Guidelines for Submitting Papers Papers and articles in Library and Information Studies generally follow the social sciences paradigm. Most papers follow a format like the one outlined here. In graduate school, term-papers are usually about ten pages in length, and should be "publishable" with only minor grammatical changes. Grammar counts. Spelling matters. Do not rely upon automated spelling checkers. It often helps to have a colleague proof read your work. Identification Provide the name of the article, your name and contact information (e.g. your UB Email address). If the paper is for a class, provide the class name and number, the semester and year, and the name of the instructor. Check the SI Web site to make sure you have listed them correctly. You may not present the same essay in two different UB courses without the prior consent of both instructors. If you are writing for a journal, you may not submit the same manuscript to two different publishers at once. However, it is common practice to turn a conference presentation into a journal article. If you do that, be sure to mention that the current paper was previously presented in a modified form, and provide the details. If the paper was made possible by a grant, or with the help of some entity, provide the details. Abstract and Keywords (Required only if you are submitting a manuscript for publication). An abstract is a one or two paragraph summary of the article. A few keywords, (or key phrases), should be provided to help researchers identify the main topics dealt with in the article. (e.g. Libraries - Workplace hazards; Molds and fungi - Stachybotrys.) Introduction and Statement of the Problem Begin with a commonly held assumption, a piece of anecdotal evidence, or an issue of importance to the field which needs to be examined critically and methodically. Introduce the reader to the topic, and outline the issues to be investigated. Explain why this problem is interesting or exciting. Review of the Literature

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Discuss prior research in the form of pro and con arguments if possible. Cite articles in peer-reviewed journals which you have found using the subscription databases available through UBLib. Do not rely upon items found on the Web. Restatement of the Problem in the form of an Hypothesis Express the problem in terms of something testable, for example, that X might be determined by Y, taking into account the effects of Z. Methodology In LIS, both quantitative (e.g. statistical, experimental), and qualitative (e.g. historical, ethnographic, etc.), methods are acceptable. Discuss the method(s) you have selected in order to conduct this particular investigation, and explain why they seem suited to

the problem at hand. If you are doing historical research, rather than interviews, surveys, or experiments, explain how and why you chose your sources. Data Collection Describe the instruments used and the conditions under which you performed the investigation (or will perform it), and the numbers of cases or individuals investigated. Did you select or reject particular subjects based on demographics or similar criteria? If you are conducting a survey, include the survey instrument in an appendix. If appropriate, make sure your research complies with the Institutional Review Board's regulations for research using human subjects. Discussion Analyze the results. Use statistical methods if appropriate. If your research is qualitative, make sure you categorize the results, analyze them according to some welldefined schema. Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Research Restate the hypothesis, and make a cogent argument to support your conclusions. What further questions does the study raise? Outline any shortcomings of the current study, and recommend future avenues of research.. References

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List all the authors or works, (including private communication), which you cited in the literature review. Items of interest which you did not use directly should be listed as "further reading". Appendix Attach samples or survey instruments here as requried. Don't clutter up the paper itself with non-essential but still supportive or intersting material which would detract from the flow of the article. Author's Biography (Required only if you are submitting a manuscript for publication). Many journals ask authors to provide two or three sentence biographies. You don't need to do this for a term-paper. For example: "Jim Smith holds an MLIS from Acme University in Pawtucket Maine. He is currently Assistant Librarian at the Roadrunner Resource Library, Acme University, with responsibility for readers' advisory services. He can be contacted at jsmith@acme.edu." The publisher will need your complete mailing address, but it will not appear in the journal. Guidelines for Evaluating Published Papers Generally speaking, one would apply the same criteria to one’s own writing that one applies to that of similar work in the field. The best way to see what those criteria are is to examine several articles, from several of the field’s top journals, to observe their form and content, and to note the processes through which they were created. Historical articles may not look like sociology articles. Astronomical research may not be reported using the same conventions as research in political science. However, whether the research is qualitative or quantitative, and regardless of the styles used in particular fields of study, certain things should be obvious to the reader.

