The Pluralism Project at Harvard University

Welcome!

Submitting Research Online

In order to have access to the Pluralism Project online database for online submission, the Project needs to give you an access code and a password. Please e-mail us with the names and addresses of the centers you wish to profile, as well as the names of any individuals and the title of any report (such as the name of the conference) that you wish to profile for us. Please send the corresponding website and location information where applicable. This database, which is connected with the Pluralism Project Directory of Religious Centers, has great flexibility and can receive your research reports on any topic up to great length. Please do not let the boxes where you copy your text or the directory formatting limit your thinking about what may be included in your research reporting. In addition to the flexibility and great capacity of the database, it also enables us to upload your report directly to the Pluralism Project website. If you are submitting multiple reports, they will automatically be added to the list on your affiliate page upon final approval.

Most people find the database to be very user-friendly and intuitive; however, we have also prepared instructions to assist you as necessary. Please read them. We do need your absolutely best work, as this is essentially a publication process. Please read your work out loud before submitting it. This is the single best editorial tool I can recommend.

Accessing the Database

To gain access to the database, please go to http://www.pluralism.org/research/profiles and enter your user ID (case sensitive!) and password. All of the centers /people /reports to which you now have access will appear in your browser window, with links so that you can enter the database and create, edit, and submit your research.

Submitting Your Profile
Overview of Submission Process

How to Enter Profiles

The following is designed to assist Pluralism Project affiliates use the new profiles database section of our directory. This great new database will allow you to enter your profiles of religious centers, submit them to the project for review, and then see the results up on our website.

In order to make the process easy, we would appreciate you following these directions carefully. However, the Pluralism Project staff is available to support you and you should feel free to contact us if you experience any problems.

Format Guidelines for Profile Submissions:

1. Please spell check before submitting, and offer your best writing.
   This is essentially a submission for publication.
   Concise and clear sentences are most appropriate for this format.
   Redundancy is very noticeable; please read your work aloud to help you edit.
   


2. Please review formatting and punctuation.
   A.M. or P.M. should be capitalized and used with periods in a list of activities.
   In a sentence, a.m. or p.m. do not need to be capitalized but each letter must be followed by a period.
   Titles of publications, including center newsletters, need to be italicized using before the title and after the title.
   Please capitalize and spell words according to the usage of the specific center being profiled.
   Paragraphs or sections should have headings.
   


3. Captions for photographs need special attention.
   Unfortunately, there is no spell check function for captions.
   Captions can deliver substantial content; please make them count.
   

We look forward to seeing all the additional materials such as brochures, flyers, tapes of interviews, additional photographs, slides and center publications that you may have gathered.

Your Centers

Submit a list of all the centers you are profiling to the Pluralism Project. Most of the centers will already be listed in our directory, please search for the centers in the directory at: http://www.pluralism.org/directory/search.php

1. Email the Pluralism Project a list of all the centers you plan to research
2. Indicate which centers are listed in the directory and which are not
3. For centers NOT listed in the directory, please provide our staff with the basic information about that center (center name, address, telephone number ­ or whatever information you have) so that we can enter the center into the directory.

These centers will then become the list of centers to which you have access on the directory.

Your Username and Password

Once we have received your list of centers, we will create a username and password for you, and send this to you via email.

1. Access at: http://www.pluralism.org/research/profiles
Please note ­ the database must be accessed through Internet Explorer (it will not run through Netscape).
2. Sign in using your assigned username and password.
3. View the list of authorized centers.

Entering Your Research

Each center on your list will have a "Create New Profile" link at the bottom of its entry. When you are ready to enter your profile for that center, click on that link to enter the profile database and begin working on that profile. It should be easy to cut & paste the write-up you have already done into the various database fields.

• Directory Section

The directory section contains the basic contact information about the center.

1. Please check all information, especially websites and phone numbers as they often change.
2. Update any incorrect information.
3. Add any additional information.

Note: To add the center's website(s) please use a complete URL: e.g. http://www.cambridgezen.com

• Community Section

Please add information both about the religious community of the center and about your contacts there.

