Future Research Masters Author Submission Guide 2017 1H Research Literacies | 800168 Assessment 3 PLEASE NOTE: This Author’s Guide constitutes the “A3 Assessment Worksheet” described in the Research Literacies Learning Guide. Submission instructions for the final version (A3b) will be placed on vUWS. CONTENTS: 1.  Extract from Research Literacies Learning Guide (A3a + A3b) 2.  Further instructions for submission of A3a (Draft Public Audience Essay) 3.  What happens when I submit my draft?1(a) ! 11 Research Literacies 800167 | 2017 1H Graduate Research School 4. Assessment Summary: A3a Assessment 3a: Public Audience Essay (20%) Length: 2000 words Weight: 20% Due: 11:59pm (midnight) Sunday, May 7 WEEK 11 Note: Supporting information will be provided in the A3 Assessment Worksheet (available on vUWS). Building on your EOI (Assessment 2) and the feedback you received, you must now write the first draft of your Public Audience Essay. This means you must write for a non-specialist audience with no background knowledge of your field. You can assume the audience is full of people who are intelligent and talented in their own right, but who may not necessarily have been to university. They will be interested in your story, so long as it is written to help people understand. The essay will also help colleagues and friends from other academic fields to learn about your area in accessible language. This assessment (A3a) is a draft of your final essay (A3b). The purpose of this scaffold is twofold: 1) to give you experience of going through an editorial process and responding to editorial instructions; and 2) to give you feedback on the final version of the essay (Assessment 3b). Further information about this task will be provided in the A3 Assessment Worksheet (to be released in the middle of semester). We will also discuss the task extensively in Research Literacies workshops. Everything in this unit bends towards the Public Audience Essay. For A3a, presentation requirements will be basic; they will be more stringent for the final version (A3b). We are also making written expression less important in the draft. Here, the focus is on producing a good, coherent story that is interesting, well researched, and relevant to current social issues. The Public Audience Essay (DRAFT) (A3a) will be marked according to the following criteria: Story: hook, substance, and flow 40% Links to current research 20% Links to topical news and social issues 20% Written expression 10% Presentation 10% DRAFT ESSAY From Research Literacies Learning Guide (p. 11) Official word limit is 1500-2000 words (excl. references and captions)! 12 Research Literacies 800167 | 2017 1H Graduate Research School 4. Assessment Summary: A3b Assessment 3b: Public Audience Essay (FINAL) (30%) Length: 1250 words Weight: 30% Due: 11:59pm (midnight) Sunday, June 11 WEEK 16 Note: Supporting information will be provided in the A3 Assessment Worksheet (available on vUWS). The final task has arrived: a shorter, highly-polished version of your Public Audience Essay. This version is 750 words shorter than the draft: the editing you will have to undertake simulates the experience of submitting to a journal and being asked to reduce the word count. You may think it impossible – everything may feel perfectly balanced – but there is always a way. You will receive feedback on the draft (A3a) that will give suggestions about what sections can be cut and how the story can be tightened. The final word count (max. 1250) is still generous for public audience writing, and many online publications will stipulate less. You also need to practice the art of refining a story out of longer material you have already written. Further information will be provided in the A3 Assessment Worksheet, and in Research Literacies workshops. ** Please note that some sections of your text will inevitably be the same as your draft, and may therefore be flagged on Turnitin when submitted. So long as it is your own work, and so long as the A3b final essay has clearly been edited down from the A3a draft, pockets of text-matching will not be viewed negatively. Further information about this particular aspect of the task will posted on vUWS and discussed in class. The bottom line is that if you edit seriously, most of the text will be tweaked sufficiently that it should not match previous versions except for small phrases (i.e., not paragraphs). Not editing something says it is perfect. Usually it is not. And in case you are wondering, we’re able to ask you to submit this task twice because it is marked to substantially different criteria in both variations. Whereas the draft (A3a) rubric places emphasis on the story itself, the final (A3b) rubric places emphasis on responding to feedback, improving expression where necessary, and following a detailed presentation style guide. The Public Audience Essay (FINAL) (A3b) will be marked according to the following criteria: Story: response to editorial feedback 40% Referencing, links to current research, and links to topical news and social issues 20% Written expression 20% Presentation 20% 1(b) FINAL ESSAY From Research Literacies Learning Guide (p. 12) Official word limit is 1000-1250 words (excl. references and captions)Further instructions 2 for submission of A3a (Draft Public Audience Essay) GENERAL TIPS ➞  You