So you want to answer the phone call for Papers? It offers suggestions for the information and presentation associated with the abstract, in addition to samples of the best abstracts submitted into the 2012-2013 selection that is abstract for the ninth annual North Carolina State University graduate student history conference.
Typically, an abstract describes the subject you want to present in the conference, highlighting your argument, evidence and contribution towards the historical literature. It is almost always restricted to 250-500 words. The word limit could be challenging: some graduate students do not fret within the short limit and hastily write and submit an abstract in the last second, which frequently hurts their odds of being accepted; other students you will need to condense the Next Great American Novel into 250 words, that can easily be equally damning. Graduate students who approach the abstract early, plan accordingly, and carefully edit are the ones most frequently invited to provide their research. If you are intimidated because of the project, don’t be – the abstract is a form that is fairly standardized of. Follow the basic guidelines below and prevent common pitfalls and you will greatly boost your abstract.
Diligently follow all style that is abstract formatting guidelines. Most CFPs will specify word or page length, and maybe some layout or style guidelines. Some CFPs, however, will list very specific restrictions, including font, font size, spacing, text justification, margins, simple tips to present quotes, how to present authors and works, whether to include footnotes or not. Make sure that you strictly abide by all guidelines, including submission instructions. If a CFP does not provide style that is abstract formatting guidelines, it really is generally appropriate to stay around 250 words – abstract committees read many of these things nor look fondly on comparatively long abstracts. Be sure that you orient your topic that is abstract to any specific CFP themes, time periods, methods, and/or buzzwords.
Be Concise
With a 250-500 word limit, write only what is necessary, avoiding wordiness. Use active voice and look closely at excessive phrasing that is prepositional.
Plan your abstract carefully before writing it. A good abstract will address the next questions: what’s the historical question or problem? Contextualize your topic. What exactly is your thesis/argument? It should be original. What exactly is your evidence? State forthrightly that you are using primary source material. How does your paper fit into the historiography? What’s happening in neuro-scientific study and how does your paper donate to it? Why does it matter? We understand the subject is very important for your requirements, why should it be crucial that you the abstract selection committee?
You need to be as specific as you are able to, avoiding overly broad or overreaching statements and claims. And that is it: don’t get sidetracked by writing an excessive amount of narrative or over explaining. Say what you ought to say and nothing more.
Keep your audience in your mind. How much background you give on an interest will depend on the conference. May be the conference a broad humanities conference, a general graduate student history conference, or something like that more specific like a 1960s social revolutions conference? Your pitch should always be suitable for the specificity associated with conference: the more specific this issue, the less broad background you need certainly to give and vice versa.
Revise and edit your abstract to ensure that its presentation that is final is free. The editing phase is also the time that is best to see your abstract as a whole and chip away at unnecessary words or phrases. The draft that is final be linear and clear and it should read smoothly. If you’re tripping over something while reading, the abstract selection committee will as well. Ask another graduate student to see your abstract to ensure its clarity or attend a Graduate Student Writing Group meeting.
Your language must certanly be professional along with your style should adhere to academic standards. Contractions might be appealing because of the word limits, but they should always be avoided. If citation guidelines are not specifically given, it really is appropriate to use the name that is author’s title of work (in either italics or quotation marks) within the text rather than use footnotes or in-text citations.
Misusing Questions
While one question, if really good, may be posed in your abstract, you really need to avoid writing one or more (maybe two, if really really good). That you either answer it or address why the question matters to your conference paper – unless you are posing an obvious rhetorical question, you should never just let a question hang there if you do pose a question or two, make sure. Too many questions takes up a lot of space and leaves less room if you are going to address one or all in your paper and if you even know the answers to them for you to develop your argument, methods, evidence, historiography, etc. Often times, posing too many questions leaves the abstract committee wondering. Remember, you aren’t likely to have already written your conference paper, however you are anticipated to own done enough research that you are quite ready to write on a specific topic that one can adequately cover in 15-20 minutes. Prove that you have done so.
Language that will help you be as specific as you are able to in presenting your argument is excellent but don’t get your readers bogged down in jargon. They’ll be web site here reading lots of abstracts and won’t want to wade through the unnecessary language. Ensure that it it is simple.
When students repeat claims, they often don’t realize they truly are doing so. Sometimes this occurs because students are not yet clear on their argument. Think about it a few more and then write. Other times, students write carelessly and do not proofread. Be sure each sentence is exclusive and therefore it plays a role in the flow of your abstract.
The abstract committee does not need to be reminded associated with grand sweep of history in order to contextualize your topic. Place your topic specifically in the historiography.
The samples below represent the five highest scoring samples submitted to the selection committee for the ninth annual graduate student history conference, 2012-2013. Two of the samples below were subsequently selected for publication within the NC State Graduate Journal of History. Outstanding papers presented at the graduate student history conference are suitable for publication by panel commentators. Papers go through a peer review process before publication.
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