Undergraduate Research Papers and Panels

New York State Political Science Association 

2018 Annual Conference

April 13-14, 2018

Wagner College -- Staten Island, NY

All undergraduate papers and panels must be submitted to the Undergraduate Section regardless of their subject area/topic.  Undergraduate panels are separate from other panels and will only be comprised of undergraduate students. Below you will find guidelines for Undergraduate paper submissions and information regarding how papers and presentations will be evaluated by panel discussants. We have a very limited number of panels so please make sure you adhere to the guidelines. 

When proposing a paper, please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words. The abstract must describe the presentation's purpose, research question, methods, data sources, existing literature, and potential contributions to the field.

All undergraduates submitting a paper must have a faculty sponsor, someone who has agreed to work with the student on their project to ensure it is ready for, and by, the conference. This faculty member must be the professor for whose course the paper was written or the student’s academic advisor; any deviations will be handled on a case-by-case basis by the Undergraduate Section Chair. This faculty member will be copied on all correspondence with the student to ensure they are informed about acceptance, time lines, and requirements. Any student who submits a paper for consideration without a faculty sponsor will not be considered until and unless they add a faculty sponsor to their profile.

If your paper is accepted to the conference, you must indicate whether you will attend by the deadline given in the acceptance e-mail or you will not be allowed to present. Once you say you are attending the conference, it is imperative you actually attend. Panels are created based upon topic, and length of the panel. When you drop out after accepting the opportunity to present your work, you not only affect your fellow presenters, but also take away a spot from someone else who’s paper was rejected and might have been able to attend. Before you accept your place at the conference, please consider whether you can follow through with the commitment. 

The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2017

Undergraduate Paper Submission and Evaluation Guidelines 

Listed below are the requirements for undergraduate submissions for the NYSPSA Annual Conference, expectations for the written paper, and an explanation of what panel discussants will be looking for in papers, as well as what types of feedback students can expect. Papers that do not adhere to the guidelines will not be accepted.

• Submission Requirements
  • Papers should be well researched, well written, edited, and polished;
  • It is expected that these works are excerpts from a senior thesis or a paper from a seminar course that is of the same caliber.  If not from a senior thesis or seminar course, the paper must have been written for a course. 
  • All papers must be reviewed by the professor teaching the course or your academic advisor prior to submission.
  • Papers should not be a first draft, however, they do not have to be 100% complete.  This conference is a place to get feedback on a draft that is well written and edited even if not at the final stage.
  • Papers can be an excerpt of your final thesis and should be no more than 20 pages, excluding cover page and references.
  • Papers must be sent to the panel chair/discussant (not the Undergraduate Section Chair) no later than 10 days before the conference in order for the discussant to provide feedback.  Papers submitted late will not receive feedback until after the conference. 
  • Papers should be submitted as a Word document in the following manner:
    • Cover page including: title of the paper, your name, institution, date, and the conference
    • Content of the paper starts at the top of a separate page and should include:
      • Introduction with Research Question/Thesis
      • Literature Review
      • Hypotheses
      • Research methods
      • Results (optional)
      • Conclusion
    • Double spaced (easier to read and comment on)
    • 12pt Times New Roman
    • Page numbers
    • Reference page – starts at the top of the next page after your conclusion; should be APSA format (Chicago Style), unless you are writing for a class in which the professor required a different format
    • Citations – use in text citations according to your reference format

• Evaluation of Papers – panel discussants will read the papers and give feedback both after the presentation and written feedback (e-mailed or on a hard copy) after the conference (if students submitted their paper less than 10 days before the conference)
  • All papers submitted to the conference must have been reviewed by a faculty sponsor/advisor before submission to the conference.
  • The panel discussants are here to help students improve research but they are not here to replace a professor for a class or advisor for a senior thesis– while papers do have to be polished, they do not have to be 100% complete (you do not have to include a results section unless you have them. However, like the rest of the paper, what you submit must not be last minute addition and/or a first draft)
  • You can expect feedback from your panel discussant on the following:
    • Thesis/Problem/Question
    • Methods
    • Variables
    • Data – quality, sources, etc.
    • Conclusions
  • A discussant will not provide grammatical or compositional feedback.