have been given editorial feedback in the EOI reply letter. Please read this feedback carefully and start thinking about any suggestions the editors have provided in terms of the story or other details. ➞  Start planning your draft essay NOW. It will take many hours to craft a good essay. Expect a long drafting process to bring your ideas together. ➞  Start by mapping out the sections of the essay. We have not specified the use of subheadings, but a good essay will probably start with an opening vignette of some kind, and will then proceed through 3-5 sections (ideally with subheadings). By planning the broad structure of your essay first, you will find it easier to write a draft that flows logically from one paragraph to the next. ➞  Remember that you are writing for a non-specialist audience. This means an audience comprised mainly of members of the general public. Where necessary, employ knowledge translation strategies to explain any complex information. Try to make things relatable to a general audience. Also try to make the story relevant to them. ➞  Remember that no further feedback will be given until submission of the draft essay. We are relying on your academic creativity to come up with an interesting story. USE OF IMAGES ➞  Images (sourcing): Your draft essay may include up to five (5) images. This includes photographs, figures, diagrams, and related graphic material. Video and other audiovisual links are allowed, but these should be hyperlinked to a screenshot image or other relevant image/icon. ➞  Images (copyright): Under normal circumstances you would have to consider copyright issues, but because this essay is not yet being formally published, we will allow inclusion of copyrighted material. However, in all places possible you should use images or figures that belong to you or have been created by you, or are otherwise open source (e.g. Creative Commons). ➞  How to include images in the draft essay: Images should not be directly inserted in to the draft essay. Instead, all images should be included as an appendix after the final page. To reference your images in the draft, include bold text such as <[insert image #1]> at an appropriate location between paragraphs. If the images will not go between paragraphs (e.g. if they will be wrapped, or floating somewhere on the page), then use the formula <[insert image #1; floating]>. ➞  Captions: All images in the appendix should carry a caption of no more than 50 words. If appropriate, the caption can include attribution details. If the caption includes a link (including hyperlink on text or image), please include the full link below the caption.REFERENCING AND CITATION ➞  Referencing: All citations and references to works of interest or note in the essay should be referenced using hyperlinked text. Links to academic articles should be to the closest webpage to the article itself accessible by someone without university library privileges. This will usually be a table of contents or an abstract page. Open access articles should be linked directly. Links to other sites or documents should similarly be navigable without having to pay or login. All hyperlinks should work. Non-functioning hyperlinks will result in a penalty. ➞  Endnotes: Authors may use endnotes if absolutely necessary. However, the editors strongly discourage their use as they can potentially break the concentration of readers and be distracting. If something must be written, it probably belongs in the article itself. If, however, you feel you must use endnotes, please use no more than 5 and keep the text in each brief and to the point. Be prepared for them to be deleted by the Editors. FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS These formatting requirements must be closely followed. Failure to do so will impact your mark. Where no specific instruction has been provided on a point of formatting, you must make a professional judgement call. ➞  Word count: Draft Essay (A3a) must be 1500-2000 words, excluding captions and references. Deviations from this range will result in an automatic 10% penalty. ➞  Font: All submitted documents must use either Times New Roman or Arial. All body text should be size 12, left-aligned (not justified). 1.5 or double line-spacing preferred. ➞  Title: Should be bold, left-aligned, size 18. Single spaced. Try to make the title “punchy”. Any subheading to the main title should follow the title after a colon. If you wish to use a by-line or “kicker” instead of (or in addition to) a subheading, we will accept this. In that case, leave a whole single space return after the title and use non-bold italics, size 14, for the kicker. ➞  Section Subheadings: Should be bold, left-aligned, size 14. ➞  Referencing: (see above) ➞  Footer: Size 10 in the same font as the body, containing: name, SID, page number, and “DRAFT”, distributed as you wish. ➞  File submission: Submit .docx file to vUWS using formula: Last_First_RLit_A3_FRM_DRAFT Further instructions (CONT.) 2 for submission of A3a (Draft Public Audience Essay)3 What happens when I submit my draft? After submitting the draft to vUWS, you will receive another editorial feedback letter (including marking rubric). You will also receive final formatting instructions. For now, focus on trying to tell a compelling story that the public will find interesting.