Hello Everyone,
Let's start from the question I posed last time... How do you prepare your conference proposal?
Here are some ideas I hope you will find useful...
Start with the requirements set out by the conference committee and create a file on your desktop entitled Conference Proposal. Open up a new page in WORD and write a series of headings that correspond to the main requirements of the requirements with a note of the number of words you are allowed for each section, if this is specified in the conference details. In no particular order, write down aspects of the paper that you want to present. Alternatively start from the first heading and work through the series in order. Save your doc. file, with the date in the title.
Or....
Open up a doc. file and write down in any order thoughts that occur to you about the paper you want to write. Now look at the conference proposal requirements and allocate a coloured highlighting background to each. Them, working through your notes of random thoughts highlight sentences/paragraphs/sections according to the colours you have used for the proposal requirements. Using colour you can also easily see (as you can when you use headings) which aspects of your proposal need more attention. Remember to save your WORD doc. with the date in your Conference proposal file located on your desktop.
Or...
Using a web-based template such as those you can access and adapt at http://www.merlot.org create a simple web page and give each section a title and a colour. Working through each section or in random order add details of the paper you hope to present. It is possible to present your paper eventually from a web page like this and some conference committees may accept your proposal set out in this format.
Let's start with BERA's stipulations for 'abstracts';
Details are accessible at http://beraconference.co.uk/abstracts/
Look not just at the requirements for someone sending in an abstract for a proposed paper, but also at the criteria by which your abstract will be judged. Now - when you write your proposal/abstract pay particular attention not only to the details required for the format of a proposal but also look carefully at the criteria and make sure your proposal is easy to accept!
Proposals are rejected for many reasons - some of which have nothing to do with the quality of the abstract you have sent in. Not all reviewers are highly skilled so it really is vital to ensure your proposal fits requirements set out in the call for proposals. Sometimes - especially if you use terms that may not be in common use by some of the research community and that an inexperienced reviewer may not have come across - your proposal may be rejected because it is outside their 'comfort zone'. Sometimes (No - not really? This couldn't happen could it???) a proposal is dropped because of micro politics by a reviewer who just may have submitted something similar... or who know a colleague who has... Sometimes... there may be too many proposals submitted about a particular theme and even though a proposal is accepted by a reviewer the conference committee will reject it. Submitting a proposal is like entering the lottery! So - if your proposal fits all the criteria set out and if you have taken close notice of the criteria that reviewers will use and your proposal is still not accepted - do not feel too discouraged - develop your proposal into a manuscript that you can submit to a journal or adjust it and submit it for another conference.
Warm regards,
Sarah
|