Community Engaged Research in First Year Composition is a digital collection composed and curated by students, teachers, and librarians affiliated with first-year composition classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The collection was created in 2018, and grows every year as writers and researchers contribute new projects. Pieces selected for publication in this collection have gone through a review process and are intended to connect readers with other resources for their own research and writing.

The creators of these projects have thought deeply and critically about the meaning of “community” and what it means to engage in research in order to benefit a community. They have studied the ways in which information is disseminated, discovered the challenges and rewards of conducting research in the digital age, and learned to see research as a thoroughly rhetorical endeavor. Ultimately, we hope that Community Engaged Research in First Year Composition can further efforts to connect university resources with community expertise to work toward social justice and a better future for all communities, especially the communities of and around Milwaukee.