Today we will:

1. Today we will: • Create an account on the PIT online platform; • Submit our mission statements; • Talk about the genres of the Call for Papers and Conference Proposal; • Begin thinking about turning our mission statement into a Conference Proposal.

2. Genre: Call for Papers (CFP) • Call for Papers: an announcement of a conference  scholar responds with conference proposal(or abstract) • CFP includes the broad theme of the conference, outlines what topics would fit the conference, and it gives important organizational details, such as place, time, and cost of attendance (keynote speakers and organizers of the conference, contact information, important deadlines, modalities of attendance, etc.) • Sample Call for Papers: 2nd Annual International Conference on BioInformaticsand Computational Biology in Bangkok, Thailand (March 2012) • Call for Papers: PIT Conference 2012

3. Conference Proposal (Sample) At times society seems to be made up of two sets of people: those who seem to find a significant other and transition with ease from relationship to relationship; and those who seem to idealize love as a chance occurrence, which, in its own time, will fall into one’s lap. While often subjected to societal stereotypes of irrationality and fate, love is, in fact, a human practice involving primitive functions of the brain which can be explained scientifically. This thesis can be backed through analyzing interpersonal attractions from different angles. These viewpoints will include an analysis of initial interpersonal attractions between people as well as an analysis on how to maintain and strengthen these relationships once initiated. Continually, one can analyze love from a scientific viewpoint, i.e. what areas in the brain are triggered and chemicals released when the emotion “love” is felt, and what exactly does this do to the subject? Furthermore, by dispelling or proving common exotic notions of love, such as “opposites attract” or “there is someone for everyone,” and then explaining why they are false, I will provide a systematic viewpoint of love. This project will take a new spin on the notions of love by combining disciplines such as a biological or chemical viewpoint, psychological viewpoint, and an “everyday life” analysis of interpersonal attractions from speeding dating analysis, as well as esteemed love and sex gurus. These disciplines will serve to give a complimentary mesh of scientific and real world rationality to love, thus, giving a more tangible real world explanation of this primitive emotion. In conclusion, this project will, by explaining the rational dimensions of love, provide meticulous insight into interpersonal relationships. Resultantly, it will supply one the ability to methodically predict the formation of interpersonal attractions and, furthermore, allow one to successfully initialize and strengthen interpersonal relationships.

4. More than likely, everyone has been touched by cancer in some way: whether it is a personal battle or walking alongside someone else’s. With this disease being so widespread, many scientists and doctors have done extensive research on how to treat and prevent cancer, and it has been discovered that lifestyle choices may play an important role not only in tumor development, but also in its prevention. In my paper I want to discuss the role that nutrition and exercise play in cancer prevention. There are certain food properties that inhibit the cancer cycle, but there are also those that make the body more susceptible to malignancies. I want to explore these properties and nutrients, and explain exactly what goes on in the body when one eats foods that contain them. I believe that if people become more informed about the process of tumor development they will begin to see the importance of their everyday choices. I want to explain exactly what substances such as omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants are and how their properties can help to decrease (and in the case of some substances increase) one’s risk for developing cancer. I also want to present the evidence supporting the cancer preventing qualities of physical activity, and how it affects the body even down to the cellular level. I believe that this is a topic that is very applicable to everyone, even those outside of the science/medical field; people need to understand how they can make lifestyle changes that could dramatically decrease their risk of developing cancer. If an individual were genetically predisposed to a certain form of cancer, why would s/he not want to do what s/he can to offset that risk as opposed to encouraging it? In my paper I hope to equip my readers with the knowledge they need to make the permanent lifestyle changes that are necessary to help lessen the risk that they will become one more life claimed by cancer.

5. Conference Proposal… The conference proposal consists of an introduction to your topic, followed by your thesis statement and a delineation of your approach to the problem. • Start with your thesis. • State your main points rather than arguing for them. • Contextualize your thesis. • Explain why your thesis is original and innovative as well as important and interesting. • Focus on the conclusion that you will arrive at in your conference paper. Using the handout provided, revise your mission statement so that it fits the genre of a conference proposal!

6. Homework for Monday • Write two well thought-out reviews of conference proposals on the PIT platform using the features of a good review we discussed on Wednesday and Friday. You should pick one topic you find really interesting—and one that seems to be the most boring of all. Use the praise burger ("praise-criticism-praise") and be consistently polite. • Transform your mission statement into a conference proposal and email me your first draft by 9am on Monday.