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Student Writing Anthology

The Writing Program has a decades-long tradition of celebrating student work through publication and circulation. The Writing Program’s Student Writing Anthology, a required text in all College Writing courses, celebrates the accomplishments of students enrolled in University of Massachusetts Amherst College Writing courses. Published regularly, it rewards our student authors with public recognition and offers them an opportunity to have their voices heard beyond the walls of the classroom. Beginning in 2020-2021 the Student Writing Anthology will be published as a digital text through the UMass Amherst Library Open Books.

Essays selected for the Student Writing Anthology take a variety of forms: some explore and interpret the meaning of personal experience; others reflect on social, cultural, and historical issues; while many others prove that careful research and close reading not only provide data and expert opinion in support of a claim but result in new and revealing perspectives on the world.

As of 2018-2019 selections for the Student Writing Anthology will come from the Charles Moran Best Text Contest. Please note that student essay submissions for these opportunities must have been written in a College Writing (ENGLWRIT 112/112H) course. We ask that teachers encourage their students to apply for both opportunities as a means to celebrate their writing and work toward publication. Please visit the Best Text Contest webpage for submission details.

Published in August 2021, The Writing Program is proud to share the first digital, open-access version of the UMass Amherst Writing Program Student Writing Anthology (SWA) - made possible by student efforts and an Open Education Initiative Grant from the UMass Amherst Libraries. You can access this textbook online.