1. Enter applicable information
2. Click on the Public box to the left of each entry you want to appear live on the website.
3. Leave the Public box blank next to any entry you want to remain in the private records of the Pluralism Project (many contacts prefer to keep their telephone numbers private).

• Profile Section

Please cut & paste your write-up into the database. As long as you click SAVE before closing the window, your work will be saved. Clicking SAVE on the profile editor page will not submit your work to the Pluralism Project, it will just take you to the complete profile page as it will look when you submit it to the Project.

1. Select a title for the first paragraph, either from the pull down menu or by creating a custom label.
2. Copy the first paragraph from your document and paste it into the field.
3. Repeat for each paragraph of your written profile. Each paragraph does not have to have a title. Titles should be used as section headings and there maybe more than one paragraph under each heading.

** Note: If you are familiar with HTML, you may use the three tags indicated at the top of the profile section.**

• Photos Section

The photos section has space for seven photos of each center. The first photo will be the lead image and appear at the head of your profile next to the center name and address. The rest of the photographs will appear under a link entitled Photographs.

1. Save your image as a jpeg file. You can either scan photographs or use images from a digital camera.
2. Ensure that your full size images are no larger than 800x600 pixels.
3. In the Full Size image field (the second field), use the menu to select "upload a new image." Then use the browse feature to locate your image, double-click on your image file and it will appear in the field.
4. You must also create a thumbnail image for each photograph (a smaller image which will open a window of the larger image when you click on it). Thumbnail images should be no larger than 300x200 pixels.
5. Enter a caption for every image other than the lead image. Please label the photos carefully.
6. Enter any text you want to appear before or after the photographs in the respective fields.

**If you have a larger set of photographs, please contact us. We can set up a slide show for your work, and will give you specifics about your submission of images and captions.**

• Other Section

This section provides room for your personal research notes and any notes that may of future use to the Pluralism Project, such as additional contact information, interviews conducted, directions, etc.

Submitting Your Profile

When you are ready to review your profile, click on the blue SAVE button in the right corner of the profile editor screen. This will allow you to view your research as it will appear on the web.

1. CHECK SPELLING. Please check the spelling of the document using the icon at the bottom of the profile.
2. Click on the photographs section to ensure that all images were uploaded correctly.
3. To continue editing your profile, click on "Edit Some More," and return to the profile editor.
4. To submit your profile to the Pluralism Project for review, click on "Submit Profile and Return to List." This will send an email to the Pluralism Project and our staff will review your profile.
5. Once reviewed, your profile will appear on our website linked from the center in the directory, and linked from your affiliate page.

Process for Creating and Submitting Profiles

The Pluralism Project Profiles Database contains two types of profiles: "working" profiles and "public" profiles.

When you create a new profile, a working profile is created in the database. Both the affiliate and the student researcher can edit this working profile at any time.  When the profile is ready to be made public, it is submitted to the Pluralism Project for review.

Once the working profile has been approved by the Pluralism Project, it is changed into a public profile and is viewable on the Pluralism Project website.

When you edit a public profile, a new working profile is created. It also can be edited by both the affiliate and the student researcher. The changes will not appear on the website until the new working profile is submitted to the Pluralism Project for review. When it is approved, the previous public profile will be replaced with the new working profile.

If changes are made to a working profile while it is waiting for review by the Pluralism Project, its "waiting for review" status is cancelled until it is resubmitted to the Pluralism Project for review.

Only affiliates can submit profiles to the Pluralism Project for review. However, a student researcher can indicate to his or her affiliate that a working profile is ready to be submitted by clicking on "Submit Profile to for Review". This sends an email to the affiliate indicating that the working profile is ready, and makes it appear at the top of the list when the affiliate views his or her list of religious centers.

If the student makes further changes to the working profile before the affiliate submits it to the Pluralism Project for review, the "waiting for review" status does not change. When the affiliate does review the profile, he or she will see whatever is the most current version of the working profile at that time. Since the affiliate can submit a working profile to the Pluralism Project at any time, he or she can do so without the student researcher having officially "submitted" the profile for him or her to review.