This will be a general guide for crafting stand-out conference paper abstracts.

So you want to answer the Call for Papers? It provides tips for this content and presentation regarding the abstract, along with examples of the best abstracts submitted to your 2012-2013 selection that is abstract for the ninth annual new york State University graduate student history conference.

Typically, an abstract describes the subject you would like to present in the conference, highlighting your argument, evidence and contribution to your literature that is historical. It is almost always restricted to 250-500 words. The term limit can be challenging: some graduate students usually do not fret over the short limit and hastily write and submit an abstract in the eleventh hour, which frequently hurts their chances of being accepted; other students attempt to condense the Next Great American Novel into 250 words, and that can be equally damning. Graduate students who approach the abstract early, plan accordingly, and carefully edit are those most often invited to present their research. For those who are intimidated because of the project, don’t be – the abstract is a fairly standardized kind of writing. Proceed with the guidelines that are basic and prevent common pitfalls and you may greatly enhance your abstract.

Diligently follow all style that is abstract formatting guidelines. Most CFPs will specify word or page length, and perhaps some layout or style guidelines. Some CFPs, however, will list very specific restrictions, including font, font size, spacing, text justification, margins, how exactly to present quotes, just how to present authors and works, whether or not to include footnotes or otherwise not. Ensure that you strictly adhere to all guidelines, including submission instructions. If a CFP does not provide style that is abstract formatting guidelines, it is generally appropriate to stay around 250 words – abstract committees read a lot of these things and don’t look fondly on comparatively long abstracts. Ensure that you orient your abstract topic to address 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 pay attention to excessive phrasing that is prepositional.

Plan your abstract carefully before writing it. A good abstract will address listed here questions: What is the historical question or problem? Contextualize your topic. What exactly is your thesis/argument? It ought to be original. What is your evidence? State forthrightly you are using primary source material. How exactly does your paper fit into the historiography? What’s happening in the field of study and how does your paper donate to it? How come it matter? We understand this issue is very important to you, why should it be vital that you the selection committee that is abstract?

You should be as specific as you possibly can, avoiding overly broad or overreaching statements and claims. And that’s it: don’t get sidetracked by writing narrative that is too much over explaining. Say what you need to say and nothing more.

Maintain your audience in mind. How much background you give on a subject will depend on the conference. Is the conference a general humanities conference, a graduate that is general history conference, or something more specific like a 1960s social revolutions conference? Your pitch must certanly be suitable for the specificity associated with the conference: the more specific the topic, the less background that is broad want to give and vice versa.

Revise and edit your abstract to ensure its final presentation is error free. The editing phase can also be the best time to see your abstract as a whole and chip away at unnecessary words or phrases. The final draft should be linear and clear and it also should read smoothly. If you’re tripping over something while reading, the abstract selection committee will as well. Ask another graduate student to learn your abstract to ensure its clarity or attend a Graduate Student Writing Group meeting.

Your language must certanly be professional as well as your style should abide by standards that are academic. Contractions might be appealing due to the expressed word limits, nevertheless they must certanly be avoided. If citation guidelines are not specifically given, it really is appropriate to use the author’s name and title of work (in either italics or quotation marks) in the text as opposed to use footnotes or in-text citations.

Misusing Questions

While one question, if really good, can 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 uses up an excessive amount of space and leaves less room for you yourself to develop your argument, methods, evidence, historiography, etc. Often times, posing way too many questions leaves the abstract committee wondering if you are planning to handle one or all in your paper and when you even know the answers for them. Remember, you’re not expected to have already written your conference paper, you are required to have done enough research that you can adequately cover in 15-20 minutes that you are prepared to write about a specific topic. Prove that you have done so.

Language that can help you be as specific as you are able to in presenting your argument is very good but don’t get the readers bogged down in jargon. They’ll be reading plenty of abstracts and will not like to wade through the unnecessary language. Keep it simple.

When students repeat claims, they often don’t realize they have been doing so. Sometimes this happens because students are not yet clear on the argument. Think about it a few more and then write. Other times, students write carelessly plus don’t proofread. Be sure each sentence is unique and that it contributes to the flow of one’s abstract.

The abstract committee does not need to be reminded associated with grand sweep of history to be able to contextualize your topic. Place your topic specifically within the historiography.

The samples below represent the five highest scoring samples submitted into the selection committee when it comes to ninth annual graduate student history conference, 2012-2013. Two of this samples below were subsequently selected for publication into the NC State Graduate Journal of History. Outstanding papers presented in the graduate student history conference are recommended for publication by panel commentators buy an essay. Papers go through a review that is peer before publication.