Some Not-Frequently-Asked-Often-Enough Questions about the
Research in Religious Studies Conference
Very cheerily answered by Dr. Jim with some extra tips regarding presenting and stuff.
1. QUESTIONS ABOUT GENERAL STUFF
How is conference organized?
The Research in Religious Studies Conference is modeled on those hosted by the premier professional learned societies in religious studies: the American Academy of Religion, Society of Biblical Literature, and Canadian Society for the Study of Religion with some important changes.
These conferences are typically organized into a set of “sessions” each featuring three or four presenters. Each presenter is given a specific amount of time to make her or his presentation and to allow for questions and discussions. Our conference follows the general tradition of 30 minutes per presentation, which means about 20 minutes for the actual paper and 10 for comments.
Sometimes, students suggest specific topics for a round table discussion, and we are always willing to hear ideas for those, too!
Each session has a presider, who introduces the speakers and oversees the discussion period. The presider is also the timekeeper, and may well cut a speaker off who goes over the time limit. The presider is also supposed to defuse any emotional showdowns, but having to do this is a very rare occurrence for us.
The sessions are organized on specific topics and 3 or 4 sessions may be going on at once. For most professional conferences, would-be presenters apply for the specific session, and only the 3 or 4 best ones are selected. This is not what we do, however. We referee the paper proposals first, and do the best we can to make relevant sessions out of the papers we have accepted. This means grouping the papers can be a very “creative” enterprise.
What are conference papers?
Academic conferences are not simply about sharing your views, but your hard work.
Conference papers present the results of formal research and generally have a lot of similarities to the kinds of papers you may have written for post-graduate or upper-level undergraduate courses. They differ in some ways as well, but if you’ve ever put together a good term paper, you are well on your way!
We do not expect you to write something new for our conference, but to rework a paper you have written or are writing for a class. In the very least, this involves getting the length right for the time allotted, and tweaking your wording so that the paper is easy to understand orally.
Why bother?
Many scholars use conference paper to “test-fly” the conclusions of their research and to open key elements of a larger project to public scrutiny so they can fix weaknesses in it before submitting their work for publication. The Research in Religious Studies Conference seems to work the other way around, with the conference presentation generally coming after the “real” test of submitting a paper to a professor for a grade. Looks are deceiving, however. Academic work is a process. There is a lot to learn by rewriting a good paper in view of professor’s comments to see just how good it can be. And who knows, you may still get the conference paper published!
What is the conference atmosphere like?
This can vary widely, but it is rather different from that of a class or seminar. On the one hand, our meeting has a certain formality to its organization and scheduling, and so you do not have the intimacy of a familiar class environment. On the other hand, on inter-personal levels, it is very laidback and mutually supportive.
In all likelihood you have never seen many of the folks in the audience before and have not had most of a semester to become familiar with your professor’s expectations. In a conference, it is between you and your peers. Although you are the expert in your particular topic, you are not there simply to teach but to convince others that what you have learned is academically credible while learning from your well-educated audience.
Still, there is ample opportunity for meeting people, making friends and so forth, so don’t be on edge the whole time. Remember, most of the people coming are doing a paper themselves, so they are just as self-conscious as you!
2. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PAPER
How do I suggest a paper?
Go to the conference website and submit the title and an abstract (short summary) of what your paper is about on the online form.
How will my proposed paper be evaluated?
All of the paper proposals are evaluated for how well they convince the reader of the following:
1) The topic concerns something of interest concerning the academic study of religion, widely conceived. Papers from a wide array of academic disciplines are welcome, but the conference is not a suitable venue for papers expounding confessional or faith perspectives.
2) The author appears familiar with the most important scholarship regarding the subject area.
3) The paper appears to be based on solid and thorough research and follows an academically sound method of approaching its subject.
4) The abstract shows that the author can communicate ideas well.
We will take into account the level of the student proposing a paper. Many students will find we accept the proposal as submitted. Some, however, may be asked to rework the proposal in light of concerns we may have over clarity, approach, etc. Please note: not all papers will be accepted!
