Central Eurasian Studies Society (CESS)
CESS Annual Conference
Guidelines for Writing and Presenting CESS Conference Papers
Contents of This Page:
Deadlines and Limitations
Guidelines
Glossary
Sample Paper Format
The following notes are intended to provide some guidance to paper presenters
at the CESS conference on how to write and present a successful paper.
There is no single formula for a good paper presentation, and scholars in different
fields will take different approaches, but the following points generally apply
regardless of the field.
Deadlines and Limitations
- All paper presenters must provide a copy of their “Working Paper”
to the discussant and chair of their panel by August 29 via e-mail.
This is a firm requirement. The “Working Paper” need not be in
finished form, and might, for example, lack complete bibliography or references,
but should contain a complete version of the paper’s argument and information
upon which it is based. The Conference Committee will ensure that each
panelist has the current e-mail addresses for their panel’s chair and
discussant in good time to submit their papers. All Working Papers should be sent as attachments
in MS Word format. The paper presenter should ask that the chair and
discussant confirm when they have received and successfully opened the paper
attachment. If you have any difficulty with the paper transfer, contact
the Conference Committee, sending a copy of the paper to: cess@muohio.edu.
- If you would like Audio-Visual equipment for the presentation of your paper,
you must contact the Conference Committee by the deadline for AV requests: August 15. We will do our
best to provide requested equipment, though constraints of room compatibility,
scheduling, expense, and availability of specific equipment may not allow
us to meet all requests.
- The standard time allotment for presentation of papers is 15 minutes
(for panels with 4 presenters) or 20 minutes (for panels with 3 presenters).
Adherence to the time limits will be strict. If one of the panelists
does not appear due to a late cancellation, then the chair may allot an additional
~5 minutes to each presentation.
Guidelines for Paper Writing and Presentation
Working Papers. All paper presenters at the CESS conference are
required to send a working version of their paper to their panel’s discussant
and chair by August 29. The working version may be as polished
as you wish, but at minimum, it should contain the full argument and all the
supporting information that is necessary to understand and assess your paper’s
contribution to scholarship. Out of courtesy to the discussant and the
audience, we strongly recommend that you check the paper for writing errors
(use the spell-checker!), and if possible, have the paper proof-read by someone
with near-native English ability.
Sample Paper Format. At the bottom of this page you will find
the “Sample Paper Format.” Papers will vary greatly according
to the field, but we recommend that you include the elements indicated in the
sample, regardless of your field.
Paper Presentation. In most cases, a written paper and its presentation
at a conference should be quite different. A written paper of this kind
is typically 20-30 pages (250 words per page, double-spaced). This is
2-3 times longer than would be possible to read in the 15 minutes available
to you to present your paper at the conference. Ten pages is all one could
have time to read. Therefore, one must choose a strategy for presentation.
One may choose to present a) a selection of pages or sections from the
full paper, b) a re-written, shorter version of the paper, or c) most
preferably, a conversational-style summary of the paper (not read, but rather
delivered impromptu).
Full Version of the Paper. The longer version of your paper serves
some useful purposes, even though it is not read at the conference in that form:
1) It provides the full argumentation and documentation required to elaborate
your scholarly contribution; 2) It will be read by the discussant, who
will be able to affirm for the audience that you have more information to support
your argument than you were able to present in the allotted time; And 3) you
can make copies available to interested audience members and others.
Reading vs. Presenting. It is generally best not to read
your paper from a prepared text unless you are a skillful reader in English
or you have thoroughly practiced reading the paper, including ideally a run-through
before a practice audience. This is especially true if you are not fully
fluent in English. When one reads a paper without clarity of emphasis
and dynamic intonation, as well as with a strong accent, it is almost inevitable
that you will lose the attention of your audience.
Particularly if you are not a very skilled reader in English, it is best to
prepare to present the ideas and information rather than to read
the text you have prepared. For this purpose, it is generally best to
prepare an outline of the key points and to cover them in your presentation
in natural, conversational speech.
Presenting the Outline. In most cases, it is most effective to
present visually the outline that you are working from to the audience, either
through overhead transparency slides, through “powerpoint” presentation
on an LCD projector, or through a photocopied handout that you bring to the
conference in sufficient quantities for each audience member to have one.
The handout can be distracting as the audience can focus on what is in their
hands rather than the presentation, but it has the advantage of allowing the
audience to see the full outline of your presentation at once and to study it
until they comprehend it. Overhead transparencies lack some of the visual
dynamics made possible by a “powerpoint” presentation, but they
present less risk of technical problems. In general, it is best not to
plan to show more than about 1 slide per 2 minutes in a powerpoint or OHP presentation.
You should test the functioning of the equipment with your actual presentation
before the panel is due to begin.
Stressing What Is Important. The most important key to a successful
presentation is to decide what your most important argument and conclusions
are and to organize your presentation around these. It is generally best
to state clearly at the beginning what you intend to demonstrate and why it
is important, and to let the audience know how you will proceed through your
argument. Each point raised in the course of the presentation should be
clearly related to this argument. You should conclude with a restatement
of your most important results, this time, allowing the audience to understand
clearly that you have indeed demonstrated what you set out to argue. Note
that the full written version of your paper will typically have other arguments
and contributions which you do not have time to present during the panel, and
you may wish simply to mention some such key points without elaboration, so
that interested audience members can ask you about them or read your full paper
to find out more.
