Elizabeth Marshall

Undergraduate Student Research

Research Proposal

I will be attending the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference in March, partially funded by Undergraduate Student Research. As a second-year member of the Brainchild magazine staff, I am investigating what it means to work on an undergraduate publication. For me, the most intriguing part of working on this publication has been indulging in the process. We take an idea and turn it into a tangible work of art. As a product of the Honors College, we are very privileged with some of our resources. I want to document the challenges we on Brainchild have faced and investigate the experiences of other students who work on publications.

My research will focus primarily on Kent State University publications, as those will be most easily accessed for interviews, etc. I had the privilege of going to the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference in November where I met students from several publications across the country and I plan to e-mail them and incorporate their experiences into my research as well. With my findings I hope to help student publications grow. The chaos of being inside a publication can mask the awe of the bigger picture. I hope to clarify the roles within and the significance of student publications so that the work students do can continue to have support from Undergraduate Student Research, the Honors College, and the university as a whole.