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Submission Instructions

Preparing to Submit

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Submission Guidelines

Submission Instructions


Preparing to Submit Papers

by Dr. Shannin Schroeder, 2012 Convention Chair

You've decided to submit to the 2012 Sigma Tau Delta Convention. Great! Now what?

First, involve your Sponsor early—and often—in your decision. We Sponsors want to give you the best opportunity to submit a successful paper. And we have some tricks up our sleeves to help you decide what to select:

  1. If you intend to use something you have already written but have more than one from which to choose, talk to each of the professors for whom you wrote the essays. If the works have already been graded, carefully consider how much time it would take to do the revisions necessary to make each essay a convention-ready work;
  2. Look at the lengths of the individual papers you are considering. With a 2,000-word limit for your convention submission, you may decide not to whittle a 15-page essay down to size. Again, factor in the time it will take to narrow the scope of the essay (without reducing its quality);
  3. For new works—or works that revise an existing work heavily—narrow your thesis in advance, so that it lends itself to a paper 7 or 8 pages in length. Also, ask for help from trusted resources—the writing center, your chapter members, professors who have helped you with your writing before, and (of course) your Sponsor—as you draft and polish your submission;
  4. Ask your Sponsor for advice about what you should submit. We have read numerous papers, have presented our own works at conferences, and are invested in getting you to the 2012 Sigma Tau Delta International Convention;
  5. Save your Sponsor a bit of time by narrowing to your strongest, length-appropriate efforts.
    1. For critical essays or creative prose, provide your Sponsor with a synopsis of each work, including (as pertinent) your thesis.
    2. For collections of poems, avoid bombarding your Sponsor with every poem you've ever written—instead, select your strongest works and ask the Sponsor to tag the two or three poems that contribute the least to the collection.
    Not only will that effort help you see your essay "at a glance," it also recognizes that your Sponsor may be doing this work for numerous individuals in your chapter;
  6. Before your final decision about which poems will go in your collection, practice your reading time (with minimal introduction of the poems) to ensure that your presentation will fall within the 8 to 15-minute limit;
  7. If your Sponsor requires applicants to submit to him or her in advance, pay particular attention to those local deadlines. Be prepared for your Sponsor to recommend additional revisions—and plan your time accordingly; and
  8. Mark the November 1 deadline for submission on your calendar now! Remember, too, that the Convention Chair and Central Office staff will be fielding numerous questions up to the last minute of that deadline. The earlier you plan to submit, the longer you have to ask any last-minute questions that arise during the submission process.