New Undergraduate Research Journal to be Launched by CUA
By Anna Mohler
The Office of Undergraduate Studies announced last Friday the creation
of Catholic University’s first academic research journal, “Inventio”.
The first edition of this journal, under the direct supervision of
Taryn Okuma of the Department of English and Caroline Sherman of the
Department of History, is set to be published this spring.
The name “Inventio”, suggested by Daniel Gibbons in the Department of
English, is translated as “to search.” The purpose of “Inventio”, in
turn, is to publish recent findings and research of Catholic
University students.
“At a place like CUA where we have such a variety of majors and we
have students working on all types of projects, we should have a forum
to show what people are doing, to share the work that people are
doing,” said Okuma. “Honestly, there felt like there was a need.”
“Inventio”, which will be accepting submissions from now until October
1st, will publish research in the fields of Philosophy, Theology,
Humanities, and the Social Sciences. Not only will submissions be
accepted from current undergraduate students, but also from alumni who
have graduated within the past two years.
The central idea is to publish recent research collected by students.
By opening up to the recent alumni, students will have the ability to
see theses, final papers, and other works written by those who were
seniors in the not so distant past.
“Many of our undergraduates already participate in the research life
of the university in some way,” said Peter Shoemaker of the Department
of Modern Languages and Literatures. “We want to open these
opportunities to as many students as possible and provide a forum for
their work.”
Submissions will go through a series of two stages of approval in
order to be published. The first will be a blind review by select
faculty that make up an advisory board. All submissions that pass
through this stage will go through a Student Editorial Board, or SEB.
SEB will consist of about seven members of the student body at
Catholic University who take on various roles on the board, from
Editor-in-Chief to Head Layout Editor to Website Assistant and more.
In order to be chosen, students must undergo an application process,
which is open to all undergraduate students. Once selected, the
members must enroll in one three-credit class entitled “Undergraduate
Research Journal Production”
“It will be partly training, and then partly a kind of practicum or
internship in terms of academic publishing,” said Okuma about what
prospective members of SEB might expect when applying for the job.
The goal, as Okuma mentioned, will be to have speakers who have been
exposed to various types of journalism, from people who work for
academic journals to editors, talk to the class in the form of
lectures. The purpose is for these speakers to provide some sort of
insight on what students could expect when it comes to editing and
putting together an academic journal, as well as what they should look
for in terms of well written research.
“There will be some sort of practical real life experience for people
who are interested in this kind of work, but also will allow people to
do their job; part of that time will be time when the actual layout
will happen when everyone is together,” said Okuma.
From this class, students in SEB will choose the final articles to be
published as a group, then the students will create layouts and
eventually put together the journal for publication. The journal will
then be sent to publishing, and finally released for the Catholic
University community to read.
Submissions are open until October 1, and applications to join SEB are
available until October 15. For more information about “Inventio,”
visit the CUA Honors Program website at honors.cua.edu.
