Writing an Abstract
Writing an abstract for your research
The abstract is a concise, single-paragraph summary of your presentation’s purpose, main points, method, findings, and conclusions. Please ensure your research advisor has reviewed and approved your abstract.
Abstracts should:
- Clearly state the central research question and/or purpose of the project.
- Provide a description of your research context and the previous literature or research studies (no actual citations required) that informs your area of inquiry.
- Provide a brief description of the research/project methodology.
- State the findings, conclusions, or expected results of your research.
- Explain the overall contribution of your research and why the research is important.
- Include text only (no images or graphics).
- Be well-written and well-organized with no spelling or grammatical errors.
- Abstract must be reviewed and approved by your research advisor.
Other formatting guidelines and information:
- References are allowed within abstracts, but not required.
- The form will not process all formatting and special characters (e.g., scientific symbols). Use plain text format for your abstract.
- Abstracts are usually 200 words long with no paragraph breaks. The required minimum is 200 words, and the maximum is 250 words.
- In order to be considered for a conference award, your abstract need to be at least 230 words long and no more than 250 words.
- Additionally, your abstract will be reviewed and assessed using the UNC Charlotte Abstract Review Rubric. Scores on the abstract rubric will determine which presenters will be selected for award consideration.
- Together, the abstract rubric score and the presentation score will be used to determine award winners.
Note: The title and author(s) of your abstract will appear EXACTLY as they are entered in the abstract submission form. Please double-check punctuation and spelling before submitting.
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