2025 Conference Proposal Guidelines

Part I. Guidelines for Proposing a Paper, Panel, Roundtable, or Panel Stream

Titled Papers

Any AATSEEL member may submit a paper proposal to the conference. A complete paper proposal consists of:

• the author’s contact information (name, affiliation, postal address, phone number and email)

• paper title

• an abstract

• desired panel placement (if known)

Abstracts should be no more than 300 words, including text and bibliography.

The Program Committee no longer permits the use of footnotes. Please make any necessary references parenthetically through a bibliography. Please follow discipline appropriate guidelines in preparing bibliographies. For example, the citation in the text might be (Ivanov), (Ivanov 1996), or (Ivanov 1996: 53–54) and the bibliography would have the full citation. Data, examples and text in non-Slavic and non-Western languages should be glossed. The abstract text should not contain first-person references to its author(s).

The Program Committee will return abstracts that exceed the word limits or contain footnotes to authors for resubmission. Resubmitted abstracts must be received by the deadline (July 1 or August 15) if they are to be reviewed in that round.

Organized “Whole” Panels

Panel chairs or organizers are encouraged to shape their own complete panels and to submit a group proposal. Proposals for fully-formed panels should contain a panel title, the titles of individual papers and names and email addresses of presenters, chair, and discussant (if there is one), and a single paragraph-long statement, prepared by the panel organizer (who can also serve as one of the presenters, the chair, or the discussant). This single-paragraph proposal should not exceed 300 words. It must contain a concise description of the rationale for bringing the individual papers together as a panel and describe briefly how each paper fits into the discussion.

No individual proposals for papers submitted as part of a fully-formed panel need to be included at the time the panel is proposed. If a panel proposal is accepted by the Program Committee, the organizer will be responsible for obtaining from each participant a description of each paper for the online program, and sending those descriptions to the Program Committee Chair by September 30, 2024. These descriptions, like individual proposals, should outline the author’s plan for defending the paper’s hypothesis or advancing an interpretation. If a description is not sent for an individual paper on an accepted panel, that paper may be deleted from the program.

All accepted abstracts included in the conference will be published on the AATSEEL website.

Roundtables and Fora

Any AATSEEL member may submit a roundtable or forum proposal to the conference. A complete roundtable or forum proposal consists of:

* the organizer’s contact information (name, affiliation, postal address, phone number and email)

* session title

* participant list with contact information

* brief statement about the topic and purpose of the session

Choice of Format: Panel vs. Roundtable vs. Forum

A panel is a session where the presenters give titled papers. The topics of panels are usually very broad (e.g., Tolstoy, Russian Romanticism, Exile in Literature, Literature and Music, etc.) and the titled paper with abstract tells the prospective audience what aspect(s) of the general topic an individual paper will address. Each paper is to a great extent independent, and may or may not contribute specifically to a single developed discussion of the topic.

The roundtable format is used for discussion of a more specific and cohesive topic. All the presenters are addressing that topic and should, to a large extent, be interacting with each other in shedding light on the topic. Because roundtables focus on a specific topic, the presentations by participants do not have separate titles. AATSEEL does not require an abstract for each roundtable participant, but the roundtable organizer should provide a brief description of the intended discussion for the roundtable as a whole, to set the context for both the speakers and the audience. The roundtable organizer is responsible for soliciting the participants, and should submit them (name, affiliation, email) as a formed roundtable to the Program Committee Chair along with the request for the roundtable and the description of the intended discussion.

Roundtables are less formal than panels. Initial roundtable presentations are generally shorter than papers (about 10 min. per person). Then the speakers engage in discussion with each other, and the audience is usually invited to engage more directly than at panels. A roundtable is more of an open conversation: speakers come with their own insights and points of view, but not necessarily with a topic to analyze or a thesis to defend.

The session format also differs between roundtables and panels. Roundtables may have from three to six participants, plus a chair. AATSEEL does not have specific rules prohibiting panels/roundtables on which all the participants are from one institution. The Program Committee, however, strongly encourages organizers to have a mix of perspectives and to provide for a broadened appeal, which is often accomplished by having scholars from a variety of institutions/institutional types.

Forum is the appropriate venue for authors to present and discuss their own textbooks and other publications. Authors of instructional materials should write to the contact for Pedagogy and Second Language Acquisition to secure inclusion in the conference program. Proposals for Fora on Instructional Materials should be finalized by August 1. Participants in a forum may include the author(s), user(s) of the materials, or representative(s) of the publisher.

