ENGL 2543 Research Paper Abstract

Academic papers often begin with an abstract. When the papers are published, the abstract serves to summarize the piece so that those who are searching for information can more quickly determine if the piece at which they are looking is likely to be helpful to them in their own work. Before they are published or presented, however, the abstract serves as a sort of proposal, advancing an idea for consideration, as in such calls for papers as released by Helen Young here. The latter is the sort requested for the assignment in my Spring 2014 section of ENGL 2543; students will compose an abstract of approximately three hundred words which identifies an appropriate topic for discussion, offers context for the discussion, and asserts a tentative thesis to be proven in the paper. The abstract will be reviewed in terms of how appropriate its topic and thesis are (guidelines for which are noted here), how appropriate its context is, and the adherence of its language to the standards of usage expected of collegiate writing and expressed by Modern Language Association style manuals; an abstract formalizing the grading scheme appears below as a PDF file.

The abstract must be submitted via D2L as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file no later than the beginning of class time on 14 February 2014 to be assessed for potential full credit. Late submissions will be penalized as outlined in the course syllabus. Submissions in other formats (other file formats, e-mail instead of D2L dropbox, or typed hard-copy) may be made only with prior instructor approval; hand-written copies will not be accepted in any event.

An example of such an abstract, if one not suited to the topic of the assignment, appears here. Per student request, an example more nearly suited to the demands of the class (although still not quite in line with the assignment guidelines, being a bit too brief for the class), appears here.

Some notes need to be made:

The abstract is a tentative document. Further research may lead to adjustment of the ideas voiced within it. This is a good thing; ideas should be revised in the face of new data.

The abstract will benefit from being situated among prior criticism. Formal citation is not expected in an abstract (although quotation is also not expected), but informal citation will be obligatory. The abstract for "'Which Way I Fly Is Middle-earth; Myself Am Middle-earth': Miltonic Resonance in Tolkien" linked above offers a model of how to handle such citation. Failure to offer appropriate citation will be investigated as plagiarism. Please do not do it.

More information is forthcoming.