I have a paper that I wrote (still writting, actually) for a history class. I submitted this to compete for a scholarship and won. This got me thinking… my professors are always writing and submitting and presenting papers. Can I do the same? How do I find out about these opportunities?
You need to find out what conferences are available, their quality (which ones accept the best papers), etc. Profs are a good source of pointers for where to look (it depends on the area how such things are listed).
Some fields have conferences for undergrads or for regions, which are pretty easy to get papers into. The main annual conference for a given field is usually the hardest one to get into. But there’s a lot of conferences out there.
Try to find someone who has done this, look at the format of their submissions, etc. Also, be prepared for how to do the accepted paper (very special formatting guidelines are usually called for), how to present it, etc.
Look at the proceedings from previous conferences to get an idea as to what is considered interesting, how the papers are written, etc.
Again: varies by field. Someone who knows the ropes in your field is the best source.
Ask your professors what journals deal with the subject about which you’re writing, and then look up the journal for its submission guidelines. Academic journals live and die by their contributed content, so they’re always very clear on how to send in new content.
When an academic conference is organized, there will usually be an official call for papers. Each department in a college or university may have a bulltein board where they post such information, and it also might appear in some journals. As an undergraduate, your chances of co-authoring a paper with a professor are substantially better than your chances of presenting one by yourself.
First of all, what everyone else said. But also, look for undergraduate research opportunities in your field. Now history (I assume that’s what you are interested in) is far from my own field of engineering, but let me tell you how it works in engineering, and hopefully there will be some parallels.
Step 1: What are you interested in? The broad field, of course (history, anthropology, etc.), but what specialty? Medieval history? Ancient Greek? Byzantine? 14th century Japan?
Step 2: Identify a professor whose specialty is close to what your interest is. Usually, departments will publish a single sheet listing professor’s research specialties, but you can also (probably) look up their biographies on the Web and whatnot.
Step 3: Do you know this professor? Do you get along with him or her? Hopefully the answers are yes and yes. If no to the first, consider taking a class with the person. If no to the second, find another professor.
Step 4: I would think that your department has a class called “undergraduate research” or “independent study” or something. Look into it.
Step 5: Armed with this knowledge, go talk to your professor. Tell him or her that you want to write and submit a paper. Say that you’re willing to work extra-hard. Say that you want to be a research assistant. Be sure to mention that a previous student paper you wrote won an award. Try to convince him or her that you are serious, and that it is worth his or her time to help you.
The idea is you want to create a win/win situation. You win because you get expert guidance on how to write and submit a paper in your field, as well as editing help, assistance in writing (typically the faculty member will co-author the paper), as well as an introduction to your professors personal contacts (maybe he knows the editor of a journal?) The professor wins because he (or she) gets a research assistant for free, and hopefully another paper with his/her name on it, and, probably most importantly, the opportunity to cultivate a promising student, and convince you to go to grad school, studying with him/her.
You could possibly write a paper without the assistance of a faculty member, but it will be harder: you aren’t immediately aware of previous literature, because you haven’t been reading it for the last 15 years. You don’t have a feel for relative difficulty of getting your paper accepted in different journals/conferences. You won’t have a calibrated notion of the relative strength of your own work. You don’t personally know, or even know the reputations of, editors and conference organizers. And you don’t know the conventions that paper readers expect.
Is your paper based on primary research? If so, you’ve probably got a fighting chance; if not, you probably don’t–even if it is an exceptional paper, it’s still based on secondary sources.
That said, here’s how I do it (but I’m in Geology): when I’m ready to gather my data together and publish, I chose a journal I’d like to publish to, find the “instructions for authors” for that journal either at the library (usually in the back of an issue) or on-line, and just follow the instructions for formatting, submission, etc. Here’s the instructions for The Historian:
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/submit.asp?ref=0018-2370
If you submit your paper, it’ll go into peer review (if it makes it past the editor), which is why it is always a good idea to do your own peer review first–send the ms. to your professor, other professors, students, etc., to let them pick it apart first!
Now if you’ll excuse me, the coffee’s finally kicking in and I can go back to banging out the paper I’m planning on submitting to some boring Geology journal…
Thanks everyone for the swift responses! I attend a community college right now (though I’ll graduate in May) and will be moving on to a university in the fall. Hopefully they will have more resources available to me for this sort of thing.