Show Notes
Lately, Jeff and Laura have been having a variety of chats about “being a scholar” and what it means to share scholarly work. We recently have been attending a few different conferences together (and apart) in 2017, and have been discussing how we share evidence and practice in higher education. In @BreakDrink episode no. 8, we share a bit more about how practitioner conferences differ from scholarly/research-focused conferences. This might part of a few series of podcast where we talk more about academic work: our experiences being mentored in writing, how to put together a manuscript, proposing a conference paper, peer-review journal start up, or who knows what else -- we think about academic writing and contributions to academe.
Conferences Run Down in 2017: Scholar vs. Academic Conference
Academic Conferences We Have Also Attended to Note:
Conference Proceedings 101
Conference proceedings are scholarly papers a number of academics/researchers include on their vitae for the tenure and promotion. This is the “carrot” as to why faculty or scholars would attend a conference and allow doctoral researchers grants to travel, beyond the value of networking and discussions with peers. A proceeding could be a short (or long) paper presented at a conference, and sometimes there are even print proceedings published for your conference abstracts/papers (e.g.
#SMsociety15 proceedings). All papers typically have a specific format (e.g.
AECT’s manuscript requirements) and are submitted for a formal (typically blinded) peer-review process before they are accepted. Typically these are shorter papers or a conference abstract (not
a beginning of a journal article abstract format), where you present your completed research projects. A number of social sciences and education conferences have specific formats beyond the
APA Style 6th Edition, but that is a good start.
If accepted, you will typically present your paper at the conference in a condensed format, such as 10-25 minutes, with a set of other papers in a single session. Each presentation is directed to showcase research by describing a brief literature overview, research methods (data collection, analysis) and findings/implications.This might be moderated by a discussant, moderator, or not at all with a brief (2-5 minutes) for Q&A at the end of your presentation/session time slot.
Other formats typically at scholarly conferences we have seen -- but this is not an inclusive list:
- Conference abstract (1000-2500 words) - how to guide and killer abstract writing
- Full Papers (up to 8000-10.000 words)
- Notes or Work/Research In Progress
- Poster Sessions (also via a device, e.g. laptop, tablet, etc.)
- Workshops/Hands-on Sessions (e.g. how to use R Studio for text mining)
- Competitions or Expos -- challenge/solution program feature to showcase work
- Plenary/Keynotes
- Doctoral Colloquium
- Mentoring Programs
Episode F.A.Q.
A: Yes. You want to avoid
text recycling and s
hould NOT but publishing the same work to different publication outlets.
Q: Is presenting about my program or an assessment of an initiative at my campus research? Does this count?
A: Maybe. Did you get IRB approval from your institution before collecting data? Are you following scholarly practice of your educational/social science peers? If not -- this might be an assessment. Still great -- but it could not be submitted as peer-reviewed conference proceeding or journal article.
Q: What is this yellow book that Jeff referred to during the podcast?
A: It was known as a “phone book” and it’s directory of names of people and businesses for you to locate their contact information. You might use the Google or another search engine these days for said things. Apparently, Yellow book as rebranded to “yb” and now has a website:
https://www.yellowpages.com/
Q: Why is Tony Parker out for the rest of the NBA season?
Q: What is Fiesta?
Our Pro-Tips for Attending Academic Conference:
- Prepare for the Conference: Review the conference website to see what research is being presented, who will be attending, and who you should meet (new & friends) while you are both at this event. Are you a fan girl/boy of a particular researcher and you want to chat about their work/your work? Are you hoping to collaborate with other scholars? Do your homework and figure out who will be there. Maybe you want to set up a meeting over a meal/coffee/drinks OR find a particular session where you can be introduced to new peers.
- Attend the First Time Attendee Session (if they have one): Get the lay of the conference land and get a good overview/guide to what is going on during the event. Is there a mixer with food and/or drinks? Attend and meet a few people. Prepare to be social and have your own “elevator pitch” about what you are currently studying or working on right now. Think about this before you show up to the conference.
Overall, we think higher education professionals could do better with sharing MORE research-based information at our conferences. Many of these sessions are often hidden within the general program sessions and/or found in a poster session -- that is often not well-attended.
Hatfield and Wise (2015, p. 8) challenge practitioners to research by asking:
“If you could give voice to those who were marginalized, if you could change the field of student affairs through your voice, if you could create better collaborations across campus with our academic colleagues, and if you could share your insights with parents, students, and other invested stakeholders so that they will know what we contribute to student learning and development, why wouldn’t you?”
Why are we not encouraging more scholar-practitioner collaborations? And what incentives could you offer early career researchers and senior scholars to attend these conferences? These are ponderings we are thinking about from reading this book (Hatfield & Wise, 2015) on SA scholarship. We think it’s a decent starting guide to getting into academic writing. Sharing evidence-based initiatives are required to be relevant in higher education. This value needs to be showcased more by and with student affairs, student services, and those not on an academic track to offer others insight to the work we are doing.
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