The Scan and the Quill are the academic journals of Butler, giving both students and faculty a chance to showcase their work. The Quill focuses on the academic side of Butler while The Scan emphasizes the creativeness of the college. Both publications give students and faculty a chance to get their work published and develop their writing skills.
English professor Amanda Hash is advisor for The Scan and The Quill.
“We want to see what our community is doing and creating. In terms of academics, I collect the best of all student work,” Hash said.
Hash is very particular in selecting content for The Scan and the Quill. Only the best
pieces qualify.
“I'm looking for what we would say is ‘good writing’ - Solid organization. If you're using sources, you've used them correctly. You’re citing information correctly. You have a solid premise. All of your structural components are there. You've got a solid thesis; you've got good topic sentences. You evaluate and explain your points. Everything that I look for in a good (Amanda Hash holds up a copy of The Quill and The Scan (Photo Isaac Rich) paper is what I'm looking for in the Scan."
“In terms of [The Quill], I am looking for interesting ideas. I'm looking for sense details - showing versus telling. When you read it, I want to be able to feel like I'm there with you experiencing it at that moment,” Hash explained.
Hash believes that by showcasing only their best pieces, students will have a sense of pride and confidence in their work.
“When we're in classes, everything is very insular - you write a paper, you submit it to your professor and it doesn't really go anywhere after that. No one else sees your really hard work. The Quill and The Scan give you the ability to shine.”
“For [students] to be recognized by the college gives them more of a sense of ownership and community. A lot of the time I'm talking to online students who have never set foot at Butler. They feel that sense of community of belonging because now they're in this publication. Now they have a physical memento of being one of the best parts of Butler.”
Dom Curry is a junior at Butler. Publishing a poem in this year’s edition of The Quill, she has experienced personally the benefits Hash describes.
“It's nice to feel your words mean something, even if it's just to one person. Just to get it published in The Quil makes me know that I am doing something good and thatthe work I'm doing to enhance my writing is paying off,” Curry said.
Writing for the Quill has given Curry a sense
of confidence.
“I can be a writer, if I want to - it just takes a lot of hard work. Regardless if I ever publish elsewhere, at least I know no one can take that part away from me,”
Curry said.
Abigail Bragg, a high school senior at Butler, also had her Dom Curry holds up a copy of The Quill. (Photo Isaac Rich)
work published.
“I absolutely love creative writing - the storytelling behind it and the way that you can teach lessons without being super latent about it,” Bragg said.
“My favorite genre is dystopian. I love taking small issues in our society and blowing them up and seeing where they could
take us.”
Another topic Bragg writes about is Biblical historical fiction. Her screen write on King Solomon was published in this year’s edition of The Quill.
“As a Christian, I love to think of background Bible characters… I just love the stories behind it - the perspective you can gain from [such] people,”
Bragg said.
Bragg’s purpose is to inspire hope in her readers despite the twists and turns a story might take to get to
a resolution.
“I'm okay with writing about darkness in stories… I see that darkness with a purpose. You can go down this darkened road where you see no escape, you see no hope but then there is a hope there, and you can believe in that,” Bragg said.
Abigail Bragg poses for a picture. (Photo Isaac Rich)
Bragg is grateful for the opportunity to publish in both The Quill and The Scan. She is excited to see where this might take her in her future career.
“Being a published author is my dream. It would be super cool if this is the start of that where people in the future can first see where my works were,” Bragg said.
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