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SOUTHERN DISCOURSE IN THE CENTER

A Journal of Multiliteracy and Innovation

Southern Discourse in the Center (SDC) began as the newsletter of the Southeastern Writing Center Association. Christine Cozzens revived the Southern Discourse newsletter in the spring of 1998, and in 2001 the SWCA board decided to designate SDC as the "publication" of SWCA after it began to include research articles, and in-depth works about writing center-related issues.

Check out our archives page to read our current and past issues.

Over the years the SDC review board has grown to include an extraordinary number of writing center scholars and professionals whose contributions continue to drive the the field of teaching writing, and writing center administration, and assessment.

SDC has a new email! Please send all future communications to SDC.journal.editors@gmail.com.

SDC Resources

Editors: Eric Mason and Jamie Garner

Assistant Editor: Emmett Christolear

Editorial Assistant: Laurel Gallaudet

Advisory Board

Graham Stowe, SWCA President

Hilary Yeager, SWCA Vice President

Stacia Watkins, SWCA Past-President

Reviewers

Rebecca Day Babcock, University of Texas of the Permian Basin

Cole Bennett, Abilene Christian University

Alan Benson, University of Wisconsin, Eau-Claire

Candis Bond, Augusta University

Aaron Colton, Emory University

Rusty Carpenter, Eastern Kentucky University

Nikki Chasteen, Florida Atlantic University

Jennifer Daniel, Queens University

Ben Crosby, Iowa State University

Michele Eodice, The University of Oklahoma

Ricky Finch, University of Central Florida

Kristen Garrison, Midwestern State University

Anne Ellen Geller, St. John's University

James Hamby, Middle Tennessee State University

Jesse Kavaldo, Maryville University

Noreen Lape, Dickinson College

Sohui Lee, California State University Channel Island

Nicole Munday, Salisbury University

Stephen Neiderheiser, Kent State University

Val Pexton, University of Wyoming

Tallin Phillips, Ohio University

Stacey Pigg, NC State University

Eliot Rendleman, Columbus State University

Holly Ryan, Penn State University

Carol Severino, University Of Iowa

David Sheridan, Michigan State University

Mary Trachsel, University of Iowa

Scott Whidden, Transylvania University

Scholars who submit articles do not have to be members of SWCA, but authors selected for publication may also be chosen by the SDC editor for a special panel for SWCA.

Feel free to send us queries, ideas, and proposals connected to other potential aspects of this CFP. Please submit all questions to SDC.journal.editors@gmail.com.

Submission Guidelines: Please submit your article via email to SDC.journal.editors@gmail.com. Generally articles should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words. If you have something longer, you should first send a query to the editor with an explanation of the project. We ask that all articles be documented in accordance with the MLA Style Manual, 8th Edition. Consistent with traditional writing center practice, SDC promotes a feedback model. Articles will be sent out to our national board for blind review and reviewed by our editorial team. SDC is excited to work with you.

You should send two copies of your article—one without any identifying information, one with your complete information—in PDF format.

We do our best to respond in approximately one month. If your article is accepted (or accepted with revisions), please plan to revise and resubmit (in MLA format) no later than three weeks from your notice of acceptance.

Back to the Center Guidelines

Alongside scholarly articles, each issue of SDC will include an article of roughly 1,500 words that focuses on a specific writing center, speaking center, digital center or multiliteracy center. “Back to the Center” will share  a center’s successes and hopes for improvement. By incorporating visual images, “Back to the Center” should give its readers an authentic sense of the ethos of the center and of the work done there. What is working in the center? What are the areas that need improving? What are the goals for  the center? “Back to the Center” will also include a section titled “Center Insight.” In this section, we’d like to know the numbers: How many  sessions are held in the center per semester? How many consultants are working in the center? How many hours a week is the center open? How does consultant recruitment occur? How long is the training process for consultants before they work in the center?

Consultant Insight Guidelines

Consistent with the consultant-writer model of the mutual exchange of ideas, we invite consultants to provide insight into center experiences. This article of roughly 2,000 words can be research driven or can take a more narrative and personal approach that illuminates consultant experiences. SDC is interested in both struggles and achievements. The article may focus specifically on one aspect of consulting or it may provide a broader sense of center work.

SDC Fall 2022 CFP—SWCA Conference Retrospective CFP

The Fall 2022 issue will feature articles that respond to the 2022 SWCA Conference theme, “Present Tense, Future Perfect: Shaping Purposeful Writing Center Practices.” While anyone is welcome to submit, we strongly encourage submissions from those who attend or present at the 2022 SWCA Conference, which will be held online. In addition to transcripts of conference addresses, this issue will feature articles that grow from sessions at the conference. If you give a presentation or sit on a panel—or even if you are just inspired by a session you attended at the conference—you are strongly encouraged to “write up” your work and send it in for editorial and peer review.

Please note: The Fall 2022 will also include book reviews, a Back to the Center piece, and a Consultant Insight article. Submissions for these types of manuscripts do not have to be connected to the 2022 SWCA Conference theme.

Past CFPs

Southeastern Writing Center Association  |  ©  , SWCA

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