Abstract Overview
What is an abstract?
An abstract is a concise summary of your project that describes the motivation, hypothesis, methods, results and conclusions of your work. A well-written abstract will make the reader want to learn more about your research, read your poster, or attend your presentation. Abstracts also serve as a summary of the research so the paper can be categorized and searched by subject and keywords. An abstract consists of a single paragraph (text only) and does not include any graphs, charts, images, references or acronyms.
*Arts Students: In addition to an abstract, arts students will submit a required video excerpt (performing arts), or a digital folder of image files (visual arts).
How long is an abstract?
Abstracts submitted for the LMU Undergraduate Research Symposium should be one paragraph, no longer than 250 words in length. This is a strict guideline.
What are the components of an abstract?
Project Description
- What was the research question? What was your rationale or motivation? What practical, theoretical, scientific, or artistic contribution is your project making to your discipline?
Methods or Approach
- What did you actually do to obtain your results? Did you analyze three novels, survey 75 students, write a screenplay, conduct an experiment, invent a better technology, research primary documents, create a musical arrangement or translate a poem? Did you approach your subject using a specific theoretical or creative framework, technical procedure, or methodology?
Results or Product
- By conducting the above activities, what did you learn, create, or invent?
Conclusions or Implications
- What are the larger implications of your research and creative work? What is the significance?
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