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Her short story will appear in the online publication alongside the creative and research-based work of undergraduate students from across the country.

An online, peer-reviewed journal for undergraduate students, UReCA provides an opportunity to publish research-based, intellectual, creative and interdisciplinary work. The National Collegiate Honors Council publication is highly selective, with just a 13% acceptance rate for the 2019 edition. Submissions are received and reviewed by a peer-group of undergraduates throughout the year and selections are made in August.

“Being published in UReCA is a national honor,” Brian J. White, Ph.D., UReCA faculty advisor and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Graceland University, said in a press release. “UReCA features only a handful of interdisciplinary works from among the best in the nation.”

Woods was inspired by the life of paleontologist Mary Anning and the psychology of ethical science when she wrote the piece for an IC Scholars Honors Program assignment — her first science fiction effort. The story’s main character discovers how much she has contributed to her father’s genetic experiments after thinking her efforts collecting fossils to aid his research have been unnoticed.

“The piece shows a clear mastery of the craft of fiction writing,” a member of the UReCA editorial team wrote. “The story's premise is original and thought-provoking in the questions that it raises about the ethics of genetic manipulation.”

Majoring in psychology and English, with a concentration in editing and publishing, Woods plans to be a science journalist and creative writer.
 

Woods wrote the story as an honors assignment in one of Professor Beth Widmaier Capo’s courses last year. Capo, professor of English and director of the honors program, praised Woods’ work and said it engaged with the themes of the course, which looked at how fiction can explore the ethical implications of science. Capo said Woods’ academics and experience working in the Campus Writing Center prepared her both to write and to apply an editor’s eye to her own work.

“The English Department works to prepare students to publish by giving them practical individual advice and targeted coursework that encourages their creative growth and mastery of skills,” Capo said.

To learn more about the English Department at ͬ����ɫ��, visit .