Attending conferences is a popular way of staying current and networking with colleagues. Follow conference hashtags on social media to network and keep up to date with conference presentations, speakers and events.
Conference proceedings are the collected papers which are published following a conference.
Conference papers contain research that may not have made it into a book or journal yet, so may include the latest developments in a particular field.
Many subject-specific databases index conference proceedings. See 'Finding Conference Proceedings' on this page and check your own specialist subject databases.
Locating papers delivered at conferences can sometimes be difficult, but they can often be the only record of vital new research results. Some useful conference listings include:
Conferences for Digital Humanities, Digital Archives, Digital Libraries, and Digital Museums: An open Google calendar that lists meetings, symposia, seminars, institutes, and conferences aimed at professionals and students who are doing digital work in the humanities.
Many papers and posters presented at conferences are never published. However, they may be cited by people who attended the conference. Sometimes you may find that the author has published the substance of the paper in a later work, so you no longer need the conference paper. However if this doesn't apply, you can:
A call for papers (CFP) is used in academic context for collecting book or journal articles and conference presentations. A CFP usually describes a theme, the occasion for the CFP, and formalities such as the submission process.
The following resources are a good starting point to finding calls for papers and conference announcements across multiple disciplines:
Many databases index conference proceedings
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