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Tips on How to Write Your Abstract
Follow these general guidelines when writing your abstract:
- Scope: Presentations must be about work performed as an undergraduate under the guidance of a mentor.
- Originality: Acceptance of your application will depend on your abstract demonstrating that your work has scientific, scholarly, or creative significance that makes an original intellectual or creative contribution to your discipline.
- Length: Abstracts must be 350 words or less in length.
- Content: Your abstract should clearly describe your original research, scholarship, or creative activity as follows:
- For creative projects: The creative endeavor must be clearly described in the abstract. Methods used to accomplish the creative activity must be described, any background or history related to the activity/product must be provided, and any program notes that help put the creative endeavor or process into perspective should be included.
- For scientific projects: A goal or hypothesis for the project must be clearly stated, results summarized, and a conclusion reached.
- Audience: The abstract submitted in your application must be understandable by a general audience and be free of technical jargon. This abstract is provided to the judges prior to the event, and the SURCA staff use the abstract to assign judges to specific presentations. A different abstract (i.e. containing more technical language) may be used on your poster.
- Important note on format: In order for your abstract to be properly processed by our web form software, you must input the abstract directly into the application as formatted text rather than upload. If you encounter problems during the entry process, or have any questions about submitting your abstract, send an email to ug.research@wsu.edu to get some assistance. (Be sure your name is included in the body of the email.)