What sort of writing style should I use?
Generally, whatever works for your term papers is a good basis for conferences with a little adjustment here and there. Your paper should be serious in tone, but not monotonous or overly dense. However your write, you must assist your audience in not only understanding your substance but also paying attention. Of course, a few strategically placed clean jokes will keep them awake (ever notice how students—not you, of course—sometime fall asleep in class?). In general, however, stick to the basics. Treat yourself, your research and your audience with respect. There are no ‘class clowns’ in a conference (bah, humbug).
Above all, don’t think you can “wing it” and just make your presentation off the top of your head. This almost never works and causes tremendous stress for you.
How do I write for an oral audience?
A reader can go back to re-read, or slow down if the going is tough. A listening audience, however, is at the mercy of the reader. In editing a term paper for the conference you will have to make some changes. Some long sentences will probably have to be shortened or cut into two to make them easier to grasp when there is no chance of the audience backtracking.
State your thesis plainly and often. This helps get your audience ‘on board’. Repeat a few key points here and there to reinforce your audience’s memory. Your audience may not be experts in the field and so you may want to add a few explanatory comments on some technical terms, or dates of people, texts and so forth. Your audience doesn’t have time to reach for a dictionary or encyclopedia. You do not have to ‘dumb’ down, your paper but as much as is possible or practical, avoid using lots of jargon. This will help your audience stay with the argument you are making.
What do I do about my sources of information for the paper?
Of course, you do not have to read your footnotes or provide parenthetical comments for your audience about your reference material. If you are relying on some key theorist or researcher, however, make sure to identify the person in the general flow of your text. Be very clear about who is saying what especially if there is some kind of dispute among scholars!
If you used parenthetical, in-text citations in your original assignment, you might want to get rid of them for your presentation script. Simply throw them down into footnotes (or endnotes), to get them out of the way in order to avoid reading them out to your audience. Of course, you do not need to format them properly as you will not be handing this version of your paper in for a grade or publication.
How do I judge the length of my paper?
Typically, each presenter is given 30 minutes or less of the audience’s time. That will mean you have about 20 minutes for your presentation with around 10 minutes for questions. 20 minutes is very short. This will work out to about 2800-3000 words to be read to the audience if you are doing the common route of reading a formal paper, but time yourself; some people speak faster than others.
If you are using any kind of audio-visual materials, count on running out of time if your text is 2500 words and you stop to comment on the pictures. Presiders may also cut back on your time by a minute or two if the next presenter has some computer stuff to set up. Be sure to contact her or him in advance for last minute instructions.
Each of the past three years, our conference had over 40 presenters, and keeping to the schedule is vital. If you go over the limit, do expect to be cut off!
Should I present an audio-visual extravaganza?
No. Audio-visual presentations are important for some topics but distracting for others. If your paper is on religious art or sacred places, then some photos and so forth are good to employ. Simple charts showing the result to sociological research are also worthwhile putting on screen.
That being said, it is pretty easy to overdo it. Putting up a lot of text in PowerPoint slides is ill advised. You do not need bullet points to punctuate every paragraph of your presentation and if your paper is well written, your audience will be able to follow along rather nicely without it.
If there is text you need to display, (a passage from the Vedas, for instance) it may work better to have a handout, especially if it is more that a few lines. Complex charts are also better in handouts, but don’t waste time detailing every aspect of them. Call the audience’s attention to the key points, and leave it at that.
A picture is worth 1000 words, but discussing these 1000 words can take 7-8 minutes. If you use visual aids, have what you want to say about each one written into your paper and don’t digress.
Each of the rooms we will be using has a PC with PowerPoint and data projector installed. Be sure your files are on a CD or USB memory device.
Should I make a handout?