Panel Streams

Panel streams are designed to promote greater cohesion among conference panels and foster a broader dialogue throughout the conference. The result can be a series of mini-conferences within the framework of our larger conference. All conference attendees are welcome to attend stream panels, but participants in a stream are strongly encouraged to attend all of the panels in their stream.

Stream topic proposals should consist of a 200-word abstract describing the stream as a whole and a list of 4-6 potential participants (you need not yet have firm commitments from them) and should indicate whether you prefer a 2 or 3 panel stream. These should be submitted to the Streams Division Head, Alisa Lin, by May 15, 2024. You will be notified of the committee’s decision by June 1.

Individual paper proposals as well as roundtable proposals will continue to be accepted, as usual, exclusively through the Call for Papers page on the AATSEEL website.

Stream topics will be selected by June 1, 2024. All individual abstracts related to streams will need to be submitted by the first CFP deadline, July 1, 2024. Stream proposals will not be accepted in the second round. Contact the stream organizers, stream coordinator Alisa Lin (lin.3183@osu.edu), or Molly Blasing (mtblasing@uky.edu) with any questions about the streams.

In 2025, the stream scheduling will look different; streams will be scheduled at the same time on each of the three days of the conference. Stream participants are expected to commit to attending all three days of the conference to participate fully in the stream



Submitting a Paper Proposal for a Stream

Paper proposals for streams should be submitted via the regular submission portal under "individual paper submissions". Please select "stream related" from the drop-down menu (do NOT select the topic division (e.g., "literature/culture", "linguistics", etc.).

FAQs About Streams

* What is a panel stream?

* 2-3 thematically connected panels or roundtables (with 8-12 total participants in the stream). They will be listed in the conference program with the same panel title (subtitles can be used to distinguish the focus of the individual panels) and be scheduled during dedicated stream sessions.

* What topics are eligible for panel streams?

* Any area that is typically part of the AATSEEL conference can be proposed as a stream topic (eg. second language acquisition and pedagogy, literature, film, linguistics, culture, media studies, theory, etc.). Keep in mind that the stream topic should be capacious enough to suit 10-12 participants’ presentations. The Program Committee will work to ensure a diverse blend of stream topics so we encourage all AATSEEL members to consider proposing a topic.

* What is the role of the stream organizer?

* The organizer(s) must submit a topic proposal, help recruit participants, serve as a reviewer of individual abstracts submitted for the stream, and help to arrange the panel format and organization.

* How can the panels be organized?

* We encourage diversity and flexibility in constructing the panels. They can be structured as traditional paper panels or roundtables or they can diverge from those formats. Possible alternatives include structuring the stream as a response to a single scholarly work or devoting one stream panel to a single “keynote” speaker with the other panels devoted to responses to the speaker.

* What will the makeup of panel participants be?

The streams must be composed of a variety of generations of scholars (ie. graduate students, contingent faculty, K-12 teachers, junior faculty, advanced scholars). The stream organizer may invite up to half of the total stream participants. The remainder of the stream will consist of participants who submit abstracts to the Program Committee.

Submission of Proposals

Consult the Call for Papers page for details. Deadlines for submission will remain the same as in previous years. All proposals must be submitted through the webpage. Emailed or mailed proposals will not be accepted.

Please note that abstracts recommended for revise/resubmit should be resubmitted as a new proposal through the website. If you edit your existing/already submitted proposal on the website, it will not be sent out for review.

Part II. Participants, AATSEEL Membership and Conference Preregistration

Multiple Participation

There is no limit on how many times a member may appear on the program. Participants, however, are limited to one single-authored paper in the general conference and one single-authored paper in each stream session (“A” and “B”). A member presenting a single-authored paper may also present a co-authored paper, however, as long as at least one additional co-author is registered and present at the conference (in other words, as long as the second paper results in registration for and attendance at the conference by an additional person).

Participant Attendance

Agreeing to appear in the conference program constitutes an obligation to attend the conference and participate in person. Late withdrawals (after the online program is published in November), other than for cases of emergency, will be subject to administrative review, and may result in exclusion from future conference programs. Because of the importance of discussion and feedback in the conference, papers may not be read by others for absentee panelists. Accepted papers, however, may be carried over to the next year’s conference at the discretion of the Program Committee Chair. Participants who deferred from one year due the next because of unforeseen circumstances should contact the Program Committee Chair, Ainsley Morse (ainsley.e.morse@dartmouth.edu).

