E-Journal

The IRA Literacy and Social Responsibility SIG publishes the LSR ejournal (ISSN 2305-963X), an independent peer-reviewed journal founded by Dr. Rebecca Kaminski, and now edited by Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell. Presently this journal is published annually.

Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell is Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University. She has developed service-learning components in required courses for teacher educators, focusing on literacy needs. She views academic service-learning as pedagogy: a pathway for preparing pre-service teachers for urban classrooms. Sulentic Dowell’s research agenda includes three strands and is focused on literacy in urban settings, specifically: 1) the complexities of the role of urban elementary principals as literacy leaders, 2) promoting and providing for access to literature and voluntary free reading and 3) ways to prepare preservice teaches to teach reading authentically in urban environs. She is the 2007 recipient of the Kenneth S. Goodman "In Defense of Good Teaching" award.

LSR ejournal is an independent, peer-reviewed electronic journal providing an international forum for educators, authors, and researchers at all levels presenting practices promoting literacy development that reflects social responsibility among all learners. Manuscript focus highlights quality programs advocating community engagement, service-learning, informed and participatory citizenship, social responsibility, activism, and stewardship reflecting an appreciation for all forms of diversity. As an electronic journal, interactive submissions with active links are particularly sought.

Presenters at the annual conference as well as other recent professional development events are invited to submit an article based on their work.

Submission guidelines are provided below as well as in a conveniently-printable pdf for ease of reference and for sharing with colleagues, graduate students, etc.

Index of Journal Issues
Please go to the Index to access a specific issue of interest. There for each issue you will find links to the table of contents as well as to the pdf file of the issue itself. Additionally we are seeking to locate electronic copies of our first two ejournals, which were posted on a companion website and are not currently available. Anyone having copies of these documents is strongly urged to send them to our editor. Thanks!

Call for Manuscripts
Please print out, copy, and distribute freely the attached Call for Manuscripts. Each year the deadline for articles is May 1 and for book reviews May 15, with publication scheduled for September.

To submit an article:
Send submissions to the editor as an attached file. See other guidelines below.

Guidelines for Preparing Your Submission:
(Submission Requirements pdf)

Full-length manuscripts should not exceed 4,000 words including all references, figures and appendices (approximately 15 pages). Submissions should be blinded 1) remove author names and affiliations from bylines, 2) replace references to your own and to coauthors’ published work simply with “Author (year)” in text and in reference list [delete all publication titles], 3) mask any city, state, institutional affiliation, or links to personal websites. All submissions should conform to the style outlined in the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Text should be presented double-spaced in 12 point font, preferably in Microsoft Word; images should be submitted in jpg format. Authors of accepted manuscripts must also provide written permission releases for use of material from another source (including student’s writing samples, text or figures excerpted from another published work, etc.). Releases must also be provided for use of any person’s words, likeness or images.

Book reviews of professional literature and children’s literature are typically 1,500 words and can focus on a single text or multiple, related texts. Reviews of children’s literature should suggest themes relating literacy instruction to community engagement, service-learning, informed and participatory citizenship, social responsibility, activism, and stewardship, reflecting an appreciation for all forms of diversity.

Relevant poetry submissions will be considered.

Submit electronically, attaching file to:
Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell @ sdowell@lsu.edu

[Top]