

Millersville University Literary Festival

Dr. Sarah D’Stair

On Thursday, November 7 and Friday, November 8, Millersville University will host its annual Literary Festival. This year’s theme is “Writing in Community.”

The event will start on Thursday in McComsey’s Ford Atrium at 4 pm. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are welcome to attend and read at an open reading following featured faculty member Sarah D’Stair.

Meghan Kenny

At 7:30pm, Meghan Kenny will give her keynote address in Myers Auditorium. Meghan Kenny is the author of the short story collection Love Is No Small Thing (LSU Press, 2017) and the novel The Driest Season (W.W. Norton, 2018), which was an honorable mention for the 2019 PEN/HEMINGWAY Award. She lives in Lancaster.

On Friday the 8th, the Literary Festival will continue in the McNairy Library from 9am to 4pm. Individual sessions will take place in Room 100 where you can learn how to:

  • Write fiction and short stories
  • Write thrillers and suspense novels
  • Write free verse and traditional poetry
  • Find work in writing-related fields
  • Find what publishers want and get your work published
  • Write creative non-fiction and memoirs
  • Approach literature for translation

If you have any questions, contact Dr. Archibald or Dr. Jakubiak. Visit the Literary Festival website for the full event schedule and more information.

 

 

Fall 2019 Classes

Check out these highlighted classes for Fall 2019! Make sure to check out the registration schedule and meet with your adviser to get your TAP number before your registration time.

ENGL 274 The Craft of WritingDr. Bill Archibald

  • MW 3pm (the schedule says MWF, but it’s MW)
  • This course will focus on writing for television this semester.
  • Prereq: ENGL 110

ENGL 429 Seminar: Killers and ThrillersDr. Carla Rineer

  • TR 9:25 am
  • This class will focus on American Crime Fiction and it satisfies the American Literature requirement.
  • Prereq: ENGL 110, 237 (contact the instructor if you need special permission)

ENGL 450 British Literature Since 1914 – Dr. Katarzyna Jakubiak

  • TR 2:35-3:50pm
  • This course will consider literary figures and works against the background of crisis in the 20th century from the onset of World War I to the present. Students will read and experience new movements, attitudes, and experimental techniques.
  • Prereq: ENGL 110, 237

ENGL 451 Literary CriticismDr. Jill Craven

  • Monday 6-9pm (schedule says Tuesday, but it’s Monday night)
  • This course is a seminar on major critics and theorists from Plato to selected modern critics and will explore critical trends and controversies within literary criticism.
  • Prereq: ENGL 110, 237 (contact the instructor if you need special permission)

ENGL 242 Reading Our World: Unruly BodiesDr. Emily Baldys

  • MW 3-4:35pm or MW 4:30-5:45pm
  • Disability can be a powerful symbol in literature (think Tiny Tim), but what does it mean to be “disabled”? How do the stories that we tell about disabled people’s “unruly bodies” influence society’s expectations about what it means to be a “normal” citizen, subject, and human being?  This course will examine representations of disability in contemporary literature and popular culture. With the help of some readings in critical disability theory, we’ll explore what disability does for literature, and what literature does for disability. We’ll analyze the emotional and political impact of representing disability in a diverse selection of modern narratives, including short stories by Flannery O’Connor and Raymond Carver, Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and an episode from the Netflix series “Atypical.”  Readings will also include poetry, videos, and memoir by disabled authors and activists such as Anne Finger, Stella Young, Stephen Kuusisto, and Neil Hilborn.
  • Prereq: ENGL 110 and SPED 237 (which may be taken as a co-requisite)

ENGL 242 Reading Our World: Bible as Literature – TBD

  • W 6-9pm
  • This class will examine the Bible from a literary and cultural perspective. We will consider the Bible itself as a literary text, reading it closely, and the issues this perspective raises. These include canon formation, the aesthetic forms of the Bible, and its impact on the literary, historical, and religious traditions of diverse peoples for several millennia.
  • Prereq: ENGL 110

ENGL 471 Creative WritingDr. Judy Halden-Sullivan

  • TR 7:30-8:45pm
  • Creative Writing Fall 2019 Flyer
  • This section will emphasize contemporary innovative styling with an invitation to invent hybrid genres of creative writing. Students will explore their relationships with language, notions of what texts can be, and connections with readers.
  • Prereq: ENGL 110

Interning with University Communications and Marketing

Matthew Reichard, recent graduate from Millersville University, completed an internship during his last semester in Millersville University’s Communication and Marketing Department. Read more about his experiences below! 

Matthew Reichard

Fall of 2018 was my final semester at Millersville, and it provided me with the best experience I could have imagined. This experience came by way of an internship through the University’s Communications and Marketing department. Initially, I was very hesitant when looking into the internship requirement for my degree. The classroom allowed for a safer environment. I had been doing journalistic writing with the classroom from my start here at MU. The work allowed me to learn, but in a more controlled environment. I was allowed to pick the topics of my paper while in most classes, allowing me to be an expert on what I was writing by choice. The writings went directly from me to the professor, and that was it. I got a grade in the gradebook and moved on.

With my internship. I got to step out of what was comfortable and learn from it. The writing wasn’t always what I was passionate about, so I had to do more research. I had to focus on who would be reading the articles I wrote, so I had to focus on the language or formalities behind the writing. The writings I did would go out the world, for more than just the professor to see. It meant I was more vigilant of things. I read more. I researched more. I edited more. This was a blessing. The hard work I put in at my internship allowed me to see I stepped into the right career path. I loved writing about the things I was passionate about, and I got to do that some at my internship, but I also loved writing about everything else. Doing the research was a blast. I learned about folks in the university I would have never known about prior. I covered topics I would have never touched if I was left to pick my writings. It was wonderful to experience a work-like environment before I graduated.

