{"id":76,"date":"2020-02-10T19:46:49","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T19:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pittsburgh2020.thencptw.org\/?page_id=76"},"modified":"2020-02-13T17:45:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T17:45:59","slug":"how-to-submit","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/?page_id=76","title":{"rendered":"Writing a Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If this is the\nfirst time you\u2019re submitting a proposal for a conference, you\u2019re probably\nwondering what exactly is expected of you. As with any genre of writing, the\nmost important thing about a conference proposal is having something you want\nto say. If you are still thinking about what you would like to present,\nconsider the theme of the conference, \u201cWriting Centers at the Confluence of\nDiversity and Democracy,\u201d and look again at the <a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburgh2020.thencptw.org\/\">call for proposals.<\/a>\nThough it\u2019s not necessary for every presentation to relate to the conference\ntheme, that theme will be a coherent thread through the conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most\nimportant things to consider when writing a conference proposal is what\ncontribution you are making to writing center scholarship.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal is to\nmove the discussion forward, and you should always include an explanation of\nwhy your paper is an important scholarly contribution. As you are refining your\nproposal idea, do some reading to find out what has been established already in\nyour topic of interest and where you might find gaps in the scholarship. Good\nplaces to look for writing center scholarship are&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.psu.edu\/thedanglingmodifier\/\">The Dangling Modifier:\n     An International Newsletter By and For Peer Tutors in Writing and Produced\n     in Association with the NCPTW<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.praxisuwc.com\/\">Praxis:\n     A Writing Center Journal<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/wlnjournal.org\/index.php\">WLN: A Journal of Writing Center\n     Scholarship<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.writingcenterjournal.org\/find\/\">Writing Center Journal<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As with most\nthings, though, it can also be helpful to look beyond the directly relevant\nscholarship, in order to offer new perspectives. You may find that things you\nare reading in your courses outside the writing center resonate with what you\nare seeing (and not seeing) in your peer tutoring. Those moments of connection\ncan be valuable places to start thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The proposal\nfor NCPTW consists of two main elements: the proposal proper, which is a brief\n(500 word maximum) summary of what your presentation, workshop, or panel will\nbe about; and an abstract, which is an even briefer (75 word maximum)\ndescription intended for the conference program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both of those\npieces should give readers a good sense of what question your presentation will\naddress, how you are going about addressing it, and what claim(s) you are\nmaking. Because you are proposing something that you may not have researched\nyet (let alone written), it is very likely that the longest part of your\nproposal will be the part describing the problem or question you\u2019re addressing,\nand the shortest part will be about the claims you\u2019re making. That\u2019s okay! Even\nafter you have written your paper, you may find that you still have more\nquestions than answers. That, too, is okay, as long as you are asking questions\nfrom a different angle or are asking questions that build on what other people\nhave already said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You will likely\nrecycle some text from your proposal in your abstract, and that is fine. Keep in\nmind, though, the slightly different purposes for the proposal and the\nabstract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The proposal demonstrates that you\n     are engaging in a substantive way with questions of shared interest with\n     other NCPTW conference-goers\u2014AND that you have a good idea of how you will\n     offer something new. If you are proposing an individual paper and need to\n     be placed on a panel, the proposal&#8217;s description of your questions and\n     methods is also helpful to conference planners in joining you with other\n     presenters whose work intersects well with yours.<\/li><li>The abstract is somewhat less\n     about demonstrating that you have a sense of the field and a plan for\n     engaging it; it is more about attracting attendees to the conference and\n     about boiling down the most essential elements of your proposal.<\/li><li>And, of course, you will want to\n     have a catchy, informative title that will convey your ideas in even\n     briefer format than your proposal or abstract.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As with any\napplication process, conference proposals involve relatively few words, but\neach of those words counts. We look forward to reading your proposals! Hope to\nsee you in Pittsburgh in October!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If this is the first time you\u2019re submitting a proposal for a conference, you\u2019re probably wondering what exactly is expected of you. As with any genre of writing, the most important thing about a conference proposal is having something you want to say. If you are still thinking about what<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-76","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300,"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions\/300"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thencptw.org\/pittsburgh2021\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}