Parts of a Paper Series: Academic Abstracts

Elitza Kotzeva, PhD Candidate, Rhetoric and Composition

An academic abstract communicates complex research ideas in a concise form to help the researcher market her work. Conference organizers in their selection process usually apply their evaluation criteria to the abstract. Publishers and researchers use abstracts to sift through copious amount of scholarship. The abstract that you write represents your research and helps you successfully publish papers, participate in conferences, and build your reputation as a researcher. Do you have the skills to craft a good abstract?

In this hands-on writing workshop, you will learn about the purpose, expectations, and the general structure of an academic abstract. This session is designed for graduate students who are working on a research paper or are preparing an article for publication and need help in writing a good abstract. Please bring a draft of your work (abstract and research paper) to the workshop.