CALL@Chorus Guidelines for Contributors Chorus
Guidelines for Contributors

Procedures for Prospective Reviewers

If you are interested in becoming a reviewer for CALL@Chorus, please read the following information and fill out and submit the Reviewer Application Form below. The editor will contact you with further instructions.

Reviewer Qualifications

The ideal reviewer is an academic, educator or information professional with significant writing/critical skills and intimate knowledge of issues in the field of Computer Assisted Language Learning. Most reviewers are university professors, researchers or Ph.D. candidates teaching/studying in a humanities discipline. We also welcome contributions from academics working in non-humanities fields and computer professionals with some sensitivity to the needs of computing humanists.

Remuneration

Reviewers retain their review copy of the relevant product. As a non-commercial resource, CALL@Chorus is not in a position to offer any other form of remuneration.

General Review Guidelines

  1. Upon receiving an item for review, contact the editor to set a submission date. Unless otherwise stated, a 4-6 week review period is acceptable for new reviews, and a 2-4 week period is acceptable for review updates.
  2. A review update is posted as an appendix to an existing review. A new review is either a first-time review or a replacement for one that is out of date.
  3. New reviews: If you are comfortable working with HTML, please use the following review as a template.

    If you are NOT comfortable working with HTML, please submit your new review in a major word processing format. The editor will be able to give more precise information on formats once you are selected as a reviewer.

Reviewer Application Form

IMPORTANT NOTE (June 26, 2000):
Because of a recent server migration, our form processor is currently disabled. Until further notice, please send your information by email to:

chorus@duber.com

All prospective reviewers must fill out the following form:

  • Your Name

  • Your Email Address

  • Position/Institutional Affiliation

  • Surface Address

  • Brief Statement of Your Relevant Qualifications and Interests


If your qualifications are approved, you will be asked to submit a current c.v. and possibly a writing sample.

In any case, after submitting this initial application, you should receive (usually within a week) a follow-up message from the section editor.

Additional Notes

  1. Review updates: A review update may be submitted as ASCII text or in a major word processing format.
  2. Completed reviews must be submitted via e-mail. Word processing files may be submitted as MIME attachments, or as Binhex or UUencoded files.
  3. You will be given the opportunity to examine the edited copy before a public link has been established. You will be consulted if extensive editing is required.

Important Style Considerations

  1. You are writing for the Web! Therefore, you are encouraged to include links to other pertinent Web resources within the body of your review. (The proper syntax for including a link is: <A HREF="URL">Link Name</A>.) Moreover, graphical material (in .GIF or .JPG/.JPEG format) may be submitted along with your review.
  2. Focus on those features most relevant to performing real-world, humanities-research tasks. This review highlights the issues upon which to focus. (Of course, feel free to make improvements to this design!)
  3. If possible, software reviewers should submit at least two screen snapshots. There are several ways to capture screens/windows on systems running Windows or Mac OS.
    Mac OS
    Pressing [OPTION]-[SHIFT]-3 will capture the screen. Images will be saved in the current folder and named "Picture 1," "Picture 2," etc. These (PICT) files may be sent directly to the section editor as BINHEXED files or MIME attachments.
    Windows 3.x and Windows 95
    One can capture an entire Windows screen by pressing [Print Screen], and an active window by pressing [ALT]-[Print Screen]. This second option can be used for capturing a DOS program running in a window!

    Windows screen captures are not automatically saved to a file. Rather, they are written to the clipboard and must be pasted into a paint program and saved.

    Please send the resulting .BMP, .PCX, .GIF, or .JPG/.JPEG (.GIF is the preferred format) to the editor as UUENCODED files or MIME attachments.

    A better option for both Mac OS and Windows users is to use a small paint/graphics/capture program that allows you to capture a selected portion of the screen and save it in .GIF or .JPG/.JPEG format. I use the shareware program Paint Shop Pro to capture Windows screens. (16 and 32-bit versions are available.)

  4. Do NOT speculate about release dates, product availability, product compatibility, etc. If you have received information directly from the publisher, please inform us as to the specific source of your information.
  5. Be critical. If you haven't suggested at least two or three ways that the product can be improved, you're being too soft! (None of these products is perfect ... yet.)
  6. Make clear recommendations to your readers.
  7. Do not hesitate to contact the editor with problems, questions, etc.