About the CCCC UR Poster Sessions

Since its inception at the 2012 CCCC, the Undergraduate Researcher Poster Session has served to showcase the field’s premier undergraduate researchers and their projects. In addition, the Undergraduate Researcher Poster Session aims to accomplish the following goals:

• to encourage undergraduate participation in the annual convention by providing a site for scholarly exchange;
• to encourage undergraduate participation in the profession from students contemplating further education and careers in rhetoric and composition and related fields;
• to encourage undergraduate participation in CCCC, thereby cultivating the next generation of members and potential leaders of the organization;
• to extend the organization’s diversity across various demographic categories;
• to increase public representation of undergraduate research in rhetoric, composition, and communication, understanding UGR is a object of increasing attention and interest at members’ institutions and within national organizations (i.e., AACU).

Recognizing that undergraduate researchers often do not have research planned far enough in advance to submit proposals by the regular CCCC proposal deadline, the organizing team sends a separate call for poster proposals in October, with a deadline in late November or early December. The organizing team reviews the proposals and makes selections by mid-December. From January through March, the organizing team supports the students in the development of their posters by sharing resources and facilitating a peer review process prior to the CCCC convention.

The Undergraduate Researcher Poster Session is led and organized by a multi-institutional team of 3 to 4 faculty and 3 to 4 students, including  faculty members of the CCCC Undergraduate Research Special Interest Group and at least one student presenter from the previous year’s session. Other student members typically are engaged in active co-inquiry or undergraduate research projects with the faculty members of the team. Historically, student presenters-turned-organizers are invited to join the planning team based on their interactions with the prior year’s team (e.g., met deadlines, communicated questions and comments effectively, etc.), their professional goals (e.g., an interest in continuing to attend CCCC and to advance their studies in writing and rhetoric), their relevant experience (e.g., Writing Center consultant or comparable experience that they can draw on when working with students on in-progress poster drafts).

Questions about the CCCC Undergraduate Researcher Poster Session? Contact Jessie L. Moore at jmoore28@elon.edu.