Desired Research Area

We are seeking submissions from all colleges and disciplines on campus.  Submissions may be products of coursework, independent study, supervised research, senior theses, etc.  Past [within one year of graduation] or current full or part-time undergraduate students in good standing at the University of Texas at Austin are invited to submit their articles to the URJ for review. 

Submission Guidelines

All articles must be submitted in a sealed manila envelope to Becky Carreon in SSB 4.206.  Name, telephone number, email address, "URJ Sumission", and the current date must be written legibly on the front of the envelope.  The envelope must contain all of the following:

• Electronic copy of the manuscript (floppy disk or cd, clearly labeled with name of author)
• 2 hard copies of the manuscript
• Cover letter
• Research Supervisor Release form
• Student Release form

Criteria For Submitted Research

  The main goal of the published journal is to provide an interesting, thought-provoking set of articles that maintains high academic standards and that people will enjoy reading.  With that in mind, the four primary criteria to consider when evaluating the papers are:

  Composition – The paper should be well written, both in terms of organization of ideas and in sentence construction and diction.  Papers with excessive grammatical mistakes or poorly structured sentences will be scored lower. 

Originality – The paper should not be a book review or a recitation of another author's opinion.  Rather, the paper should present original ideas.  This could involve insight obtained by conducting original research or could involve synthesizing sources in a new and unique way.  Papers from each discipline will fulfill these requirements in different ways, however.  For example, natural science papers may conduct original laboratory research while liberal arts papers may synthesize unique primary source material.  Either way, the author must offer some perspective or interpretation that is unique and that represents an original contribution to academic research.

Importance – Well-written papers should connect the micro issue being discussed to some larger issue.  Papers that do not offer insight into the relevance of the issue or connect the issue to something broader are not as effective as papers that do.  Also, articles that are interesting or that relate to issues that appeal to a wide audience are scored higher. 

Audience - Articles are expected to be comprehensible to all undergraduates in all disciplines and should be written with a well-read and generally educated audience in mind.

Also see the archives for previously published articles. 

Manuscript Guidelines

• Manuscripts that are submitted after the deadline will not be taken through the review process for that year's edition, but will be held for next year's round of review.  The review process is very deadline-oriented, and cannot be held up with late articles. 
• The length of the manuscript must be no more than 15 pages single-spaced.  Manuscripts that are longer will not be taken through the review process for that year.
• The manuscript should be submitted in Times New Roman 12pt font and single spaced.
• Manuscripts will only be accepted in Microsoft Word file format and figures will only be accepted as .gif, .tif, and .jpg formats. All figures must be included on the electronic disk with the manuscript as separate files.  In addition, figures must be inserted in the article.  Manuscripts must be formatted as the author would like it to appear, if published.
• References style, word style, and number style must follow the recommended citation system for that discipline.  For instance, a psychology paper is normally cited with APA style.  Please consult your supervising professor if you are unclear on which system to use.

Cover Letter Guidelines

• Name, phone number, permanent address, local address, e-mail address, and department of the undergraduate student.
• Name, phone number, e-mail address, and department of the faculty supervisor (if any).
• Signatures of the authors and co-authors.  
• A statement that the manuscript is original work not under consideration for publication elsewhere and that the submission and publication of this manuscript will not conflict with previous copyrights.  
• A brief abstract, no more than 250 words, summarizing the main points of the research article. 

  URJ Review Process

Beginning of Spring Semester - Deadline for article submission 

Selection Day – Submissions are scored by fellow undergraduate students.  Top rated submissions continue in the review process, while low rated submissions do not.  If you are interested in joining this board, please fill out an application.
Faculty Review – Highly scored articles from Selection Day are taken to faculty editorial board for review.  Articles are scored by faculty in corresponding research areas (i.e. biology articles are reviewed by professors from the biology department)
URJ editorial staff selection – Final articles are chosen for publication by the URJ editorial staff.
Article revision – if revisions are needed, articles are taken back to the authors for improvement.
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