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One of the most important and unfortunately least
discussed parts of one's professionalization experience in obtaining a
Ph.D. is getting involved in the conference circuit within the
discipline in general, as well as one's specialized or secondary fields
of interest. Professional conferences provide the means for graduate
students to more fully experience the breadth of debate and scholarship
within the discipline. Attendance at professional conferences allows
graduate students the critical opportunity to build networks between
themselves and other graduate students and professors. These types of
connections become very important way to publicize one's ideas and
abilities when it comes time to join the job market. In addition, these
connections are also helpful for the exchange of ideas that takes place
when a graduate student is trying to publish an article or work on the
dissertation.
Conferences play an important role in the professional development of
graduate students. These gatherings by professional associations
provide an important link between a student's research interests and
current trends in the discipline. In addition, they provide an
important source of networking with other professors and graduate
students that can provide a wealth of future resources. The department
overall emphasizes the importance of the conference experience,
especially the ever-important conference presentation, as a meaningful
step for graduate students in developing relationships with their
soon-to-be professional peers. The conference experience not only
involves attending the meeting of one of the various regional and
national professional organizations, but can also include the
experience of presenting a paper on a conference panel. Presenting a
paper at a conference gives students the opportunity to float their
ideas before a larger and diverse audience. Comments made by conference
participants on a student's paper can be especially helpful, as they
constitute independent feedback. If you attempt to publish the paper,
these comments may well be incorporated into the final product.
Conference papers, typically of publishable quality or an expansion of
a seminar paper, can be written by co-authors that include a
faculty-graduate student partnership or two graduate students.
Collaboration is one of the hallmarks of political science, and the
sooner you start, the sooner you develop the skills and relationships
needed for this sort of activity. It may take a while to develop the
style necessary to work with another, but that partnership can last
throughout your career. (For example, Joe Oppenheimer of our department
has worked with Norman Frohlich since their graduate days at
Princeton.) Of course, not everyone co-authors papers, but it is a way
to work through arguments and combine the strengths that each author
brings to the table. (For example, people doing quantitative research
might join with people doing qualitative research for a more powerful
investigation.) One benefit of holding a research assistant position is
that many faculty members work with the assistant to prepare a paper
for conferences or publication. Since many faculty and graduate
students have collaborated in the past, there are many people to ask
about this practice.
Nuts and Bolts of Conferences
Conferences generally last three days (APSA is longer). The days are
divided into time slots of about two hours each. In each time slot
there is a series of concurrent panel sessions. The most common type of
panel consists of three or four presentations of papers, all on a
common theme. Each paper, regardless of how many authors contributed to
it, is allotted 10 to 15 minutes to summarize the research. (It is
important to balance theory, data, methods, and findings. Too often,
presentations focus on theory at the expense of findings.) In addition
to presenters, each panel has a chair, who moderates the panel, and a
discussant, who provides comments on the papers presented. Some chairs
will cut off presenters who go over their time allotment. If there is
time left after presentations and the discussant's comments, the
audience may ask questions, as well. The size of the audience at these
panel discussions can vary greatly. Don't be too discouraged if only 4
or 5 people show up for your panel. Such an "intimate" grouping could
provide more thoughtful reaction to your paper.
Conferences have "paper rooms," where copies of each paper presented
are available, usually for fifty cents to one dollar. If you are
presenting at the conference, you will be expected to bring 15-30
copies of your paper for distribution in the paper room. You may also
want to bring copies of your paper to your panel for interested
audience members.
There are at least two other types of sessions at these conferences.
The first is the poster session. This is a two-hour session where each
participant prepares a paper and a poster that details the major
themes, data and findings of his or her paper. Participants present
their poster on a bulletin board in a room housing anywhere from 20 to
150 other posters. Presenters are expected to stay by their posters to
answer questions and explain their research as conference attendees
visit this area. An important note about poster sessions is that they
count as a paper presentation at a conference, meaning that they can be
listed on your cv as a paper presented at that conference.
The second type of session is the round table. This format is similar
to the panel session, except papers are generally not written. Instead,
presenters speak for 15 to 20 minutes each around a theme or work. Most
round tables are composed of more senior faculty who are well known in
the field and can draw on a larger body of work in their comments.
Most conferences also include a placement service, where graduate
students and junior faculty can participate in informal interviews with
interested departments. Academic publishers often set up booths within
or near the conference's paper room and many excellent books are
offered at a discount for conference attendees. Many conferences also
have luncheons and sight-seeing trips at an extra cost.
While it is certainly important to be attending conferences as a
presenter, some students find it worthwhile to attend academic
conferences even if they are not presenting. Simply attending will give
you a good feel for how conferences are run and what is expected of
participants, not to mention the opportunity to learn about the hot new
issues in the field.
How to Get a Paper Accepted at a Conference
The most prestigious conference at which to present a paper is the APSA
annual meeting, which is held right around Labor Day every year. In
addition, most of the political science associations listed on the APSA
web page have an annual conference. Paper proposals for APSA are
usually due sometime in November, but check APSA's publication P.S.:
Political Science and Politics for the call-for-papers dates for this
and most other conferences. The GSA will also try to inform students of
such deadlines well in advance.
