2015 Annual Conference
of the Canadian Political Science Association
Instructions for Submitting a Proposal
Hosted at University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
Please note that all poster, roundtable and paper proposals (whether for a single paper or multiple paper panels) require
abstracts and are submitted to only one section. Normally student members presenting papers, will have had their PhD thesis
proposals approved by their supervisor before submission. Those at earlier stages of their studies are encouraged to submit a
proposal to the poster/video section. Submissions from Masters level students are not considered unless they are made in
conjunction with an academic supervisor. Students submitting proposals for the Graduate 3MT® competition must currently be
registered in a Masters (thesis or MRP) or Doctoral program. Course-based Masters students are ineligible for the 3MT®
Competition. Authors of papers that are accepted are expected to be members of the CPSA by 15 April 2015.
Please read through this section carefully for details on these and other rules and expectations guiding the Call for Proposals and
2015 CPSA Annual Conference.
1) The 2015 CPSA conference will be held during the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities (Congress). Each CPSA
conference participant must register for both the Congress and the CPSA conference. Anyone who does not causes a loss of revenue
for the CPSA conference and is responsible for any increase in registration fees. By not paying, participants only serve to withhold
much needed support for the conference and penalize their paying colleagues with higher fees. Information on registration fees and
accommodation will be available at a later date.
2) For accepted presentations by single authors or multiple authors, each author must be a member in good standing of the CPSA by
15 April 2015 whether s/he is attending the conference or not. Membership exemptions will be provided by the CPSA secretariat to
invited guests of the programme committee, and to non-Canadians who can provide confirmation of a membership in their national
association or individuals from other scholarly disciplines. The CPSA secretariat will contact all non-members regarding their
membership status prior to the above deadline. Chairpersons, discussants are not required to be members but are warmly invited to
join.
3) The CPSA will provide travel grants from its Development Fund to assist members to come to the annual meeting from distant
places. These funds are intended especially to facilitate participation by junior members. Please read the Travel Grant Policies
before submitting your proposal to see if you are eligible.
4) The CPSA proudly announces the twelfth competition for the Jill Vickers Prize. The 2016 award will be made to the author or
authors of the best paper presented at the 2015 CPSA conference on the topic of gender and politics. Please see Jill Vickers Prize for
more information.
5) Presenters must be prepared to attend the conference and to make their presentations in person.
6) Presenters may be considered as possible chairpersons or discussants for other sessions.
7) Each programme committee section head groups and assigns presentations to particular sessions, taking into account the type of
session desired by the presenters and the overall programme balance. Research in progress is encouraged in roundtables or poster
sessions.
8) Papers should be SINGLE SPACED, not exceeding the CJPS manuscript submission word count of 8,000 and should not have been
previously published. They must be completed by 22 May 2015 and e-mailed to the relevant section head and the other participants
in the session. E-mail addresses will be available in the on-line programme. Please also forward an electronic copy (pdf format) to
the CPSA secretariat for uploading to the conference website. Authors are reminded to add a note on their on-line paper indicating
that their paper not be cited until a final version is uploaded.
Failure to comply with the 22 May 2015 deadline can result in the chairperson excluding the presentation from the session.
Further, the discussant will have no obligation to comment on the paper if s/he has not seen it previously. Such an action would
be a loss to all attending the session.
9) All the session rooms will be equipped with a data projector and an overhead projector. Presenters are asked to bring their own
laptop, tablet or other device to connect to the technology.
10) General inquiries or difficulties with the submission process should be addressed to the CPSA secretariat at
[email protected].
11) Only web submissions will be considered. Presentations will not normally be considered for inclusion in the CPSA conference
unless they meet all of the requirements.
12) A proposal must be submitted to only one section. The head(s) of the section of your choice will forward your proposal to
another section and/or workshop organizer if necessary. The individual submitting the proposal, the CPSA secretariat and the
section head(s) will receive notification of the submitted proposal. In cases where workshop organizers are not section heads, they
will also be notified of any submission. If, after submitting your proposal, you have not had confirmation that your proposal has
been received, please check with the secretariat at [email protected]. Section heads will acknowledge acceptance or
rejection of the proposal in December 2014. If you have not received an acceptance or rejection notification by 1 January 2015,
please check with the secretariat at [email protected].
13) Individuals will be limited to 3 presentations of which two can be papers. This does not affect chairs and discussants.
14) Criteria for Acceptance:
a) Normally, submissions by anyone who has not completed her/his MA will not be considered. Only those submitted in conjunction
with an academic supervisor will be considered. A professor has to be a co-author of papers signed by MA students. The student can
present alone, but the papers presented by MA students have to be prepared with professors.
b) Proposals that don’t ‘fit’ in any proposed/scheduled panel may be presented in the poster/video session.
c) The content of the proposal must include a clear question, analytical rigor, originality and a scholarly contribution. Proposals will
be rejected if they fail to meet these standards for research.
d) Junior scholars are invited to submit a proposal to the poster/video session.
e) Data-heavy proposals should be submitted for the poster/video session.
