Resources
| The following resources may help students develop abstracts and talks. Advisors may want to sift through them to find the most appropriate. If it comes up, we are asking for “informative”, not “descriptive abstracts.” Abstracts of approx. 300 words to be submitted directly to Sean via email (SWatts@scu.edu). Abstracts should include: background, a statement of the question, brief summary of experimental design, RESULTS, and conclusions. Allow for plenty of time to develop your abstract; as with talks, summarizing several years of research in such a short space is very difficult to do well. Creating a 10 minute talk is not necessarily a straightforward process. Beware of the faulty logic that “a short talk is easier than a long one!” The shorter a talk is the more difficult it is to convey a complex story. For the same reason, it is also critical that the presentation is practiced (several times, in front of a mirror, AND in front of an audience). IMPORTANT: In order to stay on schedule, we will be timing talks and using this as a criterion in judging the best talks! We will hold up cards indicating 5 minutes, 2 minutes and 30 seconds to wrap-up. A good rule of thumb is ONE SLIDE PER MINUTE!!! Trust me any more and you won’t make it. Advice on writing abstracts: Advice on giving scientific talks: |
