Proto-Abstract assignment

An abstract is a short document that describes a research paper or presentation. I like to think of it as a PR device - it turns a potential reader/listener into an actual one.

For this assignment, you will work on an abstract before you have completed your analysis. Thinking it through really helps with designing the research project. It also frees you up to think about the style.

Style: An abstract is objective, definitive, and contains no hedging. For this proto-abstract assignment, you need to PRETEND that you have already conducted and interpreted your analysis. For now, you decide how it turns out. In November, you'll amend your abstract, if necessary, to match reality.

Content:

1. tells the potential reader of your paper what your research questions/hypotheses are (, and why they are important)
2. briefly describes the methods -- enough detail to convince the reader that the results are valid
3. usually provides some measure of the amount of data examined (# of speakers, # of tokens)
4. summarizes the results
5. puts the results in the context of the wider literature

The best way to learn the style of this genre is to look at some abstracts. Try Calls for Papers for conferences like NWAV (available online) or sociolinguistics journals, such as:

• Language Variation and Change
• Journal of Sociolinguistics
• Language in Society
• Canadia