Note: The 2015 Programme Committee encourages submissions to the poster session, as it offers valuable opportunities for
showcasing work by members at all career stages. It can be particularly useful for presenting work that is primarily descriptive, as
well as providing scholars wishing to communicate new methodological or teaching techniques with a venue to present their
ideas/findings, network with like-minded colleagues, and receive useful feedback on their projects. POSTERS TITLES WILL APPEAR
ON THE PROGRAMME AND POSTER PRESENTERS WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY TO THE TRAVEL FUND.
15) A single paper proposal must include the title of the paper and a 250 word abstract. The submission form will not accept any
text beyond the stated limit. The abstract should outline the argument or inquiry to be developed, identify the method of analysis to
be used, show the theoretical significance of what is proposed in relation to existing scholarship in the field, and locate what is
proposed within the wider research interests of the author(s). Once your proposal has been submitted, you will be able to access
your proposal until 3 November 2014. To make any necessary changes please click on “Edit Metadata”. If the paper proposal is
accepted, the submitted abstracts will be made available on the CPSA web site.
16) For a pre-organized multiple paper panel proposal:
a)
The panel organizer must submit a proposal for the panel. The panel proposal must include the title of the panel and a 250
word abstract including a brief overview of the panel, the names and paper titles of all the presenters on the panel. The
submission form will not accept any text beyond the stated limits. Once the panel proposal has been submitted, the
submitter will be able to access the proposals until 3 November 2014. To make any necessary changes please click on “Edit
Metadata”.
b) Each panel presenter must then submit her/his individual paper proposal within the above panel as a completely separate
submission. The proposal must include the title of the paper and a 250 word abstract. At the beginning of the abstract,
please list the title of the panel. This will link each individual submission to the panel description in a) above. The
submission form will not accept any text beyond the stated limit. The abstract should outline the argument or inquiry to be
developed, identify the method of analysis to be used, show the theoretical significance of what is proposed in relation to
existing scholarship in the field, and locate what is proposed within the wider research interests of the author(s). Once your
proposal has been submitted, you will be able to access your proposal until 3 November 2014. To make any necessary
changes please click on “Edit Metadata”. If the paper proposal is accepted, the submitted abstracts will be made available
on the CPSA web site.
If the intent is to have more than 4 presenters, the programme committee recommends a double session. In these cases, the
organizer is asked to add “Double Session” in his/her above abstract.
Multiple paper panel proposals with an entire panel of presenters from the same department are not permitted as these types of
sessions can easily be organized in the departments. Multiple paper panels with two out of three or four presenters from the same
department are acceptable. Chairs and discussants can be from any institution.
If you have any difficulties, please contact the CPSA secretariat at [email protected].
17) A roundtable proposal must include the roundtable title and a 250 word abstract including all the names, affiliations and e-mail
addresses of the roundtable participants. The submission form will not accept any text beyond the stated limit. The abstract should
include a description of the argument or inquiry to be developed, the theoretical significance of what is proposed in relation to
existing scholarship in the field, and locate what is proposed within the wider research interest of the roundtable participants. Once
your proposal has been submitted, you will be able to access your proposal until 3 November 2014. To make any necessary changes
please click on “Edit Metadata”.
In order to allow sufficient time for each presentation and a good discussion during the one hour and 45 minutes session, it is
recommended that a maximum of 4 presenters participate on a roundtable.
17a) Micro-paper roundtable proposals can include up to 10 participants and a chair. Each of the 10 participants in this type of
roundtable will be permitted a maximum of 5 minutes to present, leaving sufficient time for a good discussion with wide breadth of
expertise during the one hour and 45 minute session. Please follow submission instructions for roundtable proposals listed above.
18) A poster proposal must include the poster title and a 250 word abstract. The submission form will not accept any text beyond
the stated limit. The abstract should outline the argument or inquiry to be developed, identify the method of analysis to be used,
show the theoretical significance of what is proposed in relation to existing scholarship in the field, and locate what is proposed
within the wider research interests of the author(s). Once your proposal has been submitted, you will be able to access your
proposal until 3 November 2014. To make any necessary changes please click on “Edit Metadata”. If the poster proposal is accepted,
the submitted abstracts will be made available on the CPSA web site.
The poster session is for work that relies heavily on tables/graphs/figures, or work that is still at a conceptual stage (although the
poster must include at least preliminary results). The poster session will give presenters an opportunity to discuss their work with
interested conference attendees. The individual poster presentations may also include a video segment suitable for YouTube not to
exceed 10 minutes, to be recorded during the poster presentation at the conference if CPSA succeeds in securing a videographer.
The YouTube recordings would then be uploaded to YouTube after the conference.
A poster board surface, 4' high and 6' wide will be provided for poster presenters. On this surface, the author(s) will attach the
following: the title of the presentation and authors; a copy of the abstract (in large type); an introduction, methods, results, and a
short bibliography; and any tables or figures that communicate the results of the research. These items should be mounted on the
poster boards before the session and remain until the end of the conference or until the day the author leaves the conference.
Poster presenters should note that visual representations of results will be more effective than text.