• What research question is being addressed? • Why is it important or interesting? • How does it compare to previous studies? Does the paper contain a literature review? • What is the unit of analysis or the phenomenon being studied? • Has the research question been re-formulated as a testable hypothesis, or as a defensible historical thesis or premise? • Do the methods selected and employed appear to be adequate to answer the questions raised?

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•Were the data collected and analyzed reasonably and rigorously? • Are any limitations, gaps or deficiencies noted? • Does the conclusion address the initial problem and explain its resolution?* • Are the bibliographies and footnotes, and the methodological details which the author provides sufficient to allow others to replicate the work? * NB: When submitting your own papers, make sure your concluding paragraphs address the initial question or problem you raised, and explain the extent to which the paper addresses it. Do NOT conclude with observations about the value of the assignment. Imagine you are submitting the paper for a wider professional audience, not just for the instructor. Peer-Reviewed Sources Whether it appears in print, a combination of print and electronic forms, or only in electronic form, a peer reviewed journal is one in which each feature article has been examined by people with credentials in the article's field of study before it is published. Book reviews, short research reports, and other pieces which are not fulllength articles may receive “expedited” reviews, or may merely be approved by the journal’s editorial staff. Collections of papers from conferences may be considered peer reviewed as well, if the original presentations were "invited" or “juried”, or examined by experts before being accepted. Papers which appear in sources like these are considered to be as reliable as humanly possible. In "double blind" peer review, neither the author nor the reviewers know each others' identities. Not all peer review is double blind. As well, the literature of any profession may include journals written both for practitioners and for theorists. You can sometimes categorize a journal just by looking at its first and last few pages. Check to see if there is a page listing the Editorial Board, and see what credentials they have. If there is a page containing "instructions for authors", it may actually say the journal is peer reviewed. If the instructions mention submitting several copies, with your name on the front page but not anywhere else in the manuscript, that is your clue that the journal uses double blind peer review. Peer-review is explained by EBSCO Publishing thus:

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1. Blind Peer-Review - articles appearing in a journal are sent outside of the journal's publishing or sponsoring organization for review by external reviewer( s) who are unaware of the author's identity. 2. Editorial Board Peer-Review - articles appearing in a journal are reviewed by an internal board of editors and not solely by one editor. Author's identity is known or unknown. 3. Expert Peer-Review - articles appearing in a journal are reviewed by experts (either internal or external to the journal) whose credentials are known and are experts within the subject matter of the article under review. Author's identity is known or unknown. -- “About Peer Review Policy; EBSCO Publishing Peer Review Policy” (http://www.ebscohost.com) * NB: Not sure if a journal is peer-reviewed? Examine the “instructions for authors” on the journal’s Web page. If they mention sending copies without the authors’ names on them, then you can be fairly sure that those submissions are being sent out for review. As well, Ulrich’s Guide to Periodical Literature, and similar indexes used in LIS indicate whether or not most journals are peer-reviewed. Papers Submitted as E-Mail Attachments • Attached filenames should include your name. For example, "jimsmith506paper1.doc" or "jsmith506a1.doc" are good file names. "LIS 506 Assignment One.doc" is NOT a good name, as it is apt to be confused with someone else's paper. Avoid spaces in filenames. For example, use "jimsmith", not "Jim Smith". • As well, each paper MUST include within the body of the attached file, a title page with your full name, e-mail, the course and professor, and the title of the work. Otherwise, when the instructor files the attachment, and the e-mail header becomes separated from it, s/he will not be able to identify your paper. All papers submitted, whether as short assignments or term papers, must be written in full sentences, at an appropriate level of sophistication. Each paper should have an introduction, a body containing a discussion supported by examples or citations, and a conclusion. Articles you read to prepare for the paper should be included in a "lit-