Often, regional conferences reflect a historical interest in an issue
area or set of thematic questions, so the graduate student may find
that attendance at some conferences are more beneficial than others.
For example, the Midwest Political Science Association annual
conference is especially strong in American politics and the Northeast
Political Science Association annual meeting is paired with a regional
International Studies Association, which is of interest to those
specializing in IR and comparative politics. In addition, some of the
smaller, less publicized conferences (such as the New England Political
Science Association annual meeting) are worth attending for a variety
of important reasons. Perhaps the most beneficial characteristic of
these conferences is that the smaller scale allows students more time
and access to professors presenting their research. Conferences that
bridge a wide range of disciplinary viewpoints, such as one that would
combine political science, anthropology and public policy, for example,
are also excellent places for graduate students to get some exposure
and become engaged in the current debates on their field. Smaller
conferences also increase your chances of having a paper accepted for
presentation and provide a gentle entry into the conference circuit. In
addition, other fields have national organizations that sponsor annual
meetings and some specialized groups organize topical conferences. The
placement director and the GSA send out e-mail notices of such events.
Every conference organizer sends out a call for papers to solicit
submissions. A call for papers will generally mention or discuss the
conference theme, date and location, as well as details about the
submission process. In the call for papers, you will see that
participants are invited to submit their papers to specific sections
for review and approval. For example, APSA is organized in sections,
which provide members an opportunity to meet, debate, and share
information about their specialized fields of interest. At APSA,
sections can get very specific. Smaller regional conferences tend to
have much broader sections. Generally, you can only submit the same
paper to two sections for possible acceptance, keeping in mind that the
paper can only be presented to one of the sections.
Once you have selected a conference, you generally have to send in your
submission, or application, for acceptance. Most often, you are
required to submit an abstract of about 150 words. This abstract should
describe the question being addressed in the paper, why the question is
relevant, and how the question will be answered. This is more easily
accomplished when you have an actual paper already written. However,
since calls for papers appear at least six months before the
conference, many people simply write an abstract and tend to the paper
after being accepted. The following listing shows when the regional
conferences traditionally are held (consult PS for specific information
about conference dates and deadlines):
Southern: Late October/early November
(paper submission deadline around
March 30)
Northeast: Early to mid-November (paper submission deadline around June
1)
Western: March (paper submission deadline in September)
Southwestern: Late March/early April (paper submission deadline around
October 1)
note: The Southwestern conference is a general social
science conference.
Midwest: Mid- to late April (paper submission deadline around September
15)
Most faculty will be willing to work with you on any abstract you are
preparing; they have a great deal of experience both writing and
reviewing abstracts, so take advantage of their experience. During the
past two school years, the GSA has organized a workshop on writing
abstracts for APSA, at which faculty offered general advice and
one-on-one feedback about students' abstracts.
When you submit an abstract, it is sent to the section head for
distribution to their review committee. The review committee attempts
to match your abstract with similar abstracts to create panels
organized around a central theme. You can try to create a panel, which
is a lot more work on your end, but will likely increase your chances
of being accepted, because it means less work for the review committee
(they have a ready-made panel). Matt Thomas has experience organizing a
panel, and even though it was not accepted, he learned a great deal
about the process. He found that even the big names in the field were
very willing to consider serving on a panel, so he suggests that grad
students not be intimidated by the thought of putting together a panel
of heavy hitters.
If you are accepted, be careful to attend to all deadlines. You must
pre-register to guarantee your listing in the program.
When To Go
Typically, a graduate student should plan on at least attending the
national or a major regional conference some time during their second
year of the Ph.D. program. Students should become involved in the
presentation process by the end of their second or third year of
matriculation. Presenting at conferences becomes increasingly important
as students move closer to the job market. As mentioned above, you may
want to attend a conference early in your graduate career, before you
have a paper to present, in order to learn about the process and the
information presented. Paul Herrnson is involved in the Capital Area
Political Science Association and can give you information about its
annual conference and other events.
How To Get There
Conference experience can be expensive. However, both the GVPT
department and the campus Office of Graduate Studies can provide some
financial assistance in terms of travel grants for research or study.
The Graduate School has a set amount of money that is allocated among a
pool of applicants. These grants are called Goldhaber Travel Grants.
Ann Marie is handling graduate student travel, so you can get an
application and further information from her. Apply at the beginning of
the semester in which the conference is scheduled to take place. This
process is time consuming and requires some planning ahead on the
student's part. It is important to remember that the Office of Graduate
Studies will provide a student with a travel only once before that
student receives a master's degree and once before earning a Ph.D. Keep
this in mind if you are trying to decide when to put in an application
for graduation.
The department can make some travel arrangements through the
University, which decreases the cost of the airfare in most cases.
Financial assistance to attend conferences may also be provided to
students who are working on large research projects with faculty
members where the presentation of data is an integral part of project
goals. There are also several standing committees across the campus
that bridge several disciplines and that may also have resources that
could be used to offset conference expenses if the graduate student's
research is related to the research interests of the committee. Some
examples of possible campuswide committees include the Committee on
Africa and the Americas and the Graduate Feminist Network.
On a more practical note, students from the department frequently share
rooms and car pool to conferences in order to cut costs. Send out an
e-mail message or check the preliminary program to see if other people
from the department are attending.
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