Information For Readers

Are you fascinated by rhetoric? Communication strategery? Do your friends and family wish you could be "less critical" and you're searching for an intellectual outlet? Harlot may be just the place for you. We're always looking for people to help us work with authors. You don't need any formal training in rhetoric to be part of the team. All you need is a critical but generous eye. Acting as a reviewer for Harlotis an opportunity to shape the future of the publication and engage in the creative process with authors, designers, artists, and members of the team — all of whom are ridiculously cool.

The Process

The review process is pretty simple: You sign up, let us know what you're interested in, and we'll occasionally ask you to review a submission we think you'd find interesting. The review process itself occurs within OJS (our journal management system): You'll get an email with links and instructions, then submit your decision and feedback on the site. Easy peasy.

The review form encourages you to focus on the following considerations:

Relevance:Harlot's mission is to publish pieces that are relevant, interesting, and provocative to a wide range of audiences, not just academics or specialists in one field.

• With that mission in mind, have the authors made the topic and argument of this piece interesting and relevant to a variety of  audiences (including general public as well as academic)? Have they forefronted the significance of the topic in everyday life? If not, in what ways could the authors make it more relevant?
• If you’re an academic yourself, we’d encourage you to share the piece with your family, friends, or colleagues, and ask them: Would you want to read this piece? Do you find it interesting and/or relevant? Why/why not?
• If you are not an academic, you can answer this by considering whether you wanted to keep reading/engaging with the piece as you moved through it. Do you feel included as part of the audience? Is the topic interesting to you and/or friends, colleagues, family? Why/why not? Another way to think about its relevance is whether you’d consider sharing it with friends on Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media form.

Focus: Does this piece reveal something about persuasion in a clear and compelling way? Is the argument sound and well supported? If not, how might the authors clarify their focus and argument? (In addition to the piece itself, please consider the author's abstract, which would be included at the top of the page if the piece is published.)

Style/Appeal: Harlot seeks to publish pieces that are not only relevant to its broad readership but also comprehensible to them. Making a piece comprehensible (or accessible) to academic and non-academic audiences can be challenging, particularly for academics trained in conventional, “specialized” scholarly prose. So, we’re asking you to consider here whether this piece seems inviting/understandable to a variety of audiences (consider the piece’s form, writing style, vocabulary, use of citations/scholarship, length).

• Does the author seem to privilege or exclude certain audiences?
• Are there ways in which the authors could increase the piece’s accessibility or inclusivity (i.e. make it shorter; include more subheadings; use fewer academic references/citations; utilize media that may enhance the piece in meaningful ways; engage the audience through wit, charm, or humor; etc.)?

(Please note: Harlot does not wish to publish pieces composed in a traditional academic form/style.)

Ethics: Is the work respectful and inclusive of diverse individuals and communities? Does it work to foster productive conversation?

 

How to Register as a Reviewer if you don't already have an Account

1. Go to the Registrationpage. 2. Enter the necessary information (ie, name, bio, etc). 3. At the bottom of the page, you may choose your role. Be sure to check "Reviewer." 4. Also, enter your reviewing interests in the field underneath the roles. 5. Click "register."

How to Register as a Reviewer if you do already have an Account

1. Login to your account. 2. Click on the "Edit my Profile" link located underneath the "My Account" heading. 3. Near the bottom of the form will be a heading on the left called "Roles," which lists Reader, Creator, and Reviewer. Check "Reviewer." 4. Click "Save" at the bottom of the page.