Abstracts

All participants in the SPUR have to submit an abstract for review.

Please review all of the guidelines on this page before preparing your abstract, including the official template you must use to write the abstract and the example abstract for reference.

Abstract Submission Deadline: July 15, 2024, by 5 p.m. (central time)

Abstract Guidelines

You must use the official Abstract Template (.docx) to create your submission. This will ensure all submissions are uniform when we prepare the SPUR Booklet. Additionally:

  • Abstracts should have a maximum of 250 words.
  • Scientific abstracts must contain:
    • Hypothesis or statement about the problem or project.
    • Statement of the methods (research that utilizes existing/secondary data sets is acceptable).
    • Essential results or outcomes.
    • Conclusion or summary (initial or preliminary results/data are acceptable).
  • Creative Arts or Humanities abstracts must contain a short description of the piece with a summary of the process by which you created your work, as well as any background information that informed your work. Process is how you put what you have learned and researched into your research artwork. 
  • Authors: Typically only one student is listed as the first author but there may be circumstances in which one or more “co-first author” position(s) is appropriate; please discuss with your faculty mentor. If you are submitting a co-first author abstract, only submit the abstract one time. Note that additional students, staff, etc can be listed as co-authors beyond the first or first author positions. A student can be first author on only one abstract. However, there is no limit to the number of abstracts on which a student is a secondary co-author. There is a maximum of 12 author positions in the submission portal.
  • All authors on the abstract should approve of the final submitted version.
  • Faculty should not be listed as first authors. We understand that some fields use a “faculty first” system but we ask that student presenters be listed first for the SPUR.

Abstract Template

You should use the official Abstract Template (.docx) to create your abstract. You will then copy-paste from this template into the Abstract submission online form.

Abstract Submission

The online abstract submission portal will be available July 1 – July 15, 2024 (ending at 5 p.m.). No late abstracts will be accepted.

To submit an abstract, you will need:

  • Completed abstract that has been approved by all authors using the official Abstract Template (.docx).
  • Full names and e-mail addresses of all authors.
  • The number of guests you will be inviting to the symposium (this includes family, your research mentor and laboratory colleagues).
Abstract Submission

Abstract Writing Hints

Example abstract (scientific, .docx)

Here are the typical kinds of information found in most abstracts:

  1. The context or background information for your research; the general topic under study; the specific topic of your research.
  2. The central questions or statement of the problem your research addresses.
  3. What’s already known about this question; what previous research has done or shown.
  4. The main reason(s), the exigency, the rationale, the goals for your research. — Why is it important to address these questions? Are you, for example, examining a new topic? Why is that topic worth examining? Are you filling a gap in previous research? Applying new methods to take a fresh look at existing ideas or data? Resolving a dispute within the literature in your field?
  5. Your research and/or analytical methods.
  6. Your main findings, results or arguments.
  7. The significance or implications of your findings or arguments.

Your abstract should be intelligible on its own, without readers having to read your entire poster or see your talk. In an abstract, you usually do not cite references; most of your abstract will describe what you have studied in your research, what you have found and what you argue in your paper. In the poster, you will cite the specific literature that informs your research.