Instructions for Authors

Journal Description and Mission

The STAR Journal is an online publication, where students from two-year colleges can publish undergraduate research in social sciences from a variety of disciplines (including economics, political science, geography, sociology, psychology, and history) in an online, faculty and peer (student) reviewed journal.  

Our mission is to engage students in the process of undergraduate research and scholarship as a result of conducting research and participating in the peer-review and editorial process of publication.

The articles published in will be of the highest standard expectations for students at two year-colleges in the United States.  Each paper will pass through a three step review process.  The first reviewer must be the student’s faculty mentor.  The second reviewer will be the executive editor.  Once a paper has made it through that process, it will be sent to two to three anonymous reviewers including at least two professional reviewers and possibly student peer reviewer.

The STAR Journal encourages undergraduate students to submit papers for consideration on an ongoing basis.

Instructions for Authors

  1. Work with a faculty mentor at your local college.
  2. Format and review your paper against the rubric our editors will use: Rubric.
  3. Format your paper according to APA, MLA, Chicago or some other recognized and discipline appropriate formatting/style guide.
  4. Only original papers (i.e. not previously published) will be accepted.
  5. If human subjects are used, a statement must be included to indicate Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval of the research.
  6. What to submit:
    • An e-mail attachment of the complete paper.
    • Verify that the file is virus-free.
    • The following PC formats are acceptable: Microsoft Word or Rich Text Format.
    • In the subject line of the email write:  “STAR Journal Submission” along with the date of submission in the format YYYY/MM/DD.  For example: “STAR Journal Submission 2017/01/01”
    • Cover page including name, mailing address, telephone, e-mail address, a short biographical sketch, and IRB statement.
    • Keywords (5-8) on the cover page. The main purpose of keywords is to enable successful searching in a database for the main message of your paper. When selecting keywords always think about how any reader might interrogate the database.
    • Short abstract (100 to 200 words).
    • Camera-ready graphics and photographs, PowerPoint files, or .jpg graphic files are welcome.
    • A sponsoring statement from the faculty mentor who attests: (a) that the supervisor has read and critiqued the manuscript and (b) that the planning, execution, and writing of the manuscript represent primarily the work of the undergraduate student(s).

Submit all papers to:

STAR Journal, C/O Matthew Schuster

Anoka-Ramsey Community College

11200 Mississippi Blvd NW

(763) 433-1882

matthew.schuster@anokaramsey.edu