Expectations | Reports | Communications
Program
In addition to your progress reports, an abstract is due by the August
pay date, regardless of when you started your project. Details
regarding the abstract are below:
Please provide the final title of your project. Often titles change
from the original proposal to submission of the abstract. We need
your final project title now for preparation of program materials.
We will use the title you give us now in the annual report, abstract
book, and proceedings for each of the seminar days.
The abstract is a succinct outline of your research project. For
experimental projects, it (1) presents the principal objective and
scope of your project; (2) describes the methodology; (3) summarizes
the results; (4) states the principal conclusions. If you have no
results yet, give the conclusions or recommendations for continuation
of the project or for subsequent work to be done. For a theoretical
paper, the abstract (1) describes the issue; (2) describes the analysis;
(3) states implications for further research. Use clear, significant
words when writing your abstract; eliminate extraneous words. Do
not use abbreviations, jargon, or specialized words. Abstracts rarely
cite references. Your abstract should stand alone and be intelligible
without reference to your final paper.
The abstract will be printed in the Seminar Day proceedings, so
it is essential that all information appears as you want it in print.
Be sure to proofread the text! We will print it as you submit it.
Remember that careless writing gives the impression of careless work.
Be concise! Abstracts should be no longer than 100-200 words. Abstracts
that exceed the word limit will be returned to the student for editing
and resubmission.
We need two copies of your abstract, one submitted by email as a
Word attachment (very important) to sfp@caltech.edu, AND the other
a hard copy, signed by both you and your mentor. Both of these are
due by the August pay date, regardless of when you started your project.
If you have special symbols or formatting as part of your abstract,
it must be formatted for a PC in Microsoft Word. We do not have the
software capability to translate other programs. (This is especially
important if you include equations or a graphic - it must be reformatted
to Word.) For the two or three of you who need to insert chemistry
graphics - it needs to be embedded in the Word document. Click
here to view how your abstract should look. Please submit your abstract
by e-mail to sfp@caltech.edu. The title of the message should be "Your
Last Name, Your First Name - Abstract" so that we can better
track the messages.
