The
Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium Committee is pleased to
announce the Call for Abstracts for the Eighth Annual
College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research and Creative
Activity (URCA) Symposium. This event will highlight the research,
scholarly, and creative activities of students throughout the College of Arts
and Sciences, and will be held on
Tuesday,
April 11, 2017. Please consider
submitting your work to the Symposium!
All students
who are declared majors in a program within the College of Arts and Sciences
are invited to participate in this year’s Symposium. Please
note that for group projects where there are members who are majoring outside of
the College of Arts and Sciences, exceptions to this policy will be considered
by the URCA Committee.
Current
students, as well as December 2016 graduates, are welcome to present their
work. Presenters may choose to give an
oral presentation, poster presentation, exhibition, or performance. All presentations should have a significant
research or creative component; examples of such include, but are not limited
to, summer research conducted at Ashland University or elsewhere, results of
independent study projects, thesis work, literary readings or analysis, musical
or theatrical performances, and exhibitions of artwork.
All
abstracts submitted require approval of a faculty sponsor who is familiar with
the student’s work and can attest to the quality of the work. At the time of submission, students will
indicate who their faculty sponsor is. The
URCA Symposium committee will then contact the sponsor via e-mail to confirm
that the sponsor has viewed and approved the abstract. In approving a submission, a faculty sponsor
is indicating that the abstract meets the faculty sponsor’s standard for
professional work, and that the abstract is print-ready.
Submissions that have not been approved by
a faculty sponsor will not be accepted for presentation.
Students who
wish to present at the Symposium should contact a College of Arts and Sciences
faculty member who can act as a faculty sponsor. When the project is ready, the student should
work with the faculty sponsor to prepare an abstract in Microsoft Word and
email that Word document to the URCA Symposium Committee at
au.urca@gmail.com. Students must copy their faculty sponsors on the email that contains the
submission.
The deadline for submitting
abstracts is 5:00 p.m. on Friday,
January 27, 2017. This deadline
is firm.
A complete submission must include ALL of the
following:
- Name of Student Presenter(s)
- Campus AND Home Addresses of Student
Presenter(s)
- Class Year (e.g. junior, senior) and
Major(s) of Student Presenter(s)
- Name of Faculty Sponsor
- College of Arts and Sciences program
in which the work is focused (e.g. Biology, Psychology, Music)
- Title of the Presentation
- Preferred Format of Presentation
(Poster Presentation, 12 Minute Performance, 12 Minute Oral Presentation, or
Art Exhibition)
- Special Equipment Required (PCs and
projectors are provided; if no other equipment is needed, please indicate “No
special equipment needed”)
- Body of the Abstract (250 words or
fewer)
- Anticipated Scheduling Conflicts for
Symposium on 4/11/17 (e.g. COBE/COE/CON class meetings, athletic events, or other
commitments that cannot be moved on this date; if none, please indicate “No
scheduling conflicts anticipated”)
Students who would like to see examples
of acceptable abstracts may view abstracts from the prior years’ events on URCA
blog. Additionally, these submission instructions
and helpful hints for preparing submissions will be archived on the blog. The URCA committee will hold an abstract
writing workshop in January in order to assist students in polishing their
abstracts. In the meantime, should you
have any questions about presenting at the Symposium or the abstract submission
process, please don’t hesitate to contact Dr. Jeff Weidenhamer at
jweiden@ashland.edu.