Depending on your paper topic, it might be useful. Consider an short (1-2 page handout to provide 1) complex charts; 2) foreign names or terms best spelled out properly; 3) lengthy scriptural passages or series of shorter passages; 4) the titles of books you have been discussing if they are not familiar to most people; 5) the bibliographical information of academic work, if your paper concerns specific scholars’ research.
Keep the handouts as brief and as clear as possible, include your name and title of your paper. If you can get your handout to us via email a few days before the conference, we will make copies for you for free. Don’t leave it until the day to make copies, since the organizers are nervous wrecks when the show is on. If you make your own, run off about 15 or so.
3. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ORAL PRESENTATION
How can I get ready for the big day?
Practice out loud in front of an audience, preferably standing up. Your roommates probably owe you rent. Make them suffer. Reading aloud, even to your cat, is one of the best ways to edit any piece of writing. Your captive or bribed audience can tell you when you are reading too fast or too slow or where your style is too dense to be easily understood. You will also catch all kinds of little grammatical errors and the like. If you stumble over your words because sentences are too long then your audience will be lost, too. Effective oral communication relies on tone of voice, emphasis and also eye contact. Live rehearsals help you in all of these regards.
Above all, reading the paper out loud helps you time the paper so you avoid the unimaginable sin of conferences, going over the time limit.
How can I avoid losing my place when I’m reading?
Don’t feel silly about guiding your reading with your finger, at least marking the line your are reading, if not following along word for word. Dr. Jim does it. You are used to holding reading material at a particular distance from your eye. Standing in front of an audience will probably put your text farther away than you are used to and this can be disorientating. When you stop to look up at the audience, be sure to mark your spot on the page with your finger.
What if I have problem pronouncing foreign words?
Practice and cheat! Since no one else will read your paper you can spell difficult words phonetically any which way you want that will help you pronounce them correctly (but make sure you also have the real spelling there too). In some cases, a handout might help (properly spelled).
What should my hardcopy look like?
Because you do not have to hand in conference papers for grades, you can format the hardcopy in any way you want to help you with your oral presentation.
Dr. Jim regularly uses a 13-point type and double space. This makes for a lot of pages but the result is that the page is easy to read and easier to find your place if you loose it. Wide spaces also give you lots of room to scribble in last minute edits. And Dr. Jim has lots of those.
If you are not the sort of person who staples things together, don’t forget page numbers! Things get dropped…
How do I deal with the question period?
Answer questions to the best of your best ability, but do not make things up to cover your lack of omniscience. It is OK to say “I don’t know” or “I will look into it and get back to you if you provide contact info”. There are times when it can be appropriate to redirect a question to someone else on the panel or in the audience. Sometimes there are few or no questions. Don’t panic. Wait a while, even if silence is a bit uncomfortable, as people might need time to formulate their question. If none arise, the presider should make some kind of comment to get a little conversation going.
4. SOME TIPS FOR THE BIG DAY
1. Bring a few copies of your paper. You might make a mess of one copy in last minute editing, or someone might ask you for a copy. Be sure to include all your contact info if you give someone a copy.
2. Be on Time: Please arrive 5-10 minutes early at your session and introduce yourself to the person presiding over the session. Make sure she or he can pronounce your name and any technical or foreign words in your paper title properly! Have any handouts, CD’s for audiovisual presentations etc. sorted out with the presider in advance.
3. DO NOT offer to answer questions while your presentation is going on. I’m serious. Bad Idea. Someone will invariable take you up on the offer. This can lead to various tangents and a break in your rhythm that may make keeping on time difficult while also making your fellow panelists and presider nervous. There will be time for questions at the end. Until then, it is easiest to keep to the script.
4. Smile once in a while and definitely look up at the audience.
5. Tell a joke or two! People will laugh, honest. It will also break a bit of tension (yours and your audience’s) and increase everyone’s attention span. Just make sure that any humour is as clean as can be and not directed at anyone’s expense but your own.
6. Do not “wing it” or just talk off the top your head. You are probably not as good at it as you might think, and your audience will most likely find that out, too.
