Welcome to the Concept Paper Template

A guideline for developing and submitting your concept paper

Are you ready to get started on your concept paper? We have put together a simple template to help you organize your thoughts and ideas. Let’s get started.

Formatting

Paper styling guidelines

  • Please submit your final concept paper as a Word Document (.doc, .docx) or a PDF.
  • Use a one-column format and common fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri. It is best to use 10 or 11 pt type with 1-inch margins.
  • Lists can highlight important items, draw attention to main points, or list information so readers can find it easily. Each list must consist of at least two items. Items that are subordinate to the list material can be set off with a dash. Such lists should be parallel in construction.
  • Begin each item in a bulleted list with a capital letter. End punctuation is omitted (unless the item is a complete sentence).
  • Use only one space between sentences and after colons (not the two spaces we learned in typing class).
  • Use capitalization and italics judiciously. It is not always necessary to capitalize or italicize for emphasis or for the name of company departments, pieces of equipment, titles, offices, acronyms, or terminology.
  • In general, most compound words with prefixes such as non, ex, re, pre, are not hyphenated. But use the hyphen when the second word is a proper noun (e.g., post-Vietnam).
  • Always place periods and commas within quotation marks. Place colons and semicolons outside quotation marks.
  • In a series consisting of three or more elements, separate each element with a comma (often called the “series comma”). If commas are used within an element, use semicolons.
  • Include charts, graphs and images to help convey your concept or idea.

References

Citing your sources

If references are cited in the text, they must be included in a reference list at the end of the paper.

  • Planet Wheat—Kansas Wheat Commission. 2002a.

A short history of bread.

(website example)

  • Malteesh, C., Somasundaran, P., and Gruber, G.A. 1996.

Fundamentals of oleic acid adsorption on phosphate

flotation feed during anionic conditioning. Min. Metall.

Process. 13(1):156–158. (journal or periodical example)

  • Mayes, B.H., and Fripp, B.T. 1991. Zeolite Minerals in Utah.

Open-File Report 210. Salt Lake City: Utah Geological

Survey. (report example)

Paper Title

Summary of Concept or Idea – Take your entire concept paper and distill it into a single paragraph. Think of this section as an elevator pitch to grab the concept paper judges’ attention and to keep them reading.

Hint: For your summary, identify the goal, explain what you do (what your expertise and knowledge is), communicate your unique selling point (what makes your team’s idea unique), engage with a question, and pull it together (lead into your full concept paper).

Approach

Here is where you are going to detail the concept or idea. Make sure to keep on target and to clearly address what the idea is, what the goals are, who it impacts, and why it’s important.

Hint: Create an outline to help organize your initial thoughts. Identifying your goal and target audience early on can help your team to clearly define your concept.

Implementation

In this section, you will detail the methodology on how you plan to meet your goal. What resources will be used and how do you plan on leveraging them? What impact are you hoping for and what is your goal for scope and reach?

Hint:Show that you understand how to effectively promote your concept and idea by focusing on the impact your message will make through available resources.

Reach

We want to know, who is your target audience? Are you trying to reach a certain age demographic (children, young adults, adults) or are you marketing to a particular sector (government, educators, companies)? Clearly identifying your target audience will allow you to make smart decisions about the methods your team will use to launch the campaign.

Hint: Do some research about your target market and evaluate your available resources. If you have connections to particular key players to help market your campaign, consider those resources and how they can play an important role in reaching your target audience.

Resources

It’s time to list your budgetary requirements and resources. What resources do you currently have? What resources can you get access to? What resources do you need help in acquiring? How much will acquiring and implementing these resources cost?

Hint: Your budget and resources should be detailed enough to provide insight into your budgetary requirements. Do some scouting around to find free tools and resources.

Resource / Tool / Details / Budget
Email Marketing / MailChimp.com / Free Account Available / $250
Website / Wordpress.org / Hosting/Theme / $350
Social Media / Twitter.com / Free Account / $0
Freelance Copywriter / Freelancer.com / Develop clear messaging/Press Release / $800
Press Releases / PR Newswire.com / Content Distribution / $1,000