Guidelines for Abstracts

To register for these workshops, visit www5.stcloudstate.edu/workshop/class_search.asp. Limit of 20 people per session.

Definitions

An abstract is a brief summary of your work. "A well prepared abstract enables readers to identify the basic content of a document [or project] quickly and accurately, to determine its relevance to their interests, and thus to decide whether they need to read the document [or project] in its entirety" (American National Standards Institute, 1979). Abstracts should state the objectives of the project, describe the methods used, summarize the significant findings and state the implications of the findings (Day, 1988).

Your abstract will be published in the Colloquium Proceedings, which is given to all Colloquium participants. Abstracts allow the Colloquium audience to decide which posters, papers, panels and performances hold the most interest for them. Be sure to proofread your abstract carefully for spelling and grammatical errors. Reading it aloud will also help you catch errors that you might otherwise miss.

Submitted abstracts must be reviewed and approved by Faculty Sponsors. The Student Research Colloquium Committee will not proofread abstracts.

Length

Abstracts must be no fewer than 100 words and no more than 300 words. Limit your abstract to text only; figures will not be reproduced in the Colloquium Proceedings. Also, when you enter your abstract online, please do not include paragraph indention.

Tips for Writing Abstracts

Write in the past tense. Spell out acronyms the first time they are used. For example, write "American National Standards Institute" rather than "ANSI." Provide definitions for terms. For example, write, "Positron Emission Tomography is an imaging technique that uses radioactive tracers to map the metabolism of chemicals in the brain; the more active an area of the brain, the greater the metabolic activity in that area." rather than, "We used PET to measure the uptake of radioactive tracers to map brain function."

Write clearly and simply. Avoid verbosity and jargon. Emphasize the important details of your project. Abstracts are a "road map" to help interested persons navigate your paper/panel/poster/performance presentation. Avoid extraneous and unnecessary words.

Everything mentioned in the abstract should be a summary of what is mentioned in the presentation. Topics not mentioned in the presentation should not appear in the abstract.

Consider your audience. Colloquium attendees may or may not share your area of expertise and knowledge.

Resources for Presenters

Computer Resources

• HuskyNet
• Computer lab seats
• Windows software programs available and Macintosh software programs available
• Laptop checkout
• Free computer software training, e.g., Microsoft Office Powerpoint

Writing and Presentations

• Beer, D. (2005). A guide to writing as an engineer. (Miller Center Basement T11.B396 2005)
• Miller. J. (2005). The Chicago guide to writing about multivariate analysis. (Miller Center Basement T11.M484 2005)
• Ebel, H. (2004). The art of scientific writing: from student reports to professional publications in chemistry and related fields. 2nd edition. (Miller Center Basement QD9.15.E23 2004)
• Baake, K. (2003). Metaphor and knowledge: the challenges of writing science (Miller Center Basement T11.B23 2003)
• Hancock, E. (2003). Ideas into words: mastering the craft of science writing. (Miller Center Basement T11.H255 2003)
• Nicol, A. (2003). Displaying your findings: a practical guide for creating figures, posters, and presentations. (Miller Center 2nd floor BF76.8.N53 2003)
• Paradis, J. (2002). The MIT guide to science and engineering communication. (Miller Center Electronic book)
• Wolcott, H. (2001). Writing up qualitative research. (Miller Center T11.W65 2001)
• Gilpin, A. (2000). A guide to writing in the sciences (Miller Center T11.G53 2000)
• Day, R. (1998). How to write and publish a scientific paper. (Miller Center Basement Q172.S3 1998)
• Gubanich, A. (1998). A student's guide to writing a scientific paper: how to survive the laboratory research report. (Miller Center Basement T11.G82 1998x)
• Davis, M. (1997). Scientific papers and presentations. (Miller Center Basement T11.D324 1997)
• Golden-Biddle, K. (1997). Composing qualitative research. (Miller Center Basement T11.G63 1997)
• Allley, M. (1996). The craft of scientific writing. 3rd edition. (Miller Center Basement T11.A37 1996)
• American National Standards Institute (1979). American national standard for writing abstracts. ANSI Z39, 14-1979. (Miller Center Basement Z695.9.A27x)
• Day, R. (1988). How to write and publish a scientific paper. 3rd edition. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.
• Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students from Virginia Tech
• Writer's Handbook from the University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific Writing

