AIC Book and Paper Group Publications Committee
Guidelines for Discussion Group Moderators/Chairs Regarding Contributions to the BPG Annual
The Book and Paper Group Annual attempts to include a representation of all papers and other formal activities of the Book and Paper Group Session at the AIC Annual Meeting. Discussion Group moderators/chairs are asked to submit to the Annual a summary of the discussion they organize. There is no specific formula for this summary, but it may include the following:
The Annual prints the following notice with each discussion summary: This open discussion took place on (date) during the AIC (no.) Annual Meeting, (date-date), (city, state). The moderators organized and led the discussion and recorded notes. Readers are reminded that the moderators do not necessarily endorse all the comments recorded and that although every effort was made to record proceedings accurately, further evaluation or research is advised before putting treatment observations into practice.
Remember that Discussion Group moderators/chairs are free to co-opt volunteers to assist, for example, with preparing bibliographies and taking notes during the discussion. It is highly recommended that one person not try to lead discussion and take notes at the same time.
Past moderators have sometimes found it useful to tape the sessions as back-up to a note-taker with pen and paper or laptop. While a tape may help confirm accuracy, do not rely on the tape recorder as the only note-taking mechanism. Technical glitches do happen. Also, transcribing a tape recording is both laborious work and often less effective in generating text than simply writing a summary from written notes.
Named mini-presenters should have the opportunity to review and modify those sections of the summary associated with their name. Some presenters prefer to write up notes on their section themselves-this can be accommodated. Examples of discussion group summaries appear in volumes 20 (2001) and 21 (2002, forthcoming) of the Annual.
Please feel free to contact the compiler of the Annual with questions.