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Tribal College Journal Features
Tribal College Journal (TCJ) seeks feature articles addressing the themes posted on its website under Forthcoming Themes. All feature articles must engage tribal colleges and universities in some way. Possible feature article topics are specified on the website, but alternative topics on each theme are welcome. We seek both long features (2500-5000 words) and shorter features (1500-2000 words).
Specific feature subjects are decided upon in advance. Before writing an article, send the editor (editor@tribalcollegejournal.org) a brief 100-word abstract explaining your idea and how you plan to approach the topic. Be sure to send your abstract by the specified deadline listed on the Forthcoming Themes page. The journal’s thematic approach requires that we carefully plan each issue to assure an appropriate mix of articles.
Articles should focus as much as possible on a person or the people involved with the project, or the program being discussed. We prefer for you to use a lot of quotations and/or anecdotes to illustrate your point. For examples of features to emulate, we recommend you consult past editions of TCJ and contact the editor to discuss topics in greater detail.
Please use only 12 point Times New Roman font with no extra formatting. Like all education journals, TCJ follows the basic parameters of the American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) style guide. For elegance and clarity, TCJ has made some adjustments to the APA style. Please consult our in-house style guide for details and clarification. If a particular style issue is not addressed in the TCJ style guide, please adhere to the APA style guide. If you include a reference list at the end of the article, please adhere to the APA guidelines.
Authors should also submit several well-composed, high-resolution photographs or images to accompany their article. Images should be 300 dpi and/or have a file size of at least 2 MB. See the section below on photographs and images.
Tribal College Journal Departments
Besides articles addressing an issue’s theme, TCJ also seeks submissions for its regular departments. Below is a listing with descriptions.
Media Reviews (450 words). The media reviews department showcases recent publications or films in American Indian studies, including language, history, culture, education, literature, art, research methodology, biography, archaeology, etc. Please include the book’s title, author, number of pages, publisher, and year of publication at the beginning of your review. At the end of your review, please provide a one sentence author blurb about yourself. Follow the format of past media reviews. We also need a 300 dpi scan of the reviewed book or DVD’s cover. Keep in mind that many of our readers are college librarians and instructors seeking new materials. Tell them whether you recommend the media item for classroom use or for TCU libraries.
On Campus (250-750 words). This department focuses on news items at tribal colleges. We also accept longer featurettes with a more enduring interest. Since TCJ is a quarterly journal, all pieces for this department should remain interesting and relevant three months from the time they are written. We especially encourage featurettes that align with the issue’s theme.
Profile (1200 words). This department focuses on a person who has made a contribution to American Indian higher education or the tribal college movement. Use many quotes. The article should address the person’s work, but the focus should be on the person. Note how they solved a central problem. Include tribal affiliation, age, and family information. At least one well-composed, high-resolution photo (300 dpi or a file size of at least 2 MB) should accompany the article. The theme of an issue will influence the profile we select.
Research (2500-5000 words). For this department, we accept submissions on a broad range of topics in a variety of disciplines so long as they pertain to American Indian education, or are studies conducted by tribal college researchers and are relevant to tribal communities. All submissions should contain in-text citations per APA style guidelines. Currently, we do not send articles out for peer review, but rather conduct an in-house evaluation of the article, its methodology, and its suitability for TCJ.
Talking Circle (1200 words). This department offers tribal college faculty and others a venue to share a successful intervention, a classroom project, specific methodology, instructional approach, or program development experiences with the TCU community. Through the Talking Circle department, TCJ seeks to facilitate faculty discussion about their work.
TCJ Student (600-1200 words). This department is devoted to student creative writing, including fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Students who submit work for this department must be enrolled at a tribal college.
Voices (750-1200 words). This department is devoted to first-person opinions about issues in Native education. We are especially interested in hearing the voices of tribal college students, administrators, staff, and faculty; other voices are welcome as well. We do not publish opinion pieces that denigrate tribal colleges or TCU faculty and staff.
In Memoriam (1200-2000 words). Many of our great TCU leaders and educators have passed on to the Spirit World. This department is a venue to pay tribute to one’s life work and to illuminate their important contributions to the Tribal College Movement.
Resource Guide (1500-5000 words). TCJ publishes web-exclusive resource guides that investigate various sources relating to the theme of the corresponding issue. The resource guide typically follows one of two formats: 1) The guide begins with a short 500-word introduction on the state of the field for a particular theme, followed by a comprehensive bibliography of available sources, including books, journal articles, other scholarly studies, websites, etc. 2) The guide may be formatted as an annotated bibliography, which focuses on a shorter list of references and offers a basic, paragraph-long overview for each cited source. Please use regular paragraph format with no hanging indents.
Other Pertinent Information for Writers
Audience
Tribal College Journal’s audience is quite diverse. While the stories published should serve the tribal colleges’ staff, students, faculty, and administrators, TCJ is also read by other educators, legislators, college donors, and the general public.
Style and Technical Requirements
TCJ seeks both storytelling and academic styles for articles. The first priority is readability, engaging TCJ’s diverse readership with an intriguing, gripping story. Images are vital in this process. See image specifications below.
Whenever an Indian person is mentioned, include the tribal affiliation in parentheses when possible. Italicize non-English words only the first time they appear. Articles must be submitted by email as Word.doc attachments; please use the default settings on Microsoft Word as your format, but be sure to use Times New Roman fonts. Use italics as necessary, but avoid unnecessary formatting (different sizes and fonts, boxes, margins, collapsing paragraphs, etc.). When citing electronic sources obtained over the internet, give information sufficient for retrieval of the book, article, or material.
Use active verbs in your writing. The active voice is usually more direct, concise, and vigorous than the passive. Keep sentences clear and concise. TCJ counts on you for accuracy, storytelling ability, willingness to provide more details or a rewrite upon request, and meeting deadlines. TCJ is an internationally distributed magazine with thousands of readers, not a newspaper or newsletter, so please provide your best work.
Photo and Image Guidelines
For printing purposes, Tribal College Journal requires high-resolution images in jpeg or tiff formats. For charts or graphs we also accept high-resolution, large-size pdf files. Please do not send low resolution images such as those from a website or PNG or GIF images. These may look great on the computer screen but will come out fuzzy and blocky in print publication.
Assuming you are using a digital camera, please use the highest image resolution on your camera. Choose the largest possible file size — more resolution is better. If your camera allows you to choose a pixel size, the minimum should be 1024 x 768. We would prefer 2048 x 1536 or higher.
Do not shoot into the sun. Fill the viewing frame — the people are often more important than the background; get close enough so readers can see faces. A photo with 1-4 people is usually better than a photo of a group. Action photos of students or faculty engaged in their work are ideal.
If you are using a flash, remember that the built-in flash on most cameras is effective only up to about 20 feet. In low light situations like inside conference rooms or classrooms, change the ISO setting to 400 if possible. For outdoor conditions use the standard ISO setting of 100.
Email the photos to: editor@tribalcollegejournal.org in separate messages. If you have a lot of images, please contact us for instructions about setting up a shared Dropbox link.
Editing
Most articles require editing for length, clarity, or style and will be returned to the writer for at least one round of revisions. TCJ reserves the right to edit submissions as deemed necessary by the editorial staff.
Contact
Bradley Shreve, Ph.D., editor
Tribal College Journal
679 E. 2nd Ave., Suite E-1
Durango, CO 81301
Phone: (970) 764-4238
