
































Microsoft Word - Pethrick et al. (2022) Intro Vol. 6(1) Layout.docx


1helen.pethrick@ucalgary.ca 

Emerging	Perspectives		
ep.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca		

	

Introduction:	Empowering	Graduate	Students	in	Publication	Spaces		

	Helen Pethrick1, Stephanie Hladik2, Arushi Manners1, Apoorve Chokshi1, Marcus 

Gottlieb3 
1 Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada  

2 University of Colorado, Boulder, USA 
3 University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Canada 

In this introduction to the first volume of the sixth issue of Emerging 
Perspectives: Interdisciplinary Graduate Research in Education and 
Psychology, we reflect on our experiences as members of the Editorial Team, 
advocate for the relevancy of graduate student journals, and introduce the 
three articles featured in this issue. 

Keywords: graduate students, academic publishing, graduate student journals, 
educational research, educational psychology 

Pethrick, H., Hladik, S., Manners, A., Chokshi, A., & Gottlieb, M. (2022). 
Introduction: Empowering graduate students in publication spaces. Emerging 
Perspectives, 6(1). 1-5. 

  Since the inception of Emerging Perspectives: Interdisciplinary Graduate Research in 
Education and Psychology (EPIGREP) in 2015, our journal has been committed to empowering 
graduate students in all aspects of the academic publication space. Seven years later, publishing 
continues to be an essential part of the graduate student experience, as we facilitate graduate 
students in communicating their research findings, establishing their voices in their fields, and 
preparing for future careers in academia and beyond. Our colleagues and founders of EPIGREP 
have reflected upon the significance of building an academic journal by and for graduate students 
(Woodend et al., 2017) as well as the needs of graduate student authors (Syeda et al., 2020). This 
introduction builds upon these findings by illustrating the practical ways that graduate students 
can be empowered in publication spaces and advocating for graduate student-led journals. We also 
introduce three newly published articles featured in this issue of EPIGREP. 
  



 
 
Pethrick et al. – Emerging Perspectives  
(2022) 
 
   

 
 

2 

Why Graduate Student Journals?  
Within the fields of educational research and educational psychology, graduate students 

are often mentored by faculty as co-authors of academic publications, but are rarely the sole 
authors of their publications (Garbati & Samuels, 2013; O’Hara et al., 2019). Publishing in a 
journal can seem mysterious and intimidating as a first-time or graduate student author, requiring 
tacit knowledge and etiquette (Jalong et al., 2014). While we cannot understate the value of 
supportive faculty members to demystify publishing in our fields, we believe it is just as important 
to offer spaces where graduate students can safely explore the publication process among peers. 
EPIGREP is a journal for graduate students; all submissions have a graduate student listed as the 
first author and many are sole-authored by graduate students. Our editorial team and reviewers 
provide developmental feedback and mentorship to our authors from submission and revisions 
through to copyediting and publication. After publishing with EPIGREP, it is our aim that graduate 
student authors have communicated their research in a rich forum of interdisciplinary conversation 
while learning the intricate, step-by-step procedure of publishing a journal article. This experience 
can be particularly valuable to first-time authors or first-time lead authors who can now be 
empowered to publish in other journals. 

Secondly, EPIGREP is a journal by graduate students. With the support of faculty mentors, 
our journal has always been led by an interdisciplinary team of graduate students from the fields 
and subfields of education and psychology. Being in a similar stage of our academic journeys as 
the authors submitting to EPIGREP allows us to empathetically tailor our ways of working to the 
graduate student experience. Our editorial team engages in a process of experiential learning 
(Syeda et al., 2020) as we learn how to manage the ‘behind the scenes’ of an academic journal. 
This is a unique experience that would prepare a member of the EPIGREP editorial team to serve 
in a similar role on the editorial board of another journal, and has  facilitated more depth in our 
understanding of  our own submissions to other journals. Every new editor who joins the EPIGREP 
editorial team is mentored by a more experienced editor, allowing for continuous capacity-building.  
 We acknowledge that there are valid critiques of graduate student journals. The legitimacy 
and impact of publishing in a graduate student journal has been questioned, leading some to advise 
‘saving’ a publication for a higher-impact journal (Doran et al., 2012). We advocate for the 
relevance and necessity of graduate student journals, including EPIGREP and similar journals in 
our field. As outlined in our experiences with EPIGREP and by other graduate student editorial 
teams (see Arsenault, 2021), graduate student journals are a space of developmental learning for 
graduate student authors and editors. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to a decline 
in motivation and opportunities for many graduate students to publish their work, while the 
expectations of graduate student productivity have continued to increase (Arsenault, 2021; de Caux, 
2021). In these contexts, we believe that graduate student journals have an essential role to play in 
reducing the barriers for publication, offering a space of learning, and celebrating the valuable 
contributions of graduate students to scholarly research. 
  



 
 
Pethrick et al. – Emerging Perspectives  
(2022) 
 
   

 
 

3 

Overview of the Articles 
With great appreciation for our graduate student authors, we are pleased to introduce three 

new EPIGREP articles, all of which highlight the work of graduate students to promote 
mindfulness, equity, and emotionality in diverse educational and learning contexts. 

