Check out the new issue of Omnium: The Undergraduate Research Journal at NCWU, released on August 15, 2022. Omnium collects written work by promising undergraduate scholars. As we emerge from more than two years of harrowing pandemic-related restrictions, we notice that our students, perhaps in an effort to rethink issues of universal values, empathy, and quality of life, have collectively turned to issues of animal welfare and protection in the past academic year, a prominent trend reflected in the latest issue of which more than a third is dedicated to animal life, explored from various disciplines’ perspectives. We invite our readers to enjoy and learn from the fifteen new essays collected here and also encourage teachers in any discipline to use them as models in their own courses. Please use attribution when you do so.

OUR MISSION. Omnium is a collaboration between the Writing Program and the Writing Center at NCWU, providing our undergraduate students with the opportunity to explore the major genres of academic writing, join in scholarly conversations, share their ideas, perform original research, and see their work published in a professional venue. Omnium also serves as a teaching resource for NCWU faculty—and faculty at other institutions—as the essays and research articles published here reflect the skill and knowledge of real students at various stages of their academic careers, from first-year composition essays to projects created in senior seminars and honors theses. The materials lend themselves well to in-class discussion, analysis, and emulation, and we hope that students will be energized when they realize that there is no single arcane secret to writing well. All it takes is practice, motivation, and direction.