A prize for the best poster will be awarded by the Programme Committee and the following criteria, approved at the CPSA Board of
Directors meeting of 3 Dec 2005 are used to evaluate the posters and choose a winner: visual impact, clarity and scholarly
contribution. The award of a three-year membership in the CPSA (including three years of the CJPS) will be presented to the
recipient at the conference dinner.
The poster that won the 2006 prize is available on the CPSA website at http://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/papers-2006/Bastien.ppt as
reference.
19) A graduate 3MT® proposal must include the 3MT® title and a 250 word abstract. The submission form will not accept any text
beyond the stated limit. The abstract should outline the main argument, method of inquiry, method of analysis and theoretical
significance of the student’s graduate MA thesis, MRP, or doctoral thesis that will form the content of the 3MT® presentation. Once
your proposal has been submitted, you will be able to access your proposal until 3 November 2014. To make any necessary changes
please click on “Edit Metadata”. If the 3MT® proposal is accepted, the submitted abstracts will be made available on the CPSA web
site. The 3MT® proposals must be submitted through the Teaching and Research Skills Development Section of the CPSA
Programme.
3MT® is a competition in which participants present their graduate research in 3 minutes or less to a panel of non-specialist judges.
Presentations should be accessible, engaging and adhere to rules of plain language. We welcome proposals from graduate students
from all areas of political science. Students who participate in the 3MT® competition should have made substantial progress on their
graduate research and analysis and must be available to present in both one initial heat of the competition during the first two days
of the conference, as well as the final competition to be held on the last day of the conference during the lunch hour session. If the
CPSA succeeds in securing a videographer, presenters must agree to be video-taped. Video recordings would then be uploaded to
YouTube and/or the CPSA main website after the conference.
Students are permitted to us one single static PowerPoint slide to augment their verbal presentations (no slide transitions,
animations or ‘movement’ of any description). No additional electronic media (e.g. sound or video files) are permitted. No
additional props are permitted. Presentations are limited to 3 minutes maximum and competitors exceeding 3 minutes will be
disqualified.
A prize for the best 3MT® presentation will be awarded by the Programme Committee using the following criteria (also used in the
adjudication of the National 3MT® Canadian competition): communication style, comprehension, and engagement aimed toward a
non-specialist audience. A panel of non-specialist judges will preside over the final competition.
For more information on successful 3MT® presentations, please visit the Canadian 3MT® website http://cags.ca/3mt.php as
reference.
20) A proposal directed towards a workshop
The programme will include 8 half-day and full-day workshops, each organized around a particular theme. Proposals within a
workshop should meet all of the conditions set out above in numbers 14), 15) or 16). Please be sure to provide an abstract, including
a description of how the proposal fits within the workshop theme. All conference registrants may attend the workshops. Once your
proposal has been submitted, you will be able to access your proposal until 3 November 2014. To make any necessary changes
please click on “Edit Metadata”.
21) Responsibilities of presenters
Presenters must be current members of CPSA (see number 2) above). ALL presenters must register for the conference. Presenters
should prepare comments outlining the major points of their papers. In the event of unforeseen circumstances and you are unable
to attend, you are asked to notify the respective section head as soon as possible. Your professionalism in this regard is appreciated.
A good presentation is a must for a successful session. Listed are some guidelines for preparing an oral summary of a paper: No
paper should ever be read verbatim from the text. Such presentations are often not only dull but also incomplete due to time
constraints imposed by the chairperson; an author reading from text may be cut off by the chairperson before reaching the most
significant aspects of his/her presentation. Highlights may be given covering such points as purpose of the study, description of the
sample, methodology, problems, major findings, conclusions, or recommendations. The amount of time devoted to each highlight
may vary depending upon the author’s evaluation of the importance of each area related to his/her paper. Inexperienced
extemporaneous speakers are advised to prepare a “reading text” of approximately 5 typed pages.
Presenters at round tables and poster sessions might bring copies of their project summaries to the sessions. Doing so may enable
participants to discuss the topic more effectively.
22) Responsibilities of chairpersons and discussants
The chair is responsible for monitoring the entire session. The success of a session often depends upon the chair's ability to restrict
the time of speakers' presentations and temper the discussions from the floor in order to allow sufficient time for inter-action within
the presentation. Some of the most important responsibilities of the chair are to:
• Open the session at the scheduled time and set the context with a few brief introductory remarks;
• Introduce the participants before their presentations;
• Maintain strict time limits for each speaker and discussant;
• Moderate panel or floor discussions; and,
• Adjourn the session in time to allow the room to clear before the next session begins.
Chairs are requested to report the name(s) of any no shows and the session number to the section head. In sessions where
discussants are expected to prepare comments in advance, the Chair has the option to drop from the programme any author not
submitting a copy of his/her presentation to the appropriate discussant two weeks before the meeting.
Discussants are to prepare, in advance, appropriate analytical or critical commentaries of the significance and contribution of the
papers presented in a session. Time constraints on the length of the discussions are established by the chairs. Discussants are under
no obligation to comment on papers they have not received prior to the meeting.
PLEASE NOW PROCEED TO REVIEW THE
OPEN CONFERENCE SYSTEMS (OCS) LOGIN INSTRUCTIONS
TO SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL.