Allegheny has announced the creation of The Belltower, a new academic journal for undergraduate students. The journal will also be open to students who graduated within one year of the semester in which the journal will be published. The Belltowerserves to publish academic research papers from students from different disciplines and studies, as well as senior comprehensive project chapters, according to the press release.
“I wanted it to be distinct from The Allegheny Review, which has a fabulous, longstanding reputation for creative works in poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction,” Hart said, referring to the oldest national undergraduate literary magazine in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to undergraduate creative work. “I wanted it to be a place for students to publish their academic writing, their critical, analytical kinds of writing.”
The publication’s website dictates that submissions “should be informed by critical conversations relevant to the topic and incorporate timely, pertinent research to support claims.” Additionally, the submissions should be accessible to audiences both in and outside of the primary field of inquiry.
The journal is slated to be published during the semesters when ENGL 207: Editing & Publishing is offered for students to take. The course is part of the Editing and Publishing microcredential introduced to Allegheny’s curriculum this year. English Department Chair and Professor Alexis Hart, who taught the course last spring, spoke with The Campus about the journal’s goals, as well as how it came into existence.
Hart, who taught the Editing & Publishing class in the spring 2024 and fall 2024 semesters, got assistance from her students in those classes on the submission guidelines, potential cover and naming of The Belltower. In addition to developing The Belltower, students in the class learned about the use of language, grammar, punctuation, and citation style, following the Chicago Manual of Style guide. They also had the opportunity to invite guest speakers to their class, some of whom were Hart’s professors from her classes at the University of Chicago Professional School.
“They also had to find a job or internship related to the field and then think about how would they present themselves as a viable candidate for that position,” Hart said. “That really helped them to see, one, what kinds of opportunities are available in the editing and publishing world, and what are the expectations that employers have to get your foot in the door and how could they use the work that they had done in the class to make a case that they were ready to step into that role.”
Molly Suppo, ’27, is a computer science major and English creative writing minor who took the class in the fall 2024 semester, as part of the microcredential program and to supplement her work as an editor for The Allegheny Review.
“I learned a lot about how to edit publications, a lot about style guides,” Suppo said. “Specifically, the Chicago Manual style, as that is what the magazine would be based in. I also learned about a few other different manuals of style and how it can be customized to different magazines.”
Before becoming a senior editor for The Allegheny Review last spring, Suppo took the class to learn the ropes of publishing. She considers it important to learn about the intricate details of publishing to get experience in the field, especially those with interdisciplinary focuses in English.
”I think it’s also beneficial because it’s a good way for students, who maybe don’t want to get involved with a full magazine outside of class work, to engage with that and get hands-on experience because there’s a lot you can do with an English degree,” Suppo said. “There’s a lot of valuable skills to be had.”
Currently, The Belltower has three manuscripts being edited for publication. The journal plans to publish the submissions on the Allegheny website. Hart is confident that the experience students get from working with the editing team will be invaluable and prepare them to share their scholarship with the wider community. For students taking the course, this will also serve as an opportunity to cultivate their skills in editing and publishing.
“I’ve been trying to drum up support,” Hart said. “Really, the expectation is that the writer is willing to work with the students in the editing class to bring the manuscript to publication readiness, get it out for publication and then students in the class will also do the layout and design of the issue.”
For those who work on the journal, the process is just as important as the final product. Hart is hopeful that papers published in The Belltower will become a model for students, both those writing academic papers and those editing them. Going forward, Hart also plans to use the pieces edited by the Editing & Publishing students as lesson materials.
“Your text becomes a class text that gets assigned to other students,” Hart said. “And I have seen that happen. So, I think, that is the virtuous cycle, as it were, of doing the work and then the editors then get to see how their contributions have helped that writer get their piece to a large audience.”
