The first live streaming talk on research and publication in the university was attended by 58 participants, an opportunity which would have been limited to only two people had the conventional representation to Ateneo de Manila University been followed.

“For a two and a half hours of talk, the amount of money that we would have spent for only two persons going to Manila would have been underutilized,” said Mr Evans Rosauro Yonson, Director of the Xavier University Press, the organizer of the activity.  “Instead, the Ateneo schools except for Ateneo de Zamboanga, agreed to share the costs of the live streaming and opened the talk to all those who were interested to attend it.”

ADMU had provided an email address and a twitter hashtag where the participants could send their questions.

The speaker, Dr Valerie N Teng-Broug gave pointers on the components of a research paper that would increase its chance of publication.  Dr Teng-Broug also shared online archives where individuals can check the bibliography of researchers and researches that have been conducted in their field of specialty.

The rejection rate of 30-60% to as high as 90% in some journals is a reality that is very common to researchers, said Dr. Teng-Broug, and should not dishearten anyone. She presented various reasons why a manuscript might be rejected even if the quality of the paper is topnotch. Towards the end, Dr Teng-Broug discussed the ethical issues of getting a manuscript published among which is the growing problem of plagiarism.

Feedback from the participants cited the difficulty of following the power point presentation of the speaker and the glitches in the audio of the streamed activity.  However, they suggested that these could be improved – in the event that this learning method is replicated – with an advanced copy of the presentation or of a clearer and nearer focus on the projected presentation.  Many, however, still suggested that it would be better if the speaker would be invited to come to Xavier University so that there could be a personal interaction with the participants who were still unused to the setup of long distance lectures.

“We did try to invite the speaker over.  However, the invitation was declined due to the bombing in Rosario Arcade,” said M. Yonson.

The talk was part of the larger project of XU Press, ‘Creating a writing culture for Xavier University’.  The project hopes to encourage the development of a body of literature in the university and meet this with a venue for publishing inside – and even beyond – the university.  

Meeting the unit’s expectations of the activity, participants to the talk have expressed in their interest in having a hands-on face to face workshop on research writing that would go into the details of the components discussed in the lecture.