Paper Submissions

Note: If you are submitting a panel presentation, follow the guidelines and instructions under: Panel Submissions.

Guidelines for Paper Submissions

All currently-enrolled members of Sigma Tau Delta and Sigma Kappa Delta, and Alumni Epsilon Chapter members*, are invited to submit critical essays, creative nonfiction, original poetry, fiction, drama/screenplays, and/or works focusing on the Common Reader, Chris Abani's Song for NIght, to be considered for inclusion on the annual convention program. Essays on any topic of interest in the discipline are welcome; essays on the works of our featured speakers are especially encouraged. Paper submissions must conform to the following guidelines:

Each member in good standing may submit a maximum of two works for consideration. (Faculty members may not submit papers, but they are invited to moderate panels and sessions.)
To be considered, the two works must represent separate genres/categories: critical essay, creative nonfiction, poetry, fiction, drama/screenplay, or common reader.
Two works from the same category will not be considered.
A separate submission must be made for the two works.
Acceptance is based on merit.
Notification of acceptances will be sent on or before January 30, 2010, by email only to the address listed on the submission form.
Authors must be present at the convention to read their own papers. Papers will not be read in the author’s absence.
Works accepted for paper presentation and presented at the convention will automatically be considered for the convention awards available in each category. Authors must present their works at the convention to be eligible for awards.
Submissions must be in a standard format as specified:

Prose (Critical Essays, Creative, Original Works): Times font, 12-point, double-spaced, and 1 inch margins on all sides, free of typographical and grammatical errors. Essays must follow the Modern Language Association style guidelines as defined in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (latest edition). Titles should be no more than four spaces down from the top and centered (avoid bold letters or underlining). Each work (maximum of two in separate genres/categories) must be submitted as a Word document file (doc or docx).

Creative prose manuscripts should not exceed 2,000 words, including in-text citations, footnotes, and works cited entries. Critical prose manuscripts should not exceed 3,000 words, including both in-text citations and the references page.

The submitted body of work (including any introductory comments necessary to contextualize the work) must be presentable within a 15-minute time slot.

Poetry: Only one poetry submission is permitted. The submission may consist of one or more individual poems. All poems must be contained in one Word document file (doc or docx).

If you are submitting a collection of poems, provide the title of your collection, an abstract of no more than 750 characters, and attach your document.

Formatting for poetry submissions: Times font,12-point, free of typographical and grammatical errors. Create a new page for each poem. Titles for the individual poem(s) should be no more than four spaces down from the top and centered (avoid bold letters or underlining).

The submitted body of work (including any introductory comments necessary to contextualize the work) must be presentable within a 15-minute time slot.

Contributors must include an abstract for each submission, including poetry, not to exceed 750 characters or roughly four sentences.

Contributors must not identify themselves in any way on any page of text submitted.
Contributors will receive email notification by January 30, 2010 of acceptance or denial.

* Sigma Tau Delta members no longer affiliated with a college or university chapter must be members of the Sigma Tau Delta Alumni Epsilon Chapter to present at the convention.

Instructions for Paper Submissions

Submission Link

Online Account Set-Up

If you registered for the 2009 International Convention or the journal submissions, you already have an account. Your account is the same email address and password.
If you did not register online for the 2009 International Convention or submit work for the journals, you must first set up an account. Your account name will be your email address. Please make sure this is an email address you will be using over the next six months. All confirmations and follow-up communications will be sent to your email address.
When you set up your account, you will create your own password. Passwords must contain at least five characters.

Step 1: Authors

After you have successfully logged on, choose: Submitter Account | Add As Author/Co-Author. Note: Sigma Tau Delta only allows one author.
Choose: Continue button.

Step 2: Add Submission

Topic: select your topic from pull-down menu.
Title: type in the title of your paper.
Attach your paper as a Word document.(After you browse and select your Word document file, you must click the Add button.)
Abstract Text (required): all submissions, including poetry, require an abstract. The abstract must be less than 750 characters or about four lines. Type your information directly into the text box. Do not cut and paste from other sources (including Microsoft Word and web pages); doing so will create formatting problems and a larger character count, and may result in your submission being rejected).
Presentation Type: choose from critical essay, creative nonfiction, original poetry, original fiction, original drama/screenplay, or common reader.

Step 3: Other Information

Membership Type
Chapter State
Chapter School
Academic Level
Sponsor Name
Sponsor Email Address

Step 4: Review

Click Continue and review the information for your submission. You may make edits at this time (choose the Edit button). To save edits, click the Accept button at the bottom of the page.
Click Save Changes.

Additional Submissions

Repeat the submission process to add a second submission in a different category (presentation type). You can also exit and add a second submission at a later date.

On the first screen next to Submission List select Add.
Repeat Steps 2 through 4 above.

Submission Confirmation

Contributors will receive confirmations and acceptances through email using the email address used to set up your account. Please check your confirmation.

Additional Information

You can edit your submission(s) through November 20, 2009. To do this, login using your account (email address and password). You will see a list of your submission(s) and corresponding submission number(s).
Contributors will receive confirmations and acceptances through email using the email address used to set up your account. It is vital to keep your email address for communications.
Acceptance and denial notifications will be sent out by January 30, 2010.

Questions regarding the online submission process should be addressed to sigmaoffice@niu.edu.

Paper and Panel Submissions

Papers

Panels

The deadline for all paper and panel submissions is Friday, November 20, 2009, 11:59 p.m.