undergraduate journals

[palinurus]

So -- what does everyone think about undergraduate "journals," and the like? The whole concept strikes me as awful. Is it actually bad for a student to "publish" in such a journal, though, or is it neutral, or even a positive mark of enthusiasm, in your judgment

Comments

[tyopsqueene]

How can it possibly be *bad*? I mean, I'm a tenured academic and *I* write pieces for the student journals because I think they're fantastic resources, build communities, give really useful transferrable skills to those running them, and are a great space for students to practice writing.
I mean, if you try to pass it off on your application forms/cv as a full peer-reviewed publication, or as filler of some kind, you'll get a side-eye, but I'd take an applicant with a couple of practice publications over one who was a snob about undergrad journals every day of the week.

[tyopsqueene]

Oh, to answer your edit...
1. Chances of me actually googling an undergrad are pretty slim because, you know,stuff to do, unless there's something weird on their cv I felt the need to check out, I wouldn't bother
2. Chances of me actually reading any student journal article I find are pretty damn low because, stuff to do, plus I have to read their writing sample anyway, so why bother?
3. Chances of me holding a really bad piece of writing against them: extremely slim, I'd hope. You judge people on the application and interview, and everybody writes tosh at some point. I guess if it was openly racist or sexist or was an essay about how they could fool admissions committee members into thinking they candidate had a genuine interest for a subject, then it might sway me. But other than that? Irrelevant.

Data point: uk, done graduate admissions for Oxbridge and a couple of Red Bricks.

[the_physicist]

never heard of such a thing. why would it be bad though?

[lostreality]

I published in one as an undergrad- it was a journal put together by students in the honors program at my college based on our empirical research. It was a paper that would never have been accepted into a peer reviewed journal (flawed sample, undergrad level development of theory vs. actual development of theory, etc.) but I was able to list it as a "publication" on my grad school applications which couldn't have hurt me, and used it as a writing sample when I was applying to grad school. Since an editor + a panel of students helped review/edit the journal articles (and gave us little "revise and resubmit" type things) my writing sample for grad school was probably a lot stronger than it would have been, so that definitely helped. I still keep it on my CV under "other publications" which is where I currently keep things like book reviews, encyclopedia entries, a published research abstract in a "grad student research showcase," and this article

[maritov]

As long as you aren't claiming it is peer reviewed, what is the harm in keeping it on? Complete CVs should include everything remotely relevant. If you want to take it off, you would need to change the heading to "selected publications," and I don't see why you should do that unless you have a need to submit a shortened CV for some reason.

[max_ambiguity]

Does the whole concept of a student newspaper also strike you as awful?

[perpetua_redux]

The whole concept of undergraduates strikes me as awful, but what can I do? Without them, I'd only have administrators to complain about.

[max_ambiguity]

I get some good mileage complaining about faculty colleagues as well.

[palinurus]

Of course not. I don't really see the comparison. I guess they both involve words?

[nexrad]

I've actually seen some decent student-centric journals. Psi Chi's is an example, but as I recall it does have peer review. That said, I'm all for anything that gets students more engaged in writing. I've known plenty of absolutely awful writers and have had to review some journal articles that would've been a lot better if only the author(s) had stronger writing skills.