On November 26th, we’re going to gather for a session on abstracts–and, a little more broadly, on effectively summarizing arguments. We’ll also talk a little bit about how to be awesome at academic conferences.

Please come to class with an abstract fully drafted. (This is a minimum of 250 words, a MAXIMUM of 450 words–NCUR will not accept longer.) It should explain either your entire argument, or a section of your argument–whatever you’d like to actually present at NCUR. Bring enough hard copies for the entire class–one for each student and each instructor. (Hard copies are going to be necessary for the activities I’m planning for that session–please print them ahead of time so that you’re not rushing or late.) Use the guidelines for abstracts found in The Craft of Research to put together your abstract draft.

Please also review the NCUR 2014 web site before class, familiarizing yourself with the conference and the abstract submission procedure.

Students can submit both papers (to be read aloud as part of a panel, with a Q&A) and posters (to be hung and explained to passers-by) to NCUR. Generally, we would prefer you to plan on submitting a paper. If you think you can make a case for submitting a poster instead, talk to me BEFORE we get together on the 26th.

I encourage you to write an abstract even if you don’t “feel ready.” Not only is it a good exercise in condensing your ideas, submitting an abstract to a conference and having that abstract accepted simply secures you a place in the conference. You can always revise & refine your ideas before you present them!

E-mail with any questions.

Thanks,
Lindsey