Keeping to Allotted Time. Your are required to complete your presentation
in the time allotted to you. The panel chair is instructed to end your
presentation when your time has expired, regardless of whether you have finished
saying what you had hoped to say. Any extra time you attempt to take would
be “stolen” from other panel members. Therefore, it is crucial
that you pace your presentation such that you are able to complete it and give
a coherent ending within the time allowed. We strongly recommend that
you practice your presentation -- if necessary, repeatedly -- until you can
comfortably complete it in the available time. You might also prepare
for the possibility that some member of your panel does not appear, allowing
some additional time (in this case the chair will inform you of this possibility
at the beginning of the session).
Distribution of Your Paper. The CESS conference organization does
not distribute papers and does not systematically publish them (though selected
papers may be published in the Central Eurasian Studies Review).
In general, we consider the conference to be an opportunity to present and get
feedback on unpublished work. This may serve as a step towards improving
it for publication or finding an outlet for its publication. As a rule,
it is best to have such a paper published in one of the respected journals in
the appropriate field of study, as this is where it will undergo the most effective
vetting and reviewing process, and where it will have the greatest impact.
This is why we do not seek to publish all of the conference papers. It
is matter of the author’s own choice whether to distribute copies of the
paper (other than to the chair and discussant, which is required of all participants).
However, we do recommend that you consider bringing some copies of the paper
which you can share with interested persons, if you are willing, since this
is a good way to build productive scholarly contacts.
Glossary
Abstract - A concise statement of content of the paper. It indicates
the key arguments and conclusions, the data or sources and research methodology
upon which these conclusions are built, and the importance of these arguments
in the context of positions on points of fact or theory previously argued by
other scholars.
Audio-Visual Equipment - The conference organizers can provide the following
Audio-Visual (AV) equipment to assist in the presentation of papers or discussants
comments: 1) Overhead Projector (OHP), 2) Slide Projector (for 35
mm photographic slides), 3) “Powerpoint” Projector (or “LCD
Projector”, used for a computer-generated presentation), 4) Video-Cassette
Player (“VCR”, in VHS format), and 5) Audio-cassette player
(“tape machine”). Presenters should confirm the functioning
and compatibility of the equipment in advance of their panel.
Chair - The panel chair is responsible for briefly introducing the panel
and the panelists, and for ensuring that the paper presenters and the discussant
adhere to the allotted time. The chair typically gives written notice
to the presenter when 3 minutes of their time remain, and again when it is time
to “wrap-up” (the chair will break off speakers who do not end promptly).
In the discussion after all of the presentations, the chair recognizes audience
members with questions or comments, and may limit the time allowed to individual
audience members for their questions/ comments.
Discussant - The discussant speaks after each of the paper presenters
have spoken, using 15 minutes to address the papers, either in turn or collectively.
The discussant may raise critiques of the papers, point out their significance
in a broader context, or identify interesting connections between them.
The discussant is to receive the papers by September 15 directly from the authors,
allowing enough time to give them a careful reading. If the discussant
does not receive a paper in advance, he/she is entitled to inform the audience
that the paper was not provided and it therefore will be omitted from the comments.
Outline - A point-by-point summary of the arguments and information
contained in the paper, in the order that they are to be presented. Both
for your own ease of reading while you are presenting, and for the audience,
the outline should be stated in very clear, brief points.
“Powerpoint” Presentation - A presentation made with the
help of a computer, connected to a projector. In such a presentation,
it is possible to present a) the paper’s outline, and b) illustrative
data and images. The process is a bit more technically challenging than
a regular OHP presentation, but results are potentially much more dynamic and
engaging. This requires the Microsoft program “PowerPoint”
or other such software. The presenters may connect their own notebook
computer to the projector or bring the presentation on diskette.
OHP Presentation - A presentation made with the help of an “Overhead
Projector” (OHP), which uses sheets of plastic (“transparencies”)
upon which text or images are written or printed. The transparencies are
usually printed either with a photocopier or a laser or inkjet printer.
They can be black-and-white or color, and one may add emphasis or information
with a colored pen.
References - A list of the textual and other sources cited in the paper,
with full bibliographic information. The information to be included in
the bibliographical references, as well as the way it is formatted, should be
consistent with one of the standard systems that are used in the particular
field to which the paper is intended as a contribution. Note that these
standard systems are different in English language scholarship than in other
languages, such as Russian, and a professional paper in English should be consistent
with English language standards.
Sample Paper Format
Note: everything in the sample below is fictional.
| Theological Sources of the Taliban’s
Principles of Governance
Paper presented at the:
CESS 7th Annual Conference
Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
30 September 2006
Ahmed Rashidov
Visiting Scholar
University of Westminster
Dept. of Religious Studies
127 Main Street
Westminster, MA 02173 U.S.A.
tel. +1 (718) 765-4321
e-mail: arashidov@univwest.edu
WORKING PAPER: Not for citation or distribution without permission
of the author.
Abstract
[A summary of the paper of 300 words or less. See the Glossary
above for a definition of the abstract.]
Introduction
[Presentation of the main argument of the paper and a description of
how this argument will be developed in the course of the paper.]
[Body of the Paper]
[Elaboration of the argument with supporting evidence.]
Conclusion
[Concise re-statement of the paper's main contributions to scholarship.]
References [or Bibliography]
[Listing of the sources and scholarly literature which are cited in the
paper, with complete bibliographical information on each item.] |
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