4.1.4: Putting Together the Elements of a Submission

Putting Together the Elements of a Submission

In this final section of the lesson, we will look closely at the standard elements of a publication proposal, and you will work on a rough draft of a publication proposal that could eventually be submitted to one of the publication venues you identified in the previous topics. 

Special issues of a journal may cast calls for proposals like this one issued by the Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianshipseeking articles for a special issue on “the place of teaching in academic librarians’ work.” The journal required potential contributors to submit a proposal (800 words or less) and a bibliography. In this case, no further details were supplied defining the content of this proposal.

When submitting a proposal, you’ll want to pay attention to the included details. Whether specifically requested, you should also try to address the following three questions:

• What do you plan to research?
• Why is it important (the topic, approach, etc.)?
• How do you plan to research this topic?

While you likely won’t need to address the following topics in detail, you could consider what you want to share from each of these important elements to communicate your research effectively.

Potential proposal elements may include:

1. Title
2. AbstractAbstract The concise summary of a research article that provides a broad overview of the research being presented.
3. Problem Statement
4. MethodologyMethodology The theoretical framework that informs how a researcher approaches their work and what methods are used to collect data. and Methods
5. Significance or Implications
6. Summary

To determine what is included in your abstract, you’ll first need to answer some questions:

• Who is the audience for the abstract, and what is their level of expertise on the topic or within the discipline?
• Why was the research undertaken (e.g., what is the motivation/justification for the study)?
• What are the research questions or hypotheses?
• What methods were used?
• What were the general findingsResults The section of a research article where researchers share the results from the research. This section takes the results and directly connects them to the research questions or hypotheses posed at the start of the article. Also can be called “Findings.” /conclusions? [May not be known if data analysis has not yet been completed]
• What are the implications for the subject matter or field?

When determining what qualities comprise a successful proposal, always refer to the call for proposal or journal website and make sure all the elements are addressed. Think about what makes your piece a good fit for this particular call. What can your idea or work contribute to this conversation? Many journals will have public guidelines and expectations for what they look for in a successful proposal. The Canadian Journal of Academic Librarianship provides a list of tips for authors. The Journal of Information Literacy provides a submission checklist to make sure submitters have everything covered in their proposal. Many conferences will expand on their expectations and the guidance that reviewers use when looking at submissions through a blog post, like this one from the Information Literacy Conference (LILAC).

Activity

Complete the following activity in your LPOL Workbook. This activity will help you work toward a final curriculum deliverable, and it will help you develop your overall research plan.

Complete the 4.1.4: Developing an Abstract worksheet in your LPOL Workbook to practice identifying the key elements of your research project abstract. These will serve as the building blocks for when you’re ready to write a proposal for a conference, journal article, or book chapter. If you’re not quite ready to complete this activity, consider filling out what you can or set it aside for now and return to it later.

Topic 4 References