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AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS

Baron Perlman	Lee. I. McCann	Susan McFadden
PERLMAN@UWOSH.EDU	MCCANN@UWOSH.EDU	MCFADDEN@UWOSH.EDU

Overview

Teaching Tips is a continuing column in the APS Observer that offers practical How-to advice and information to teaching faculty and faculty-to-be of colleges (2 and 4 year) and universities. Columns are not theoretical, but oriented toward the practice of teaching. They inform teachers at the undergraduate and graduate levels about both the content and methods of teaching for the purpose of improving the teaching of psychology. The profession of teaching also is an appropriate subject.

The column appears regularly in the APS OBSERVER. The first six years of the column are in the 1999 book, Lessons Learned, Practical Advice for the Teaching of Psychology.

Note to Authors

Reading previously published Teaching Tips columns is the best way to learn how they typically are organized, and the style of writing.

The editors welcome authors' ideas for columns from potential authors. It is useful to share your idea for a column with Dr. Perlman, Editor, before submitting a manuscript. The column only appears six times per year and choice of topics is a critical part of the editors' work. A preliminary outline is a useful first step to ensure that authors and editors agree on the general topic and content, and to save time in editing and rewriting. Dr. Perlman and the co-editors are more than happy to read the outline and offer suggestions.

• Outlines and Columns should be sent as a Microsoft Word attachment to Perlman@uwosh.edu. They also can be sent via postal mail.
• The editorial group will provide editing of content, writing style, format, etc. Authors are often asked to review this editing and make additional changes.
• After approved by the editorial group, columns will be sent to the APS Observer. The APS Observer editorial staff makes the final determination on inclusion of the articles and has final editorial authority.

Content

• Each column will be 2000 to 2400 words in length; some are even a little longer.
• Include as much teaching oriented content as possible. Often a submission is the only column on a specific area of teaching that will be published.
• The typical column has:
• Brief introduction (up to two pages)
• Specific teaching tips and examples (the majority of the column)
• Brief conclusion (single paragraph, half a page maximum)
• Recommended Readings (up to 5)
• Brief Author Biographical Information (5 or 6 sentences about each author) beyond institutional affiliation.

Style

• Use APA format for citing recommended readings.
• Writing should be lively, crisp and bold, and a little humor is welcome, when appropriate. This writing style differs from the tone typically found in scholarly papers.
• You do not have to have any references in your column, though references are acceptable.
• Each column will conclude with up to 5 citations of further helpful readings the reader can turn to for useful information.
• You can attach drafts as a Word Document to an e-mail. Or submit the column on Microsoft Word 97 or Word Perfect (or as a last resort, another popular word processing program) on disk. Please include three paper copies if you use US Mail.

Audience

• The audience will be college and university faculty and graduate student teaching assistants.

Process

• Even after a topic has been discussed with the editors and agreed upon, many authors send an outline of their column to be reviewed before proceeding too far with their writing. This outline can be sent to the Teaching Tips editor Baron Perlman via e-mail(Perlman@uwosh.edu) or US Mail (see below). The editor and co-editors are more than happy to read the outline and offer suggestions.
• Columns should be sent to Baron Perlman, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI 54901. They can be sent as a Microsoft Word attachment to Perlman@uwosh.edu.
• The editorial group of Dr. Perlman, Dr. Lee McCann and Dr. Susan McFadden (all at UWO) will provide editing of content, writing style, format, etc. Authors are often asked to review this editing and make additional changes.
• Once approved by the editorial group, columns will be sent to the APS Observer. The APS Observer editor makes the final determination of inclusion of the articles and has final editorial authority.

Biographical Information

• Please include brief (5 or 6 lines) author biographical information beyond institutional affiliation.