Christopher Siegle shows that among secondary school student populations, teachers and 
parents report that the impact of learning during multiple pandemic-related lockdowns have 
impacted students' well-being. While teachers may have tried to bring mindfulness practice into 
their virtual or physical classrooms to support some of these concerns, Siegle explores the tension 
between mindfulness being used to advance equity and mindfulness practices which, perhaps 
unknowingly to many educators, maintain the very power structures we hope to challenge in our 
classrooms. Teachers will often seek the benefits of mindfulness practices embedded in social 
emotional learning (SEL) curricula to positively influence student behaviour and readiness for 
learning. Seigle uses a hermeneutic approach with a small population of teachers in Western 
Canada to suggest that, in their well-meaning intentions to bring SEL and mindfulness into the 
classroom, teachers view students with a deficit-model and consequently maintain systemically 
oppressive educational practices within schools. As we move towards post-pandemic teaching and 
learning, trauma-aware and mindfulness practices in schools could inform many student-centred 
learning and teaching initiatives and Siegle recommends that, rather than looking towards pre-
packaged SEL products, educators match their intent to improve classroom community with their 
actions by critically examining their classroom interventions.  
 Harrison Campbell and Joshua Grieman explore literacy and meaning-making through the 
lens of cake artistry, expanding the idea of what it means to be “literate” within different 
professions. Specifically, they draw upon post-humanist perspectives on literacy to demonstrate 
the ways in which storytelling, reflection, and emotional expression – key aspects of literacy – can 
be found in the design and baking of beautiful and detailed cakes. Showcasing two different Pride 
cakes, they reflect on their own positionality in the LGBTQQIP2SAA community by deftly 
highlighting how their personal stories and reflections are embodied in the cakes’ designs. 
Campbell and Grieman also show how fiction and reality were intertwined in the storytelling 
behind a wedding cake for two of their best friends. They note the ways in which understanding 
cake artistry as literacy has implications for resisting the mind/body binary, as the physicality of 
pastry arts requires attending to embodiment as a key aspect of literacy and meaning-making. 
Additionally, these authors explore how viewing literacy as a social practice rather than a static 
skill can make the importance of relationality visible, strengthening connections between literacy 
and professions in which relationships and communication are critical to success. Campbell and 
Grieman conclude with a call to language educators to consider how other professions and lived 
experiences, such as with pastry arts, can be used as opportunities to explore embodiment, 
relationality, and meaning-making and thus spark new conversations around literacy within and 
beyond the classroom. 
  
  



 
 
Pethrick et al. – Emerging Perspectives  
(2022) 
 
   

 
 

4 

In the final article of this issue, Julie Sleilaty discusses the impacts of a regular mindfulness 
practice on teachers by synthesizing a critical review of the literature. Motivated by the increasing 
demands made of teachers that challenge their ability to maintain positive mental health and well-
being, and approaching the work through the lens of both an educator and a mindfulness 
practitioner, Sleilaty reviewed 40 articles that used a variety of approaches and methods to measure 
the impact of regular mindfulness practice on in-service teachers. She found that regular 
mindfulness practice improved the overall well-being of teachers, including their ability to handle 
stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, as well as their physical health. Sleilaty’s review also 
revealed positive emotional and social impacts, including teachers’ self-awareness, emotional 
regulation, and relationship skills. Finally, the articles indicated that regular practice also fostered 
educators’ prosocial values of self-compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. Sleilaty concludes by 
pointing out some gaps in the literature: participants in such studies are predominantly female and 
there is a lack of studies conducted in developing countries. She argues for future research that 
seeks to determine the efficacy of specific mindfulness techniques, and/or investigates the 
relationship between teacher mindfulness and the outcomes of their students. For educators who 
are interested in engaging in mindfulness, Sleilaty also includes a curated list of resources and 
activities that can be incorporated into teachers’ busy schedules. 

Conclusion 
We would like to congratulate the authors of these outstanding articles. We look forward 

to continuing EPIGREP’s mission in future issues: to celebrate the academic and scholarly 
endeavors of graduate students in education and educational psychology while providing a forum 
for collaborative knowledge exchange and translation. 

References  
Arsenault, A. C., Heffernan, A., & Murphy, M. P. (2021). What is the role of graduate student 

journals in the publish-or-perish academy? Three lessons from three editors-in-chief. 
International Studies, 58(1), 98-115. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0020881720981222 

de Caux, B. C. (2021). Doctoral Candidates’ Academic Writing Output and Strategies: 
Navigating the Challenges of Academic Writing During a Global Health Crisis. 
International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 16, 291-317. https://doi.org/10.28945/4755 

Doran, J. M., Antonius, D., Brown, A. D., Kriss, A., Lehr, E. Y., Evans, J., & Steele, H. (2012). 
The perceived relevance and efficacy of a graduate school journal among graduate 
faculty and training directors. Teaching of Psychology, 39(1), 62-66. 
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0098628311430316 

Garbati, J., & Samuels, B. (2013). Publishing in educational research journals: Are graduate 
students participating?. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 44(4), 355-372. 
https://doi.org/10.3138/JSP.44-4-004 

Jalongo, M. R., Boyer, W., & Ebbeck, M. (2014). Writing for scholarly publication as “tacit 
knowledge”: A qualitative focus group study of doctoral students in education. Early 



 
 
Pethrick et al. – Emerging Perspectives  
(2022) 
 
   

 
 

5 

Childhood Education Journal, 42(4), 241-250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-013-
0624-3 

O'Hara, L., Lower-Hoppe, L., & Mulvihill, T. (2019). Mentoring graduate students in the 
publishing process: Making it manageable and meaningful for academics. International 
Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 31(2), 323-331. 

Syeda, M., Woodend, J., Liu, J., & Roy, S. (2020). Ready to leave the nest? Education graduate 
students' voices on publishing. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in 
Higher Education, 32, 107-116. 

Woodend, J., Syeda, M. M., Paris, B. M., Ko, G., & Chondros, K. (2017). How can graduate 
students contribute? Reflections on creating a journal for and by graduate students. In P. 
Preciado Babb, L. Yeworiew, & S. Sabbaghan (Eds.). Selected Proceedings of the 
IDEAS Conference: Leading Educational Change, pp. 75-83. Calgary, Canada: 
Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. 


