5th Annual Student Technical Paper Competition

Call for Papers

We ask that you follow these guidelines to assure uniformity of all papers and to reflect the professional and quality image of ASQ.  Please follow these instructions carefully.

Eligibility
Participants must be ASQ student members.

Competition Details
Student papers are submitted to and reviewed by the ASQ Student Branch Committee. The committee makes every effort to include all of the submitted papers in the conference session. If that is not possible, papers are selected according to the review process described below. All student presenters receive a plaque.

In addition, three papers will receive honorable mention at the conference. The authors of these papers receive cash awards in the following amounts.

  • 1st Place: $500
  • 2nd Place: $250
  • 3rd Place:  $150

The authors of these papers must be present to receive honorable mention. Awards are divided among co-authors if necessary.

Requirements
The deadline for submitting papers and PowerPoint presentations is Monday, March 31, 2008. Submissions must be final. No changes can be made to the content submitted.

All papers must be original and present concepts with demonstrated results.

Those selected as speakers must submit files for inclusion in the conference proceedings. We require that all authors whose names appear on the published final presentations sign a license agreement that allows ASQ to:

  1. Include the paper/presentation in the published proceedings.
  2. Sell the paper/presentation as a single reprint.
  3. Include the paper/presentation in other ASQ publications.
  4. Give permission to others wishing to reprint the text.

This agreement still gives the author permission to use the material in any manner they deem appropriate.

Presentations should not contain merchandising material for a product or service. Participants may not distribute any promotional materials to attendees before, during or after the presentation.

Areas of Focus
All student papers demonstrating the theory or application of quality principles will be considered for selection.

Format

  • Use Microsoft Word.
  • Use Times New Roman font with 12-point size.
  • Use single spacing before and after headings.
  • Leave a one-inch margin on all sides.
  • Embed illustrations within your paper and label them correctly and clearly.

Page Limit
Maximum paper length is 14 pages, single-sided, including your illustrations, references, etc.

Title

  • The main title of your paper must not exceed 50 characters. This includes letters, spaces and punctuation.
  • Capitalize the main title and center it at the top of the first page of your paper.
  • If you choose to have a subtitle, capitalize it and center it directly below the main title. End the main title with a colon.
  • Do not use a title page.

Authors
Place author name(s) beneath the title.

References
Place number and group references at the end of the manuscript following Associated Press style. Do not use Word's automatic reference or footnote option.

Biography
Include a brief author biography on a separate page at the end. Include institute and degree sought, academic focus and when you expect to earn your degree. Complete a biography for each author listed.

PowerPoint Presentation
You will have 30-45 minutes* to present your paper and respond to questions from the audience.  Design your presentation to effectively summarize or explain your work in that timeframe.  Complete your presentation using the ASQ template and only Times New Roman or Arial fonts.  For maximum readability, use a font size of 24 (excluding slide titles, which may be larger).

*Please note: Session length depends on the number of papers selected.

Review Process
The Student Branch Committee evaluates all eligible submissions using a blind review process and the following criteria.

  1. Relevance or significance of the topic
  2. Theoretical basis
  3. Methodology
  4. Discussion and interpretation
  5. Clarity of writing

Submit Paper