Symposium Guidelines

GET YOUR WORK NOTICED!

Now that you have made a decision to participate in the symposium, you will need to prepare and submit an abstract for consideration. An abstract is a document that condenses a large research project into a structured summary description. The abstract should be written in such a way that it provides the reader with a concise summary of your work. You will need to provide two abstracts. One will be a maximum of 250 words, and the second is not to exceed 125 words. The shorter abstract will be provided to judges and used when your work is posted to the Online Access Kent State portal for viewing after the symposium. 

General Information

  • Undergraduate students attending any of Kent State's eight campuses and representing any major are eligible to participate. Participation will be in-person.  Exceptions to the  in-person presentation requirement will be if a student is taking all on-line courses or a student is taking most classes at one or more of our regional campuses. Please contact agosky@kent.edu if you want to present remotely and meet one of the criteria noted.  
  • Student researchers are required to submit a brief abstract indicating their intent to participate.
  • The abstract submission deadline will be February 19, 2024 (8AM). After the abstract deadline we will provide additional information about the presentation platform and how to prepare. 
  • Students choosing to perform a creative work (dance, theater, music, etc.) will be allotted a maximum of 10 minutes to present. 
  • Participants must display a poster or creative product. Poster size is to be 3 feet by 4 feet and can be printed on either paper or fabric.  Posters can be printed at the Fashion School’s TechStyle Lab for a cot of $36.  Foam core for display will be provided at the event. 
  • Posters should include the KSU logo, title of project, name(s) of author(s) including faculty mentor(s). Poster submissions will be judged for quality of presentation, including — but not limited to — display, conclusions, and clarity of the presentation. Please visit the Evaluations/Rubric page to learn about judging criteria.
  • Student participants will be considered for cash awards.
  • All research, scholarly work, and creative activity must be completed in collaboration with a faculty or graduate student mentor.
  • Students will need to present to judges some time during the 12:30-2:00 p.m. timeframe.  
  • Student presentations will include a verbal presentation of their work accompanied by a poster or artistic presentation.  Students submitting a creative work are encouraged to develop a poster but not required.  
  • Students are encouraged to seek assistance from their subject librarian and/or mentor, and to participate in special programs that will assist them in creating a poster or developing a presentation. 
  • Please watch for special programs that will be offered during the Spring 2024 semester to assist you with your preparations for participation in the symposium. You can also visit the Symposium Prep Workshop page.

Submitting Your Abstract and Registering for the Event

Prior to submitting your research, have a discussion with your faculty mentor to share your abstract (250 words or less) and your modified abstract (125 words or less)

Prior to submitting your abstract and registering for the symposium, make sure you have all the information you need, including:

  • Information on any additional author(s) – name, banner identification number, class rank, major and email
  • Information regarding your mentor(s) – name, email and department
  • Abstracts – have Word files of your abstract and modified abstract so you can copy and paste into the Qualtrics form.

Click here to submit your abstract