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erature review" section if applicable. Articles should include analysis, not merely a narrative of what you did or discovered. Papers must be proof read for grammar, style, and spelling. While minor grammatical errors will merely be noted for your reference, marks will be deducted if your grammar obscures your meaning. Word processors such as Microsoft Word offer

online grammar and spelling checkers, but these may not catch every misused homonym, unintentional double-entendre, and so forth. For example, "site, sight, and cite", "form and from", or "their, there, and they're" will all pass a spelling checker, but may be meaningless in context. Guidelines For a Short Paper (2-3 pages). • A paper should include an introduction, a discussion, and a conclusion. As noted film-maker James Beveridge used to say, "Tell them what you are about to tell them. Tell them. Then, tell them that you told them." He also used to say, "Every film has a beginning, a middle, and an end." Actually, he was paraphrasing Aristotle, who said much the same thing in his Poetics. • It should answer the basic questions - "who, what, when, where, why?". Again, Aristotle said this in the Categories. • It should exhibit consistent grammar, spelling, and style. I say this. • It should raise and discuss at least 2-3 distinct points. This is a guideline, not an absolute requirement. • It should support its conclusions with examples or logic. Unsupported arguments are just opinion. • It should provide full bibliographic citations for direct or indirect quotes used in the text, but not for items you read but didn't use, unless you are attaching a "suggested readings" or "followup" list. Librarianship, like law, is based on citations. Guidelines For Graduate "Term Papers" (10 pages) Style: This sort of paper should be about 10 double spaced typed pages, (plus footnotes and references). Proper scholarly English, spelling, and grammar are expected. The length is ONLY a guideline. Do NOT "pad" your paper just to bring it up to an arbitrary word count. Automatic spelling and grammar checkers are not adequate substitutes for proof reading. Use a style manual, such as the Publication Manual of the

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American Psychological Association, or the MLA, Chicago, or another recognized style manual to ensure the uniformity of your citations and bibliographical entries. If you have trouble with terms like "dangling preposition", "gerund", or "passive voice", or can never figure out when it's proper to use apostrophes, please consult the online edition of Strunk's Elements of Style. or the many useful reference works at http://www.bartleby.com. A good graduate term paper reads like an article in a peer reviewed journal. It should be publishable without major revisions, though it may not ever be published.

Presentation Hints for Longer Bibliographic or Historical Essays: Since we tend to do a lot of bibliographic essays in LIS, here are some additional tips: Identify an issue or area of interest , within library, archival, or information science. Using the printed or online indexes and abstracting sources, conduct a literature review, noting promising articles and books on your topic. Jot down the bibliographical references as you go, to save "citation hunting" later. If you expect to be doing a lot of research in the future, you might wish to consider purchasing one of the personal bibliographic tools available on the market, such as Reference Manager, ProCite, EndNote, Papyrus, etc. These software packages work as plug-ins to your word processor. They allow you to construct your own database of authors and titles, so you can cite them easily in essays and articles. They also format your bibliographies and lists of references according to various style manuals as well - Chicago, MLA, APA, etc., and allow you to switch formats at the click of a mouse. 1. Begin with an introduction and statement of the issue/problem and why you feel it is worthwhile, interesting, important. Introduce your central argument, that is, tell the reader what you hope to demonstrate or prove. 2. Analyze the trends evident in the literature, identify competing views. Explain the background or history of the issue being discussed, noting important or controversial works written on the topic in the past. 3. Situate your paper with respect to the existing literature. Identify the key positions taken by previous authors, and give the reader some idea of how your paper will contribute to the discussion. 4. Set out your central argument or position, or if you have done original research, explain what you did, illustrated with examples which further your argument. Back up your contentions with concrete examples from the works, preferably, direct quotes with proper attributions.

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5. Analyze or evaluate or synthesize the information or material you found. If you are comparing various issues or ideas, or even different products on the market, put them into categories and discuss the characteristics of the groups systematically. 6. Present your conclusions, recommendations, suggestions for further research or further reading. Convince the reader that you have proven your point. Normally, 80% of the grade for an assignment will be awarded for research and/or content, and 20% for presentation. Don't waste your time creating elegant graphics and cover pages. By "presentation", I mean scholarly English and good grammar, a logical thought progression, and evidence or reasoning backing up each claim you make. "Motherhood and apple pie" statements, such as "Everyone in America loves libraries", are just opinion. Provide statistics or citations to prove such platitudes. To achieve a grade of "A", your work must not merely satisfy the requirements of the assignment - it

must exceed them. Can I request an "Incomplete" for the course? Grades of "Incomplete" e.g. “IU” or “I” must be requested in writing before the end of the term. If the outstanding work is not submitted within one calendar year, the "Incomplete" will be converted to an "F".

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