Undergraduate Literary Journals: Pedagogical Theory and Practices

This post is a compilation of reflections and information gathered during my 2025 spring sabbatical. My goal with the interviews (posted previously) was to gain insights about how journals are run and how the journals fit into other 2-yr writing programs. I compared what I read to my interview findings. In addition to the readings from my sabbatical, at AWP in March, I attended the sessions below about literary journals at four-year colleges. This document contains a blend of all those experiences.  

Literary Journals

Literary magazines don't make money. The goal of a literary journal is rarely to turn a profit. They are part of a bigger conversation about what matters in writing. Literary magazines are places for new ideas and changes. Since they don't aim to make money, they can take risks and try new things in writing and publishing. 

These innovations can show up in different ways. They might include new content, fresh voices and perspectives, creative styles, new narrative methods, or content that goes against the norm.

Purposes of an Undergraduate Literary Journal

The conversation journals participate in comes primarily from two contributors – writers and editors. Writers submit to journals. They submit as a way of entering or contributing to the broader literary conversation. Editors read and evaluate the submitted work. Many editors see their work in a literary journal as a labor of love. They enjoy the written word, contributing to literature, influencing new trends, and discovering new authors. Editors, although most don’t acknowledge it, are gatekeepers. Editors have a unique relationship with the writers who submit. When an editor asks for revisions prior to acceptance, they do it to prepare the piece for publication in their specific journal. This is different from a workshop, where the work is done without specific concerns about publication. Students who are studying writing and seek to become part of the writing community as part of their career need understand how these roles fit together and have experience with all sides of this ongoing conversation. 

When an undergraduate institution runs a literary within the context of the college, it will serve multiple purposes but most likely will have one main purpose. Possible main purposes include granting student writers access to the literary conversation (as writers), teaching students how to oversee the conversation (as editors), or providing career skills (formatting, marketing). Two – year colleges tend to value granting access to the conversation and providing career schools over teaching student (is indoctrinating too strong a word?). Therefore, it’s likely that undergraduates at a two-year college will have more editorial responsibilities and the pieces selected for inclusion will reflect the students. Colleges more concerned with prestige, such as a top tier four year, have a stronger top-down editorial vision. Colleges with journal management and production embedded into creative writing courses have a better possibility of providing strong career and job skills as the tasks will be systematized and assessed for effectiveness. Colleges benefit from the promotion of the journal, as the publication can draw attention to the school and the writing program, but promotion of the college alone is rarely the reason for a school to run a journal.

Benefits to Students

The students of the institution benefit through editing and submitting experience which can grant them access to future opportunities. Working on a literary journal in a course lets students gain editorial experience. They learn to read and discuss works for the journal. This means they help create guidelines for what submissions to accept. They decide if there will be a theme and what the journal's vision is. Students can help shape this vision and choose pieces that fit it. By reading completed works from a variety of authors, students benefit greatly. In the creative writing course that edits a journal, students use Submittable, the industry standard for writing submissions. This gives them valuable experience with the platform. These skills can be used in many jobs. Working on magazines also helps students understand literature and writing studied in college.

Financial/Sustainability 

Because literary journals are not profit-driven, many literary journals are run within the context of an educational institution. College-run literary journals rely on the school for money and support. The ways in which an educational institution benefits from the journals varies. The college may benefit from the literary journal in broad community-based terms, such as the prestige that comes from supporting the arts and generating community goodwill by publishing or supporting local writers or by bringing literary opportunities to the community. 

Relying on funding from an institution can sometimes create tension and uncertainty. Therefore, trust and shared values between the magazine and its funders is crucial. It's important for the journal editors to see how the journal's goals match the school's goals. Finding this connection helps both the journal and the college benefit.

Two-year compared to Four-year

Both two- and four-year institutions aim to introduce students to the literary community. Literary journals help students enter the writing community by letting them see how a journal works from the inside as well as offer them career oriented skills. Reading submissions allows students to discuss controversial topics and decide how these should be represented in creative works.

Both four-year and two-year colleges worry about funding, especially when administration changes and/or budgets are cut. It seems that four-year institutions have more access to resources, based on my interviews. In both types of institutions, faculty have found that embedding journal work into creative writing or technical writing courses can help secure the journal’s place in the institution and protect student involvement.

Both types of institutions’ journals face turnover issues with students and believe that the turnover creates challenges in terms of student skill levels and training. Based on my interviews, the faculty editors of the community colleges are less concerned with how the turnover impacts the editorial vision of the journal. Community college editors are okay with constant changes in branding and content and appreciate how the contents reflect the current student body. However, editors at four-year colleges prefer consistency in their journals’ editorial vision and want to adapt students' thinking to fit the journal's style rather than letting the journal reflect the student body.

Two-year community colleges mainly receive student submissions, with some accepting outside work. In contrast, four-year colleges mostly receive outside submissions.

Students at four-year colleges are more involved in tasks like layout and copy editing. At community colleges, staff usually handle these production tasks. The goal of community college journals is to give students experience in reading and discussing work

Both types of institutions agree that working on a journal provides valuable editing and publishing experience. It makes students more likely to submit their own work to other journals. 

Personal Reflections

I've been trying to understand the differences between literary journals from two-year colleges and four-year colleges beyond practical matters. The tasks to produce a literary journal are the same for both. These tasks include calling for submissions, receiving them, evaluating and selecting them, rejecting others, putting the journal together, and publishing it.

What interests me more is how the mission of each type of college influences its literary journal. The mission creates a unique college culture, which affects the decisions made by faculty editors. 

In my research on bootstrap narratives, I found that these stories often rely on gaining acceptance and status from others. Similarly, the goal of a four-year college's literary journal isn't just to give students a voice but also to provide career training and validate status within the broader literary community. This reinforces gatekeeping in literary circles.

On the other hand, two-year college journals focus on giving student writers opportunities to publish their work and celebrate their unique voices. Faculty at community colleges emphasize the importance of giving students a voice in the literary community while also teaching practical skills.

So, the main difference lies in the editorial vision of each type of journal and how this vision connects to the mission and culture of the college.

Connecting the literary journal to its home institution makes the journal more meaningful and benefits the entire institution. When the journal is linked to the school, even students who aren't studying creative writing can gain from it. Seeking and making use of shared values can lead to inter-institutional success.