The Australian Educational Researcher (AER)

Notes for Contributors

The Australian Educational Researcher aims to:

• promote understandings of educational issues through the publication of original research and scholarly essays;
• inform education policy through the publication of papers utilising a range of research methodologies and addressing issues of theory and practice;
• provide a research forum for education researchers to debate current problems and issues; and
• provide an international and national perspective on education research through the publication of book reviews, scholarly essays, original quantitative and qualitative research and papers that are methodologically or theoretically innovative.

Contributions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives on any level of education are welcome.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be double-spaced. Paper title, name(s) of author(s) and an address for correspondence should be on a separate page to ensure anonymity when reviewing. Any identifying information should be removed from the text, headers or footers.

Papers should be 5 000 to 6 000 words. Over-length papers will not be sent to reviewers. The abstract should be 150 to 200 words. A bionote (see below) for all contributing authors should accompany submissions.

Manuscripts should be submitted to the Managing Editor, Annette PATTERSON, by email at annette.patterson@qut.edu.au. Please send files in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf).

If electronic submission is not possible, send a disk and three hard-copies of the manuscript to:

Paper manuscripts should be typed on one side of the page, double-spaced and bear the title of the contribution. The content of the disk should be identical to the hard-copy text.

Manuscripts are reviewed by at least two peers, an external reviewer and, when appropriate, an Advisory Editor. AER does not accept papers that have been submitted elsewhere or papers peer reviewed for the AARE Conference or published on the AARE website, unless significantly revised and re-written for AER.

Proofs will be sent to authors if there is sufficient time. Proofs should be corrected and returned by email within three days. Major alterations to the text will not be accepted.

General guidelines and style conventions

Submissions should follow the AER style guide (see below) and use non-sexist language. AER has a diverse international audience. Please clarify terms likely to be unfamiliar to scholars beyond Australia.

Citations in the text

AER follows APA (5^th Ed.) guidelines but do not use automatic referencing software (e.g. Endnote) as this creates difficulties in document formatting.

References or citations in the text should give the author's name and year of publication (with page numbers if quotation is used) in the following style:

She stated, "The 'placebo effect' . . . disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner" (Miele, 1993, p. 276), but she did not clarify which behaviours were studied.

Notes:

• Double quotation used for quotation in text, single quotation used for text enclosed in double quotation marks in original source.
• Three spaced ellipsis points (. . .) are used to indicate that material is omitted from the original source.
• Mid-sentence quotations are concluded with quotation marks, followed by the conclusion of the sentence.

Miele (1993) found that "the 'placebo effect,' which had been verified in previous studies, disappeared when [only the first group's] behaviors were studied in this manner" (p. 276).

Notes:

• Brackets [ ] are used to enclose material inserted in a quotation.
• Quotations at the end of a sentence are concluded with quotation marks, immediately followed by the citation of the source, in parenthesis. Complete the sentence with apprpriate punctuation outside the final parenthesis.

Miele (1993) found the following:

     The "placebo effect," which had been verified in prevous studies, disappeared when behaviors were studied in this manner. Furthermore, the behaviors were never exhibited again [italics added], even when reel [sic] drugs were administered. Earlier studies (e.g. Abdullah, 1984; Fox, 1979) were premature in attributing the results to a placebo effect. (p. 276)

Notes:

• Block quotations (40 words or more) are not enclosed in quotation marks.
• Double quotation marks are used to indicate quotations used in original source.
• Show emphasis of words in a quotation by italicising, followed immediately by the words italics added in brackets (i.e. [italics added]).
• Cite the quoted source in parenthesis after the final punctuation mark.
• Multiple citations are separated by a semi-colon.
• Incorrect spelling, punctuation or grammar in the source that might confuse readers may be followed by the word sic,italicised and bracketed, immediately after the error in the quotation.

Examples are taken from APA (5^th Ed.) guidelines.

Reference lists

AER follows APA (5^th Ed.) guidelines. However, please do not use automatic referencing software (e.g. Endnote) as this creates difficulties in document formatting. All references cited in the text should be listed in full at the end of the manuscript. Some examples of common reference types are:

Print Items

Journal Articles - one author

Barone, T. E. (1992). Beyond theory and method: a case of critical storytelling. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 142-146.

Journal Articles - two to six authors

Wallace, J., Sheffield, R., Rennie, L., & Grady, V. (2007). Looking back, looking forward: Re-searching the conditions for curriculum integration in the middle years of schooling. The Australian Educational Researcher, 34(2), 29-50.

Journal Articles - more than six authors

Patel Stevens, L., Hunter, L., Pendergast, D., Carrington, V., Bahr, N., Kapitzke, C. , et al. (2007). ReConceptualising the possible narratives of adolescence. The Australian Educational Researcher, 34(2), 107-128.

Books

Ashmore, M. R. (1989). The Reflexive Thesis: Wrighting Sociology of Scientific Knowledge. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

Willis, G., & Schubert, W. H. (Eds.). (1991). Reflections from the Heart of Educational Inquiry: Understanding Curriculum and Teaching through the Arts. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Article or chapter in an edited book

Knoespel, K. J. (1991). The employment of chaos: instability and narrative order. In N. K. Hayles (Ed.), Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science (pp. 127-299). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Unpublished Conference/Meeting Paper

Lather, P. (1990, April). Staying dumb? Student resistance to liberatory curriculum. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, MA.

Electronic Items

Journal articles

Griffith, A. (1995, July 8). Older women and grief: a new direction for research. Journal of Women & Ageing, 9(3), 23-42. Retrieved May 6, 2003 from http://buffy.lib.unimelb.edu.au/

Stand-alone document (no author identified, no date)

Phoneme Awareness. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2008, from http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/phon.html

Document from a university or department Web site

Dawson, J., Smith, L., Deubert, K., & Grey-Smith, S. (2002). 'S' Trek 6: Referencing, not plagiarism. Retrieved October 31, 2002 from Curtin University, Library Web site: http://lisweb.curtin.edu.au/study/studytrekk/strek6.html

Headings

Please keep headings and subheadings to a minimum with no more than three levels. Where there is more than one level of heading, please indicate alongside if it is H1, H2, H3.

Footnotes

Footnotes should be avoided. If necessary (as in some forms of historical referencing), numbered endnotes can be used to elaborate matters which may be difficult to present in the journal's reference style. These should be kept to a minimum. Notes should be typed at the end of the paper (please do not use the automatic footnote function).

Spelling

Please use Australian English, but use the original spelling for quotations. For example, globalisation, organisation, focused, counselling.

Tables, figures, diagrams and illustrations

Supply tables in Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format. It would be appreciated if graphics could be supplied as high resolution JPG, TIF or PDF files. The image must be legible when reduced to 130mm wide.

Author's bionote

This note should be brief (two or three sentences at most) and include (i) authors' institutional positions or affiliations and (ii) a full address for correspondence. A very brief note of authors' special interests may follow. For example:

Acknowledgements

Any acknowledgements should be included in a separate section at the end of the manuscript. Please do not incorporate these into the bionote.

Copyright

AARE retains copyright of articles published in The Australian Educational Researcher. Authors may use the published article elsewhere after publicatio, and providing that prior permission is obtained from the Managing Editor. Authors are responsible for obtaining permissions to reproduce copyright material in any paper.

Offprints

The Journal is published in electronic format (since 2004). Authors will be sent a PDF of their article, in the place of off-prints.