It is my belief that student research papers can and should find authentic audiences. This is why I require my students to conduct
social discovery. During their writing process, they reach out to a variety of
types of individuals to obtain
social proof for their developing ideas. As they formalize their research, they
target specific presentation or publication venues. When my students submit their final papers to me, they are required to document the process of their paper's development and to indicate they have submitted their paper to one of those venues.
As an interim step prior to that final submission report, I am now requiring my students to vet their prospective venues. In short, I want to be certain that they have investigated the conference or the publication outlet with respect to topic, timeliness, length, tone, formatting and any other submission requirements. In short, I don't want their submission to be an academic exercise; I want them to have a serious shot at getting their work accepted.
To this end, I am making the following assignment for my students.
