Writing your conference proposal, posters, etc.

Now that you have looked at your data, it is time to write your proposal for the SoTL conference! Most people submit their work first to a conference, get useful feedback, and then edit and send for publication.

Chapter 8 of the Engaging in SoTL workbook gives a number of useful tips for choosing a conference or journal. However for this Institute, you will submit to the Midwest SoTL conference. Here is the link to the conference page Links to an external site.. Click "submit a proposal" to get detailed instructions.

Some things to consider when writing a proposal:

1. What is the conference theme? The more you can relate your work to the them, the more likely you are to get it accepted. Even if it doesn't relate, go ahead and submit. Depending on how competitive the conference is, you may still have a good chance of being accepted. But you can often re-work your introduction and discussion to relate to the theme. Our theme this year is "Transforming Teaching through SoTL" which is broad enough to cover almost anything!

2. What are the formats? Posters, presentations, roundtables, etc? In general the presentations are most competitive, posters less so. Roundtables and other very informal formats tend to be the least competitive. Those who are new to the SoTL field or who have preliminary or weak data might feel more comfortable with a poster where the interactions are more one-on-one. Selection committees try to honor the proposer's wishes, but might contact and ask if you would be willing to do a different format instead. 

3. Follow directions! Look carefully at required information and also word limits. Meet deadlines for submission. You would be surprised how many people do not follow directions. 

4. Are you there yet? Do you have data collected? Analyzed? Many conferences are willing to accept preliminary data, and also realize that you may have several months before the conference to complete analyses. You can indicate what data you have and your timeline and let the reviewers decide. (This is in contrast to journals, who expect all analyses to be complete before submission.)

The Midwest SoTL conference uses a blind peer-review process. That is, the reviewers do not have your name or institutional affiliation when they review the proposal. This is important to note because peer-reviewed presentations and publications typically carry more status than non-peer reviewed work.

Most scholars present their work first at a conference, get feedback from attendees, and then write a polished piece for publication.

More Resources for Writing 

Do you have good intentions, but find it difficult to get around to writing? I highly recommend Silvia's How to Write a Lot Links to an external site.. This inexpensive book packs a lot of useful advice into 150 pages. 

Here is a very useful description of Download how to write a conference abstract.

The abstract is very important because reviewers use it in determining which proposals are accepted and conference-goers use it to decide which sessions to attend. 

Discipline-based outlets may use the reference and citation style of the discipline, but the default is often APA style. One of the best places to get help with APA, MLA, Chicago, and AMA styles is Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL). Links to an external site. 

There are several guides to conducting SoTL research. One of the most useful is Bishop-Clark & Dietz-Uhler (2012) Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Links to an external site.). Its workbook format is particularly helpful if you are working on your first project. 

Resources for Posters

Posters are often less intimidating than presentations and can be a great first step in SoTL. Here is a link to some great guidelines Links to an external site. for posters. 

This site gives some more great suggestions Links to an external site..

This powerpoint is actually a series of poster templates that you can edit and have printed at a Kinkos or elsewhere. Download Poster templates

And here is a guide on making ePosters Links to an external site..