Stepping out of what you already know can be scary. It was for me, and I’m sure it will be for you.  You won’t truly know if you love what you’re doing until you do it out of your comfort zone. My dream is to cover the video game industry, but I know that’s a hard job to find. I learned through my internship that I will be happy no matter what I am covering because I love the process of it all. I was always a little worried. This internship took that worry away. If you have an opportunity to do an internship, take it. You won’t regret it. Stepping outside the classroom was one of the best decisions I made here at MU. I had great professors that taught me and prepared me for the situation, but actually getting to the situation taught me even more.

By: Matthew Reichard

George Street Press Open Submissions!

George Street Press  is Millersville University’s literary magazine, open to students and faculty alike.  Submissions are open for the Spring 2019 Edition!

This year, the club will be accepting submissions until March 8th. One student/faculty/alumni university member may submit:

  • 3 poems (one poem cannot exceed two pages)
  • 2 pieces of prose (one piece should not exceed 4,000 words)
  • 2 pieces of non-fiction (one piece should not exceed 4,000 words)
  • 3 pieces of flash-fiction (each 500 words or less)
  • 5 pieces of original art (submit in .jpg format)
  • 1 experimental piece (found poems, screen-plays, the strange, genre-bending, and unknown)

To submit, please email GeorgeStreetPressSubmissions@gmail.com with your name, contact info (phone number/email), as well as any notes about your pieces for the editors. All documents must be in .docx or .doc format, and art pieces must be in .jpg format. Once a piece is printed into the magazine, the writer is officially a printed author! This is a perfect opportunity for English Majors to get ahead in the creative world.

About a week before the end of the semester, the George Street Press will host a release party for the Spring 2019 Edition! Stay tuned for more information. Here are some photos from last year’s event:

Contact Kitsey Shehan or Sara Pizzo for more information about club meetings/submission guidelines or visit their Get Involved page. Photo Credit: GSP

TCK Publishing

Source

Publishing a collection of stories, a novel, or a selection of poetry is much easier than it used to be with the rise of self-publishing, Ebooks, and online publishing houses. Now, an author or poet doesn’t need an agent to help them navigate the publishing field. TCK Publishing is an option for writers who want to be published but may not have the means or desire to hire an agent.

TCK publishing is a small press publisher that encourages student writers to submit their novels and nonfiction manuscripts for feedback, as well as a potential book deal. They publish books in a wide variety of genres, including mystery, thriller, romance, science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction. There is no need to hire a professional editor (though it is not discouraged) because TCK publishing’s editors provide free developmental editing, copyediting, line editing, and proofreading services.

TCK publishing pays 50% net royalties–3 to 6 times more than traditional publishers pay. There is no fee to submit a manuscript nor is there a fee to publish the finished book.

Check out the submissions guidelines page to learn about the process of submitting your manuscript!

If you have recently published a book, let us know! We would love to feature you on the blog. Contact Rachel Hicks with your story.

 

Literary Festival – Panel Discussion: “The Writing Life”

Millersville University is hosting a Literary Festival in the McNairy Library Room 100 on November 2nd from 9am to 5pm with a keynote speaker at 7pm. Guest writers will hold sessions on writing fiction, poetry, memoir, creative essays, and journalism throughout the day. Check out the full event schedule here

From 12:05am to 1:55, the literary fest will shift into room 112 for a panel discussion composed of recent Millersville alums about “The Writing Life.” Here is some more information about the panel members:

Phil Benoit, a retired MU professor, has narrated 23 audio-books, which are listed for sale on Audible. A former college faculty member and administrator, he is the co-author of several college textbooks on communications and broadcasting.

Mitchell Sommers is the fiction editor of Philadelphia Stories, a quarterly literary magazine. He is an attorney practicing in Lancaster and Ephrata.

Barb Strasko, who appeared earlier in the day for the poetry panel, is the author of two collections of poetry and was appointed the first Poet Laureate of Lancaster County by the Lancaster Literary Guild. She is a counselor, reading specialist, and literacy coach. and is currently the Poet in the Schools for Poetry Paths in the city of Lancaster.

Alex Brubaker is the Manager of the Midtown Scholar Bookstore and Director of the Harrisburg Book Festival. Previously, he was the Exhibit Coordinator of the Twin Cities Book Festival and the Editorial Assistant at Rain Taxi Magazine in Minneapolis.

During this section Dr. Corkery and his theatrical troupe will make an appearance.

Be sure to check out this panel and more on November 2nd!

 

Literary Festival – Fiction and Flash Fiction Presentation

Millersville University is hosting a Literary Festival in the McNairy Library Room 100 on November 2nd from 9am to 5pm with a keynote speaker at 7pm. Guest writers will hold sessions on writing fiction, poetry, memoir, creative essays, and journalism throughout the day. Check out the full event schedule here

Session 1 of the Literary Festival will focus on Fiction and Flash Fiction.  Presenters Curtis Smith and Don Helin will discuss writing fiction from 9-9:50am. Here is some more information about the presenters:

Curtis Smith has been featured in over seventy literary journals and is the author of five books of fiction. His work has been cited by The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best American Spiritual Writing and the recently released WW Norton anthology New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction. His most recent book is Lovepain, a novel from Braddock Avenue Books.

 

 

 

Don Helin is the author of five thrillers that draw from his military experience serving in a number of stateside posts as well as overseas in Vietnam and Germany. His novel, Secret Assault, was selected as the best Suspense/Thriller at the 2015 Indie Book Awards. Don is a member of International Thriller Writers, Military Writers Society of America, Penwriters, a state-wide writers group in PA.