Fresh Writing Submission Guidelines
Reviewer Criteria
Fresh Writing is a collection of exemplary first-year student writing at the University of Notre Dame. We consider essays—both traditional and multimodal—written by students in their first year of study at Notre Dame. We are especially interested in essays that are argumentative in purpose or inquiry-based in nature, with a clearly defined scope and audience. Specifically, our editorial board reviews and selects essays with the following criteria in mind:
Exemplary of the Genre
The piece successfully displays the essential rhetorical features of the genre. A researched argument, for example, will incorporate a sufficient number of sources and place different arguments in conversation with one another.
Ethical Argument
Rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos) are appropriately balanced and employed ethically. Reasonable counterarguments are addressed fairly. Evidence for the claims comes from credible sources, and sufficient reasoning is offered to defend each claim.
Rhetorical Virtue
The piece serves as an exemplary model of how college writers can practice intellectual courage, generosity, honesty, humility, knowledge, and wisdom.
Strength of Composition
The purpose of the essay is clear and the content is engaging. The writer establishes a distinct voice, reflecting a sophisticated awareness of language and diction based on the expectations of the intended audience. Attention to structure is evident for the medium, such as effective transitions, an orienting introduction, and a conclusion that provides rhetorical closure.
Inventiveness
The essay engages new ideas, proposes creative interpretations, perspectives, or solutions, takes on topics or problems which are understudied and/or extraordinarily relevant in disciplinary or public arenas. In other words, the essay takes some risks in its content or form, and those risks result in a product that should promote valuable discussion or otherwise challenge readers in a productive way.
Note: An essay need not be perfect in all categories. Strengths in one category can sometimes make up for weaknesses in others. Successful submissions will be at least good in all categories and extraordinary in at least one.
AI Policy
Fresh Writing does not accept submissions exclusively generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools. However, submissions authored by a human that contain AI-generated text may be accepted, provided that they include proper citation of the use of AI. See the MLA’s guide for citation of a range of uses of gen AI. All submissions should follow the University of Notre Dame’s general policy.
Plagiarism and Copyright Statement
All submissions should reflect the student writer's original thinking, with any borrowed ideas or material appropriately cited within the text and on a corresponding list of Works Cited (preferably in MLA format, though we will allow other documentation styles).
All images, video, sound files, or other multimedia must be clearly cited in the Works Cited page and follow U.S. Copyright Law and Fair Use Doctrine. For a primer on copyright and fair use, see Stanford Library's Copyright and Fair Use guide.
For works under the Creative Commons license, you must follow the wishes of the original creator based on the licensing attribution. For information on different CC licenses, see the Creative Commons website.
For the purposes of Fresh Writing submissions, we ask that any borrowed material included in the submission meet one of the following criteria:
- the borrowed material is in the public domain or otherwise free of copyright
- the borrowed material is used with written permission of the copyright owner (must demonstrate this and provide appropriate citation information) or
- the borrowed material is used in accordance with Fair Use guidelines (with appropriate citation information still provided).
Requirements for Publication
We request that submitters review the requirements for final publication to ensure that Fresh Writing will be able to publish the work.
For initial consideration of all text-based and multimedia essays, we accept any file as well as links to work housed on external platforms.
For publication, Fresh Writing must have access to original files of all materials, including images, audio, and video files. We cannot publish projects that are only hosted on external platforms, such as Google Sites, Wix, Adobe Express, or any social media platform.
For projects on external platforms, we ask that students document these projects through image, audio, and/or video and submit these walkthroughs for consideration.
At the point of publication, we need materials in the following file formats:
- For text: .doc or .docx.
- For images: .jpg or .png
- For audio: .mp3, .wav., or .flac
- For video: .mp4 or .mov
All text and images will be housed on Fresh Writing's website. Audio will be housed on SoundCloud and videos on YouTube.
For original images featuring the faces of others, Fresh Writing must receive written consent from the individuals featured for publication.
To ensure that Fresh Writing is accessible, we request the following for final publication:
- alt-text for all images (for guidance on alt-text, see Harvard's Digital Accessibility guide) and
- transcripts for audio essays
How to Submit
We are now accepting submissions for the 2026 issue of Fresh Writing. To be considered for the upcoming issue (due to be published in the summer of 2026), essays must have been written by a first-year student during the Spring 2025 or Fall 2025 semesters at Notre Dame. Though submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis, the final deadline for consideration for the next issue is January 2, 2026.
To nominate an essay, instructors should notify students of the instructor's wish to nominate the essay, then submit the essay on the student's behalf.
Students should not submit their essays directly.
If you have any questions about submission guidelines for the 2026 volume, please contact the editors, Elizabeth Capdevielle and Jessica Shumake, at freshwriting@nd.edu.