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SUBMISSIONS GUIDELINES

What we publish

1. WHAT WE PUBLISH

ESSAYS

 

Polyphony accepts essays written by undergraduate students from The University of Manchester, which have already been submitted and graded in the faculties of English Literature and American Studies. While Polyphony will prioritise essays graded at a first class (70 and above), we are looking for essays which are creative and insightful, and prospective authors who carve out their own academic space and offer interesting and perceptive critical contributions. We therefore will accept ALL submissions, regardless of overall grade.

CREATIVE WRITING: SHORT STORIES, POETRY, and CREATIVE NON-FICTION

 

Polyphony accepts short stories, poetry and works of creative non-fiction written by undergraduate students from The University of Manchester which have been submitted and graded as part of a Creative Writing module.

*New* POLYPHONY ZINE

 

A new addition to Polyphony. The Polyphony Zine is a space to further celebrate and showcase students' work within the University of Manchester.

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Unlike our traditional Polyphony issues. The Zine will feature artwork and creative writing pieces done by students in their spare time. The Zine will also feature the more atypical forms of assessment utilised by EAC department that include weekly journals and close analyses.

Editorial and Publishing Policies

2. EDITORIAL & PUBLISHING POLICIES

PEER REVIEW POLICY

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To eliminate any bias, your writing will be subject to a double-blind peer review process where your name, mark and any other identity markers (gender, age etc.) will be withheld from the reviewer, and vice versa.

PLAGIARISM

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To protect author’s original content, as well as Polyphony’s reputation as a reputable journal, we only accept works which have already been graded by The University of Manchester via Turnitin to avoid plagiarism of any kind.

GDPR

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All submissions are protected under European GDPR laws. At Polyphony the only personal data we require is your full name and your student ID number. We do not require any sensitive personal information i.e. religious beliefs, sexual orientation or racial background. If you desire to be pseudonymised or anonymised upon publication, your information will still remain part of our data as this is the necessary process to submission. However, you can request for your information to be removed from Polyphony if you no longer consent to your work being published, though this is required before publication, not after. By submitting work to Polyphony you are therefore undergoing a ‘positive opt-in’ and consenting to share your personal data that, outside of Polyphony, will not be shared with any third parties without your prior consent.

PRIOR PUBLISHING

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If you have already self-published your essay, short story or poetry on a blog etc. or it has been published by another organisation, it cannot be accepted for publishing by Polyphony. If your work is being considered by another Undergraduate journal or publication please let us know in advance. We will still fully consider your application, but please let us know if you have been accepted and chosen to be published elsewhere as soon as possible.

COPYRIGHT GUIDELINES

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Authors retain full copyright and are free to use their work again in any way without the permission of Polyphony. Our policy is that the author(s) grant us the license to publish their work, maintaining exclusive rights in the reproduction and/or distribution of the article in electronic, printed or another medium/format. We will respect the author(s) rights as the original author of their work. However, we would require a contractual agreement with the author stating for the permission of Polyphony to retain the published work and provide assurance that no copyright material from sources has been used without the necessary references either bibliographic or footnoted. Articles may be quoted, downloaded, printed or redistributed freely, as well as given to third parties without permission, providing acknowledgement is made toward the author(s)/or copyright holder and to Polyphony. Though the author will be submitting material that has been assessed by The University of Manchester, as a student the author is not employed by the University and thus by default, all copyright in any work provided will belong to the author. All responsibility and copyright compliance, therefore, lies with the author to the fullest extent before entering into a contractual agreement with Polyphony.

3. FORMATTING

ESSAYS

 


1. Referencing
Please make sure all essays must comply fully to MHRA referencing style and all sources (websites, journal articles, books, images etc.) must be cited.

 

2. Format
Please ensure your essay is double-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman.

CREATIVE WRITING: SHORT STORIES, POETRY, and CREATIVE NON-FICTION

 

Short stories and Non-Fiction
Please make sure your story or piece of non-fiction is double-spaced, in 12pt Times New Roman.


Poetry
Please make sure your poem is in 12pt Times New Roman. Do not double space.

*New* POLYPHONY ZINE

 


1. Artwork 

Please ensure your artwork is of high resolution and saved as a JPG 

 

2.Creative Writing
No formatting requirements

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3. Weekly Journals and Close Analyses

Please ensure they are double-spaced and in 12pt Times New Roman.

Formatting
Submission

4. SUBMISSION

ESSAYS

 

After you have formatted your document, please submit it through this form:

https://forms.gle/vktHEyjFJV8aA48m6.


You will be asked to fill in the following information:

  1. Essay Title

  2. Full name

  3. Student number

  4. Current academic year (eg First Year, Second Year etc.)

  5. Year essay was submitted during  (eg First Year, Second Year etc.)

  6. Mark out of 100

  7. Module Name

  8. Seminar leader’s email

  9. Word Count (including footnotes, excluding bibliography)

  10. Department (English Literature or American Studies)

  11. Short summary of your essay (100-150 words)

CREATIVE WRITING: SHORT STORIES, POETRY, and CREATIVE NON-FICTION

 

After you have formatted your document, please submit it through this form: https://forms.gle/vktHEyjFJV8aA48m6.


You will be asked to fill in the following information:

  1. Title

  2. Full name

  3. Student number

  4. Current academic year (eg First Year, Second Year etc.)

  5. Year work was submitted during  (eg First Year, Second Year etc.)

  6. Mark out of 100

  7. Tutorial leader’s email

  8. Word Count 

  9. Your course and seminar leader’s names

*New* POLYPHONY ZINE

 

After you have formatted your document, please submit it through this form:

​https://forms.gle/zWhyy6tWYeVFoChf9


You will be asked to fill in the following information:

  1. What type of work you are submitting

  2. A short summary about your submission that may or may not be included in the Zine.

  3. The mark received (if applicable)

  4. Submit your file

5. AFTER YOU SUBMIT

ESSAYS

 

After you have submitted your essay to us, your essay will pass through our Editorial Board and Peer Review Team. You can read all about our Editorial Process on our About Us page. 

 

If your essay is initially reviewed by the Editorial Board, it will be passed on to our Peer Review Team. After the peer review process, one of three things can happen:

 

  1. Your work is not accepted - we will offer feedback on all writing which did not make it this time around. Please do not be discouraged and feel free to submit again!

  2. Accepted but needs additional work - an editor will work with you to make your piece as good as it can be before publishing

  3. Accepted, no changes required- no work needed and your piece will be published as is.

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CREATIVE WRITING: SHORT STORIES, POETRY, and CREATIVE NON-FICTION

 

After you have submitted your short story, poetry or piece of creative non-fiction to us, our Creative Writing Editor will review your work. After this, one of three things can happen:

 

1. Your work is not accepted - we will offer feedback on all writing which did not make it this time around on request. Please do not be discouraged and feel free to submit again!

2. Accepted but needs additional work - the Creative Writing Editor will send your work back with line-edits and general comments. After you have made these changes, you will be invited to a one-on-one meeting with the editor to discuss your work and moving forward.

3. Accepted, no changes required - no work needed and your piece will be published as is.

We look forward to receiving your submission!

For any enquiries please email polyphonysubmissions@gmail.com

After Submission
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