AATSEEL Membership and Conference Preregistration

In conformity with AATSEEL’s bylaws, all conference participants must be members of AATSEEL in good standing and must preregister for the conference by December 15, 2024. Additionally:

1. AATSEEL Membership: Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be sent only to AATSEEL members in good standing. Memberships expire June 30th each year. Those submitting abstracts are encouraged to renew membership when submitting an abstract to avoid delays in appearing in the online conference program.

2. Conference Registration: Conference participants who have not preregistered by December 15 will be deleted from the conference program unless they have been given approval to register late or on-site by the Conference Manager (aatseelconference@usc.edu) by December 15.

3. Exceptions to Membership Requirement: Non-Slavists may apply to the Executive Director, Elizabeth Durst , for exemption from the membership requirement, which will be determined on an individual basis. Colleagues from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union for whom the membership cost would prove a significant financial hardship may apply for exemption from the membership requirement, which will be determined on a case by case basis. Please request exemption from the membership requirement when you submit your abstract, so as not to delay acceptance.

4. Exemptions to Conference Registration: Colleagues from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union for whom the conference cost would prove a significant financial hardship may apply for exemption from the registration requirement, which will be determined on a case by case basis. Please request exemption from the registration requirement when you submit your abstract, so as to avoid being deleted from the program solely for failing to register.

5. Poets participating in the Poetry Reading who are not Slavists and are not taking part elsewhere in the program are exempt from the conference registration requirement, as well as the AATSEEL membership requirement.

6. Graduate students who are willing to volunteer four hours of time at the conference may have their registration fee waived. A Call for Volunteers is usually issued one month before the conference, or interested graduate students may contact the Conference Manager at any time prior to the conference (aatseelconference@usc.edu) to express interest in volunteering. Graduate student volunteers must sign up in advance of the conference in order to volunteer because once on-site, the schedule of volunteers is firm.

Part III. General Guidelines for Writing an Abstract

The goal of the review process is not to adjudicate a competition for a limited number of slots, but, rather, to ensure that all papers presented meet minimum professional standards and reflect careful preparation in advance. The peer review is intended to be as objective and inclusive as possible. Division heads, who are responsible for review procedures, will try to achieve the widest possible representation of the membership with respect to disciplinary subdivision, school of thought or type of approach, seniority, geography, and type of institution or affiliation. The review process will be applied uniformly to all prospective conference participants.

An abstract should briefly present a hypothesis and outline the author’s plan for defending that hypothesis. An ideal abstract, like a good paper, should identify a problem (linguistic, pedagogical, literary, historical, or cultural) that needs solving or present a hypothesis that sheds light on the interpretation of a text or body of texts. (A text need not be strictly “literary” and could be, for example, a work in film, television, painting, music, or other arts and media.) A paper may identify a new problem and propose a solution, or may identify a complete or partial solution to an existing problem. Alternatively, a paper might indicate that a generally held view has unrecognized shortcomings, without necessarily proposing a comprehensive analysis to replace the received wisdom. Some papers, especially in pedagogy, may provide critical descriptions and analyses of existing, innovative, or proposed methods and materials used in teaching language, literature, or culture. Papers in literature may propose a new analysis of a text, offer a new application of an established critical theory or theories of textual analysis or interpretation, or present a new theory of textual interpretation. Papers in culture may include analyses of texts in a variety of “high” and popular arts and media or broader historical, societal, or cultural studies. Abstracts on interdisciplinary topics are welcome. If your proposed paper makes use of a particular methodology or theoretical framework, it is important to state this clearly; a reference as brief as “relying on approach X,” “applying the principles of Y,” “analyzing the problem within a Z framework,” or “I am approaching the problem from the point of view of A and B’s theory of Q” is sufficient.

Naturally, the further your work has progressed, the better your abstract is likely to be. Ideally, you will summarize work that is already completed, but this is not required, or even expected. More likely, you will have the outline of your analysis in mind, but will not have worked out all the details; this is also legitimate. However, if you have merely identified a problem you would like to examine when you get a chance, on which you have not yet conducted any research, it will be difficult to represent it convincingly. The Program Committee will be given the authority to reject largely hypothetical papers.

Deadlines: AATSEEL 2025

Please visit our Dates and Deadlines page.