Course Overview

poster boys and girls

Today abstracts are used in a wide number of situations. Every phase of an academic career, from graduate school to Nobel Prize, requires an abstract. In other words, the English abstract is essential for becoming an international scholar.

In recent years the abstract has become more than a summary of the contents of a thesis or an article; the significance of the research, the scholarly discoveries and the research methodology have become the focus, while there has been a trend for the abstract itself to become shorter (100-250 words in length).

The 'abstract' has also become an important chance to promote the graduate student or researcher, as well as an indispensable opportunity to make clear the special character of one's own research. In addition, by up-loading an abstract written in English onto a website, scholars internationally will find it using search engines like Google and Yahoo, and the fruits of your research will become accessible to the global academic community.

Course Outline

This is an intensive workshop in which the student will learn how to write an English abstract of 100-250 words. The basic objective of the workshop is to assist the student to sharpen and shape their most important research ideas into the short format of the abstract.

There is no need for strong English language skills to participate in the workshop. The student will be able to use a specially devised abstract template that simplifies the English needed.

The abstract will be based on their own completed or nearly completed research (seminar paper, masters or doctoral thesis).

At the end of the course, the student will have learnt how to write an English abstract that can be used for scholarly journals, conference and grant applications, job applications, and to promote their research internationally. The completed abstract will be uploaded onto a specially created course website to give the student's research international exposure.