SoTL in the South – Full Paper for Review

Type Title Here (Style is SoTLTitle)

Abstract

Type your abstract here. Your abstract should be around 300 words, and should be text only; no symbols, pictures, or references. This abstract will be included in the book of abstracts to complement the conference programme, so should be clear and concise summary of your research questions and findings. You will also need to submit this abstract when you submit your full paper via the online submission system.

Main Section Heading (Style is SoTLHead1)

Note that you can distinguish between capital and lowercase letters in the main section heading! This template is designed to help you prepare a consistently formatted submission for the SoTL in the South conference. The document includes the requisite styles, available in the “Styles” box. Note that the styles automatically cater for paragraph spacing and indentation, so you do not need to use double returns between paragraphs.

Submissions should be limited to (the shorter of) 6000 words or 10 pages, including references and figures. Full papers are also expected to be at least 3500 words (or about 6 pages).Kindly do not change the page size, margins, spacing, font, or other formatting, as this template is designed to keep a consistent look for reviewers and editors.

As described in detail in the subsequent sections, tables and figures should be centred and text should not wrap around. In-text emphasis, where needed, should use italics; avoid bold or underlined words or phrases. Footnotes should be avoided; authors are encouraged to incorporate any would-be footnote into the normal text. References, discussed later in more detail, will be listed in a separate section at the end of the document.

Subsection Heading (Style is SoTLHEad2)

Two levels of heading should be sufficient to structure your paper. Please do not number your sections or subsections.

Using This Document

The simplest way to use this document is to save a copy (with these instructions), then either start typing directly over this text or copy and paste your text as plain text into the appropriate sections. Avoid copying the formatting from another document; in Microsoft Word, use the dropdown menu under “Paste” on the Ribbon (under “Home”), then select “Keep text only.”

Useful document portions (like headings or figures) can be duplicated until you have enough sections and items for your needs. Otherwise, the custom SoTL styles are embedded in the document, so should be available in the “Styles” box on the ribbon (usually next to paragraph options). You can also see which style applies to a particular paragraph by clicking somewhere in the paragraph and looking at the “Styles” box; the applicable style should be selected.

Tables and Figures

Examples follow of tables, figures, block quote formats, and advice on using lists. It is recommended that you use these examples directly by copying and pasting the example, then replacing the text/data/picture with your own.

Below is an example of a table. In the text, referto Table 1 (rather than table 1 or Table 1. with a superfluous full stop). Note the caption is above the table and left justified. The table number is in bold, and the general style of the table is deliberate. Table entries should be centred unless it is important for the table content, and vertical dividing lines should be avoided.

Table 1. This is the table caption.

Column 1 / Column 2 / Column 3 / Column 4
Africa / 54 / 30,370,000 / 20.4%
Antarctica / 0 / 13,720,000 / 9.2%
Asia / 44 / 43,820,000 / 29.5%

Include one extra line after a table before the next paragraph. Avoid splitting a table across pages, and try to keep a table on the same page as the first reference to that table.

Next we have a figure, shown in Figure 1 and with the same in-text referencing style as used for tables. The caption of the figure appearsbelow the figure, and the figure numbers are independent of the table numbers (i.e., figure numbering starts with “1” even if preceded by tables, as in this template).

Figure 1. A circle intersecting a rectangle.

There is no need to include an extra line after figures, as the paragraph spacing organises things for us.

Quotes and Lists

In text quotes (shorter than two lines) should use double quotation marks, with single quotation marks reserved for quotations within quotations. For example, Steve stated, “It says ‘universal adult suffrage,’ not ‘universal adult suffering’ in the Constitution.” If a quotation is longer than two full lines, use the following block quote style

Block quotes use the style SoTLQuote from the Styles box. This same style can be used for other purposes. For example, you may wish to display something like computer code and offset it from the text without putting it in a figure or table. Indented paragraphs like this don’t get numbers, though, so it may be awkward to refer to this content later. Also, do not use this format for your entire paper!

There is also a specific style (SoTLTranscript) provided for transcripts and conversations.

Interviewer:Tell me more about this style. In particular, may I use the style for something else?

Subject:Yes, you can use this style for other things. For example, though definitions should usually be worked into the normal text, a particularly important definition could be offset using this style.

Interviewer:What about lists?

Subject:Well, lists should be avoided. If absolutely needed, lists should be worked into a table or if you really, really need to you can use this style for lists. However, simple bullet lists and numbered lists should not be used; put that information into a table or work it into the text in a non-list manner.

Citation Style

References should follow the APA referencing style ( and more information is available either from that website or from the University of Purdue’s OWL guide to the APA (Angeli et al., 2010). All works cited in the text should be included in the reference list, and the reference list should consist only of works cited in the text. Let’s throw in a few sample references with no context whatsoever. For example, Biggs and Tang (2007) say that “The university sector … continues to change at an increasingly hectic rate” (p. 1). On the other hand, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) includes an aspect of reflection on one’s own teaching practice (Trigwell et al., 2000).

An alphabetized (by author surname) list of cited references should appear in a separate section at the end of the paper, just like here in this template. The style for the references is called SoTLReferences, which uses indentation to make the first author’s name stick out and removes the inter-paragraph spacing.

References

Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from

Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2007). Teaching for Quality Learning at University (3rd ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill/Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.

Trigwell, K., Martin, E., Benjamin, J., & Prosser, M. (2000). Scholarship of Teaching: A model. Higher Education Research & Development, 19:2, 155-168.