Submission & Presentation Guidelines

Role of the Faculty Sponsor

Student presenters are required to ask a faculty member in their field of study to sponsor their work. The faculty sponsor should be willing to offer guidance as the student develops and refines his or her project. Submissions of papers written for class are encouraged, but the papers presented at the conference should be a revised and improved version of the original. Students should plan to work with their faculty sponsor to revise their papers before submission. Faculty sponsors are invited to attend the conference and to serve as panel moderators.

Submission Guidelines

Electronic submissions as Word documents or PDF files are encouraged and should be sent to Nikole King at nikole.king@nic.edu by Monday, October 1, 2018. (To receive a $10 discount on your registration fee, please submit your paper by Friday, April 13, 2018 and register for the conference by Friday, May 4, 2018.) Submissions may also be mailed to Nikole King, North Idaho College, English Department, 1000 W. Garden Ave., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814. Please note that papers longer than 10 pages will not be accepted. This page limit does not include a title page or a works cited list/reference page.

Submissions should include the following:

1) a copy of the paper to be presented on Saturday, November 3 with the presenter’s name removed
2) a 100-200 word summary or abstract of the project (Please note that your abstract will be published in the conference program.)
3) the Paper Submission Form with faculty sponsor signature. (If an actual signature is difficult to acquire, the faculty sponsor may email Nikole King to verify that the student is working with a sponsor.)

Paper Selection

Vetting for the conference will be handled primarily through the faculty sponsorship program. While the Paper Selection Committee reserves the right to make final decisions regarding which papers are accepted or not, we will generally accept papers that are complete, submitted by the deadline, and meet basic professional standards. It is our aim to showcase excellent student scholarship, but it is also our goal to provide a pedagogical opportunity to help motivated undergraduates develop their research, writing, and presentation skills. Final decisions will be made within two weeks of the submission deadline.

Presentation Guidelines

Once papers have been selected, they will then be grouped into panels of three to four presentations of similar subject matter. There will be three to five concurrent panels per session depending upon the number of presentations selected. Each presentation is allotted 10-15 minutes not including questions. Typically, presenters read their work, but “talking through” the paper is acceptable too. Students may also use PowerPoint to present their work so long as the presentation remains within the allotted timeframe. If you plan to use A/V equipment, please bring your work on a flash or thumb drive, not a laptop. All conference rooms in Lee-Kildow Hall come equipped with a digital projector, a podium computer with Windows PC and Office, and a document camera, but please indicate your specific A/V needs on the Paper Submission Form. The remaining time after all presentations have been given will be for questions and critical discussion. Either a student or faculty member will moderate each panel. Presenters can expect to see about 10-25 people in the audience.

Tips and Suggestions

• Edit your paper for a wider academic audience, versus editing for a particular professor in a specific class, and summarize when necessary. References in a philosophy paper, for example, may not be familiar to a student majoring in a different discipline.
• Practice reading your presentation out loud.
  • Check for length. Typically, one type-written page takes about two minutes to read, so please make any necessary cuts to remain within the allotted timeframe.
  • Underline or highlight any words you want to emphasize.
  • Note any places in your paper where you want to pause for emphasis.
  • Practice saying any words or names that are difficult to pronounce. Better to stumble over a word in the privacy of your home than in front of an audience.
• During the question and answer period, it is okay to ask someone to repeat or rephrase the question. It is also okay to say you don’t know the answer. Often someone in the audience will have a good idea to share with you. Be open to suggestions and “food for thought.”
• Take notes when the other students on your panel are presenting so that you can engage in the critical discussion following the presentations.
• Dress professionally, but comfortably. Jeans and a t-shirt are not appropriate, but a suit is also not necessary.
• Plan to attend other paper panels besides your own. Sharing ideas and engaging in critical thought with your peers and faculty in the conference setting is often a rewarding intellectual experience.