Submission Guidelines
Papers for the 2011 ASLE Conference can be submitted as individual proposals or as part of a preformed panel or roundtable. Please note that the Program Committee strongly favors pre-formed panels and roundtables over individual submissions.
1. Submission Procedure for Individual Papers (Traditional Sessions or Paper Jams)
Individual papers can be proposed as traditional 20-minute presentations and in 8-minute "paper jams." All concurrent sessions will run for 90 minutes. Traditional sessions will feature three 20-minute presentations or four 15-minute presentations, with 30 minutes for introductions, discussion and, in some cases, a respondent. "Paper jams" will feature six or seven 8-minute presentations (including self-introductions), with 30 minutes for discussion and no respondent. Due to time constraints, "paper jam" sessions cannot accommodate PowerPoint presentations. We are not seeking poster presentations this year but instead encourage presenters with posters to adapt their work for submission to a "paper jam" session.
When you submit your proposal, you will need to select which of these two formats you prefer. In general, you should select a "paper jam" if your work is more experimental or exploratory. If you select the traditional 20-minute or 15-minute presentation, you will also be asked to indicate whether you would be willing to present an abbreviated version of your presentation as part of a "paper jam," given the limited number of openings that will exist for traditional presentations. Although this change in format will result in fewer 20-minute and 15-minute presentations being accepted, we believe that it will continue to allow the kind of inclusive, welcoming community for which ASLE has become known.
Proposals for 20-minute or 15-minute presentations should be 600 words long; proposals for "paper jams" should be 300 words long. Proposals for scholarly presentations should state the claims being made and the significance of the argument; proposals for creative writing presentations should indicate the subject being addressed and the approach being used; proposals for hybrid and nontraditional presentations should discuss the unique features of the presentation. Co-authored presentations are welcome, but only one co-author should submit the proposal. Accepted abstracts will be posted on the conference web site.
2. Submission Procedure for Pre-Formed Panels
Pre-formed panels may take the form of traditional sessions or "paper jams." Traditional panels are limited to three or four presentations and "paper jam" panels must feature at least six (but no more than seven) presentations. Organizers whose proposals do not meet these guidelines will be asked to modify their panels or propose a roundtable instead. We encourage organizers to use electronic discussion lists (such as those associated with ASLE, ALECC, and ASEH) to identify colleagues with similar interests.
Pre-formed panel proposals consist of a panel proposal with a 300-word abstract submitted by the organizer and individual paper proposals submitted by the participants, each of which should indicate which panel they form part of. It is important for panel organizers to alert their participants that each of them will need to submit individual 600-word proposals (for traditional sessions) or 300-word proposals (for paper jams) in addition to the proposal for the panel as a whole.
3. Submission Procedure for Roundtables
Roundtables are discussion sessions that address a single issue or question. Unlike "paper jams," roundtables do not involve formal presentations. A common format is for participants to submit one-page position papers to a moderator, who then creates discussion questions, and for the papers to be distributed but not read at the roundtable. Most roundtables feature from four to twelve participants.
The roundtable organizer should submit the roundtable proposal with a 300-word abstract, listing the names of the participants. For roundtables, participants do not need to submit individual proposals.
Participation Requirements
Participation is limited to one formal presentation per person (not including serving as a chair or respondent). Because participation in a pre-conference seminar constitutes conference participation (since titles of position papers will be listed in the conference program), we encourage (but will not require) seminar participants to consider attending the seminar in lieu of presenting at the conference itself (rather than doing both). All presenters must be members of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) and/or one of its international affiliated organizations (ALECC, ASLE-ANZ, ASLE-India, ASLE-Japan, ASLE-Korea, ASLE-Taiwan, ASLE-UK, EASLCE, or OSLE-India) at the time of registration.
Graduate Student Awards
ASLE will honor the best work of graduate students by making two awards for presentations given at the conference: the best scholarly paper in ecocriticism and the best work of environmental creative writing. In addition, ASLE will provide a limited number of small grants to assist financially needy graduate students with expenses related to conference attendance. For details on both of these awards, see the section on ASLE Awards.
How to Submit
To submit a proposal, go to the Proposal Submission Form.
Deadline
All proposals must be submitted by November 5, 2010.
