Bakersfield College professor Brad Stiles is currently putting together an online journal so that BC students will have the opportunity for their work to be published.
The journal, called the Roughneck Review, will be a collective of works by students, either current or former, from numerous subjects and aspects of education at BC.
“The only criteria are as follows: it must be work created by BC students, either past or present, and it needs to be work that was created for a class,” Stiles said. “Those are the only two standards by which we decide whether or not somebody’s eligible to have work in there.”
According to Stiles, the range of work is exponential, saying, “We accept all levels of work from every discipline.”
Whether it is artwork, history papers, English essays or videos of a speech, if the work is considered “excellent,” it can, and will, be published on the Roughneck Review.
The site already has several entries, including work from English 60 students that are focused on paragraph construction.
“We wanted to show that at every level we recognize excellence,” Stiles said. “So even though they’re only a paragraph long, they’re excellent paragraphs.”
Among the students that already have work published on the journal is David Waller, who has come back to school to pursue a career in teaching.
Waller’s English 1A essay, “Controlling Mr. Smith,” was selected as a sample piece of what is to come with the Roughneck.
“I was blown away,” Waller said of the moment Stiles informed him that his essay would be used. “When he had said that he was going to use one of my papers, it really hit me. I was jazzed. I called every relative I had.”
Waller said that he thinks the Roughneck is a “great idea” that will do more than just allow the students to gloat about being published.
“There’s really something about getting that recognition that goes deeper, that pumps up a student’s desire to get better,” he said.
The students are Stiles’ main priority, not himself or the faculty involved.
“If this turns out to be a vanity for faculty, what a waste. If it can be something that the students embrace and strive for and look forward to, that’s what I want,” Stiles said.
Students will have two different ways to get work on the website. The student’s work can either be submitted by professors with the permission of the student, in which case the work is automatically accepted, or the students may submit their work on their own.
In the latter case, the student’s work will go through a review process.
The Roughneck’s editorial board already consists of several professors, but Stiles is determined to round it out more so that every piece of work is critiqued and reviewed properly.
The Roughneck, according to Stiles, is a rarity that he’s had as an idea for over 10 years.
Stiles has put together one of these journals before. When he was employed at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Ore., Stiles created the Banyon Quarterly, which showcased the work of students from that school.
Stiles said that he used that as a model for the Roughneck.
Stiles often used the Banyon to bring up essays to provide examples for his students on various topics. This eventually led to the idea to create one dedicated to BC so that students could use their peers’ work as an example.
The Roughneck will get a proper introduction later this semester, according to Stiles.
“We’re hoping to have some events to launch the [Roughneck], including a public presentation and reading, so the students can see their work and present their work to other students,” he said.