Your Guide To Getting Published In College

By Elana Goodwin on September 1, 2014

Just because you’re a college student does not mean your work can’t and doesn’t deserve to be published.

Many students in university don’t know how many different options are available to them if they want to try to get whatever type of writing or art they do out into the world.

However, there are actually many ways students can get their work published in college if they’re interested in and know where to look. If you want to get published in college, try one of these routes to publication.

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1. Student Newspapers. Pretty much every school in the U.S. has at least one affiliated school newspaper, with many having unaffiliated newspapers put out by students as well.

If you’re serious about being published and want your work put out regularly, consider applying to join the newspaper’s team of writers to ensure more steady publication.

Even if you can’t or don’t want to join the paper as a writer and make that commitment, there are still ways to be published in the newspaper. You can write and submit a guest column for the paper and if the editors like it, it may be published in an upcoming issue.

There are also often smaller papers distributed on campus that usually need writers so looking into those publications may be a good route to getting published too.

2. Local Newspapers. The city or town your college is located within or close to also distributes newspapers to its citizens and is another good option for college students looking to get published.

Just like with a student newspaper, you can look into whether you can join the newspaper as a writer or just submit a guest column or cartoon strip. You may even want to figure out if you can complete an internship for credit with a local newspaper, which will help you both academically and with you getting your writing published.

3. Literary Magazines. Literary magazines accept a wide variety of writing and art, from poetry and short stories to photographs and multimedia pieces.

Many schools publish their own magazines and allow any student at the university to submit multiple pieces in different categories. To find out about your school’s literary magazine or if they have one, check the English department’s website or ask your advisor about the college’s magazine.

You can also search other school’s magazines as some accept submissions from non-students. Check out Plain chinaPrairie MarginsCatfish CreekRed Cedar Review, and The Blue Route: A National Literary Magazine for Undergraduate Writers, all of which accept submissions from students across the nation.

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4. Academic and Research Journals. If you have a really well-written essay you penned for a class and think it’s publishable, there are numerous academic journals that accept and publish essays and papers students have written for courses.

Different journals accept different kinds of submissions, from English essays to psychology research papers to powerful artwork.

Many journals tend to only accept papers written for English or Comparative Literature classes so make sure that your essay follows whatever guidelines and subject matter the journal demands.

Check out the Lethbridge Undergraduate Research Journal, the SURJ: Stanford Undergraduate Research JournalThe Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review, and the UCB Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal.

5. Essay Contests. While most people think essay contests are just for high schoolers or scholarships, there are essay contests for college students, too. Ask your English professor or get in touch with the English department at your school to find out about contests you can submit your work to.

6. Blogs. One of the simplest ways to get published while in college is to either start your own blog, apply to write for a blogging platform, or submit guest blogs to an existing site.

Creating a blog is easy and free through websites like WordPress and Blogger (the free blogging tool from Google) and there’s no pressure as far as how often you post and on what subject matters.

You can write anything on your blog and publish right away without your work needing to be reviewed or accepted. If you don’t want to start your own blog, or want to publish elsewhere besides your personal one, you can write for a pre-existing blog, like Uloop.

So if you’re interested in getting published while you’re in college, start with one of these options. Before submitting your work to any publications, ask a professor (or English major friend) to read over your work and give you constructive criticism, and reach out to faculty and advisors within the English department at your school for help as you go about trying to get published.

Don’t get discouraged either if a publication passes on your work; writing is personal and everyone has their own style. Try different avenues to getting published and see which one works best for you and your craft.

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