Presenting

• Booher, D. (2003). Speak with confidence powerful presentations that inform, inspire, and persuade (Miller Center Electronic Book)
• Campbell, M. (2003). Bulletproof presentations no one will every shoot holes in your ideas again! (Miller Center Electronic Book)
• Reinhart, S. (2002). Giving academic presentations. (Miller Center Basement HF5718.R45 2002x)
• Small, R. (2002). Make a PACT for success: designing effective information presentations. (Miller Center Basement PN4129.15.S63 2002)
• Bienvenu, S. (2000). The presentation skills workshop helping people create and deliver great presentations (Miller Center Electronic Book)
• Burrows, T. (2000). Creating presentations. (Miller Center Basement QA76.575.B87 2000)
• Preparing an Oral Presentation Tutorial and Designing Effective Visuals from University of Kansas

Posters

• Nicol, A. (2003). Displaying your findings: a practical guide for creating figures, posters, and presentations. (Miller Center 2nd floor BF76.8.N53 2003)
• Designing Effective Posters from University of Kansas
• Poster Presentation Tips from Duke University
• Creating Effective Poster Presentations from Oregon State University

Examples of Abstracts

Additional examples of abstracts may be found by browsing Previous Colloquium Proceedings.

Example 1: Dr. Buske's three-year old daughter wants to play the Barn Yard Boogie Woogie game. The rules state that the youngest player always starts. As more games are played, Dr. Buske notices that his daughter is winning most of the time. Does she have an advantage by going first? How much of one? This talk will attempt to answer the question "What is the probability that the player who starts this game wins?" Cases involving different game boards, the number of animals to be collected, number of dice, faces on each die, and number of players will be considered.

Example 2: The main challenge in the entirely student produced and directed production of Carthaginians was to present an Irish subject to an American audience and to create a feeling of connection with that subject. Through the filter of American eyes (often filtered through American media), Northern Ireland, like so many other countries where conflict exists, often becomes an "us and them" situation. It is, however, important to remember that the human capacity for emotion and feeling is the same everywhere, perhaps even heightened in areas like Northern Ireland that have experienced political hardships. The events of January 30,1972, forever shattered the emotional conscious of the people of Derry, Northern Ireland. Carthaginians deals with the after-effects of Bloody Sunday on seven Derry characters who were present that day. The play explores the psychology of mourning, remorse, and hope through these seven characters.

Example 3: Cytosolic class 3-Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH3A1) is an enzyme that is currently the subject of extensive research. ALDH3A1 catalyzes the detoxification of xenobiotic (carcinogenic) aldehydes as well as some widely used anticancer drugs known as oxazaphosphorines, e.g., cyclophosphamide. This process results in the protection of cells from toxic effects of aldehydes and leads to anticancer drug resistance in tumor cells. We have recently cloned the complementary deoxyribonucleic acid (cDNA) coding for ALDH3A1 from two cell types: (1) human normal stomach mucosa (nALDH3A1 cDNA) and (2) human breast adenocarcinoma (tALDH3A1 cDNA). The two cDNA's show a six base difference. Two of these transversions, one in exon 2 (base # 35 cytosine-->guanine) and the other in exon 4 (base # 400 thymine-->guanine), lead to an amino acid substitution (proline-->arginine and serine-->alanine respectively) in ALDH3A1 proteins. Further, tALDH3A1 detoxifies cyclophosphamide 10-fold more effectively than does nALDH3A1. How these base transversions effect anticancer drug detoxification is being investigated. The ultimate goal of this research is to define the physiological role of polymorphic ALDH3A1. In this regard, the research presented here attempts to establish the presence and determine the frequency of distribution of ALDH3A1 alleles in normal human populations.