Some basic
information on abstract writing in linguistics:
·
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) annual meeting always
adopts the 500 worded abstract format. Most other
major conferences in linguistics such as NELS, WCCFL, CLS, WECOL, adopt the 2
paged format.
·
Good guidelines for writing a 500 worded abstract are found on the
LSA website:
http://www.lsadc.org/info/meet-ann07-abguide.cfm
This page also contains model
abstracts too.
·
As for writing a 2 paged abstract, there
isn’t any good set of guidelines that are out there. But it cannot be so
different from writing a 500 worded abstract. It'd be more or less accuate to
say that all you need to do is to expand the abstract a bit.
·
The best way to learn how to write a good abstract is by examining
some model abstracts and also by writing one on your own and critically
analyzing it.
·
So below are some abstracts that have been written by graduate
students in linguistics, both in 500 worded and 2 paged formats. Some of these
have been accepted to conferences and some have been rejected. (We thank the
contributors who graciously shared their abstracts on the condition of
anonymity.)
·
We want you to guess which ones must have been accepted or
rejected, and provide reasons for your decision/verdict.
·
500 worded model abstracts:
o
Abstract
1:
o
Abstract
2:
·
2 paged model abstracts:
o
Abstract 1:
o Abstract 3:
o
Abstract 6:
Note: this website was created by Dr. Min-Joo Kim for the Workshop on Abstract Writing in linguistics
held in Spring, 2007 at Texas Tech University, which she
co-organized with Dr. Dan Siddiqi.