As part of the 705 unit, I am looking at writing a conference paper and/ or a journal article. Before I started to write these I wanted to research the differences between the two as well as getting a rough idea of what they should include.
I first got a definition of what each was:
Conference paper = a written document and oral presentation, usually short and have a limit of pages. Given at a formal meeting of people with a shared interest. Usually, researchers discuss and present their research within their field.
Journal paper = a longer piece of writing that has a definite structure and is published in journals
After this, I looked at the benefits of each and what they are most often used for, this will help me to see if it is worth me doing both or just one.
Conference Paper:
Good for postgraduate researchers who aren't ready to publish yet
Good chance to get feedback on research
These follow writing conventions for academic papers and oral presentations
Requires a general review process
Only uses three to four headings
Usually recommended that you compose your conference paper while keeping the specific journal in mind. When you prepare a conference paper to fulfil the requirements of a certain journal, your conference paper becomes eligible for publishing in that journal with a few modifications. This will save time and effort when it comes to turning a conference paper into a journal article
Journal Paper:
Academic style writing
Must be credible
Will be Peer reviewed, before being published
When writing a journal article it is important to identify a target journal
Check chosen journal requirements
Some may have a flexible page limit especially compared to conference papers
Journal papers are more detailed than conference papers.
Journals are printed periodically - monthly or yearly
“A high 'impact rating,' which is a measure of citations to papers in the journal, is beneficial.”
Requires a firm review process
The APA Style is commonly used to designate the citation style in both conference and journal papers.
“The key difference between a journal and a conference paper is that a journal paper is a longer piece of writing which has a definite structure and is published in journals, whereas a conference paper is generally a short and a more precise paper that is presented at a conference.”
Within that, there are various types of journals and conference papers, the type that I will need will be dependent on the content of my work as well as the places I want to publish or present. I found this website really helpful with this research, and it has a helpful list of the different types of papers. https://www.resurchify.com/blog/article/what-is-the-difference-between-conference-papers-8
I then went on to research potential conferences as well as festivals that have industry events, I used the website: https://www.animation-festivals.com/festivals-list/page/12/ to collect a list of festivals and looked at each to see if they were relevant.
Immerse Conference
Newcastle animation conference
Teesside conference
Societies in animation conference
Animex - talks and networking events
The VFX Festival - escape studios, February
Maf - talks and networking
MOVE - business summit - Edinburgh - February
View Conference - October - Italy
After this, I researched journals that I want to publish a paper in these are:
Society for animation studies - https://journal.animationstudies.org/
Game studies - https://gamestudies.org/2301
A lot of the conferences and festivals for this year have already gone, but I now know the rough dates when they will run again and can start to get my paper prepared, the first bit I need to write for a conference paper is an abstract. If I intend to write both a conference paper and a journal then I will follow the guidance above, working on the conference paper first.
Another option is to write an article for animation magazines such as Squigly. For this, I am going to contact them and see what the process to do this is.
The next thing I need to work on is the abstract for the conference paper, using my dissertation as the base. The website I used to research had a helpful section about writing an abstract which I have copied below to use as a guide to help me write mine.
“An abstract is a short overview of the paper you wish to give at an academic conference, It shows a great deal about you as well as the paper you're submitting. The study problem, aims, methodology/experimental design, results and discussion, and conclusion should all be mentioned briefly in the abstract. The abstract should not include section titles. The abstract should not include citations, references, figures, or tables.
The abstract length should not be longer than 250 words in general. The top, bottom, and right margins of the page should all be 2.5 cm, with the left margin being 3 cm. The typefaces, sizes, and styles for the title, authors' names, and affiliations should match those in the paper's header. The name of the presenter should be highlighted. The associated author's name should be preceded by a #> sign, and his or her e-mail address should be indicated.”
This research has helped me to get a better idea of what I need to write as well as the order in which I should approach this. My next step is writing the abstract and contacting Squigly.
