{"id":1241,"date":"2020-11-20T20:20:17","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T03:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/?page_id=1241"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T01:41:10","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/faq\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><i>WHEN WILL THE NEXT CONFERENCE TAKE PLACE?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 2026 conference was on February 27th, 4:45pm-8pm, and February 28th, 9:45am-6:00pm 2026, both virtually and in-person. The in-person location was at the University of British Columbia in LIFE 2402 and 2404. The conference was also live-streamed on Zoom (link will be added in the &#8216;Program&#8217; tab closer to the conference).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The date for the 2027 conference will be announced later in the year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>DO YOU HAVE SOME GENERAL ABSTRACT WRITING TIPS?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just write! Don\u2019t be afraid to get started.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abstract writing involves a lot of editing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clearly communicate your research and ensure that you are able to present it.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>WHAT SHOULD MY ABSTRACT LOOK LIKE?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Be sure to include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An introduction (make your abstract introduction appealing to the reviewer and adjudicator! They will be reading several other abstracts, so you will want to stand out! Also, include why you are conducting research; convey its importance).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The research question<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Methodology (be specific!)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hypothesis<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Results\/findings (expected results are okay)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conclusion (how does your research contribute to literature?)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We try our best to give your abstract to a reviewer in that field; if you\u2019re writing about phonology, we try to have a phonologist read it. So unless you\u2019re using a super obscure or new term, you\u2019ll be okay not defining it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your research is not fully complete, thoroughly explain what you can and show your knowledge and any preliminary results.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t be afraid to ask your supervisor for feedback.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The word limit is 500 words, including in-text citations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>HOW ARE THE ABSTRACTS RANKED?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Professors and PhD students (among other faculty) will be the reviewers and adjudicators for the abstracts; they will be ranking them and providing feedback. They will present their personal opinions of the abstracts and will score them. LSURC will then pick for oral and poster presentations. If your abstract is selected, you may take the feedback and improve your research. Your research will be \u201cofficially\u201d assessed during the final presentation at the conference.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>HOW ARE THE PRESENTATIONS JUDGED?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The presentations are fairly judged by various adjudicators, who are faculty members or graduate students from the UBC Language Sciences faculty, using a standardized review sheet. Winners are determined based on the adjudication scores.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To ensure that there is no conflict of interest, the LSURC committee reviews potential affiliations between adjudicators and presenters, and assigns adjudicators to presenters to whom they have no connection with. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>WHAT ARE PROs AND CONs OF THE PRESENTATION METHODS?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have a supervisor, you may want to ask them for a recommendation for the method. Both oral and poster presentations will be presented in-person and there is also an online option for oral presentations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">POSTER PRESENTATIONS<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have less research (less than 10 minutes), this would be a better option.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Posters will be printed with question sessions in the breaks between the oral presentations.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ORAL PRESENTATIONS<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oral presentations will be livestreamed for attendees. You are allowed to use a PowerPoint presentation for support.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are fewer slots available (roughly 10-20 spots).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For oral presentations, if using PowerPoint slides:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aim for each slide to last 1 minute. Then you can tell approximately how long your presentation will be.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t overfill your slides with text. You want to do the explaining, not have your slides do it for you.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some general tips:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just from working on your research, you will come to a point in which you are confident of and familiar with the material you will be presenting on. This will enable you to present it without too much difficulty. Also, you will likely be the only person in the room who will know about your project.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practice with your supervisors and\/or others in the field, as well as with those who know nothing about the topic; you will be able to practise answering questions about your research.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Practise more than you think you need! Even once you get comfortable, practise 1 or 2 more times.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prepare questions ahead of time. Have time ahead to anticipate what people might ask, and prepare for the scariest or most difficult questions. You can even have extra slides or cue cards for these questions. For example, you might have a slide with the demographics of your participants, or any figures that are hard to explain in words.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t feel afraid to say:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI don\u2019t know, but here are my thoughts on this\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI don\u2019t know. Let\u2019s talk about this after the presentation; I would love to hear what you think.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>WHAT IF YOU DON\u2019T GET YOUR FIRST CHOICE FOR A PRESENTATION METHOD?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you apply to do an oral presentation and don\u2019t get chosen, we will automatically consider you for a poster presentation and might offer it to you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>ARE IN-PERSON PRESENTATIONS AVAILABLE FOR STUDENTS OUTSIDE OF UBC VANCOUVER?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The conference is only being held in Vancouver; however, if you will be in Vancouver during the conference, let us know that you would like to present in person. If you will not be in Vancouver, you are welcome to present online and there are no obligations to come to Vancouver.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>WILL WE\u00a0 JUST BE PRESENTING TO PEOPLE WITH LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Language touches many fields, disciplines, and backgrounds; therefore, multiple fields will be in attendance (such as engineering, computer science, general science, psychology, etc.). The attendees will be undergraduate &amp; graduate students, and academics interested in the field\/research.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><i>WHO DO I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can email us at <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ubc.lsurc@gmail.com.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WHEN WILL THE NEXT CONFERENCE TAKE PLACE? The 2026 conference was on February 27th, 4:45pm-8pm, and February 28th, 9:45am-6:00pm 2026, both virtually and in-person. The in-person location was at the University of British Columbia in LIFE 2402 and 2404. The conference was also live-streamed on Zoom (link will be added in the &#8216;Program&#8217; tab closer&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68792,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1241","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1241"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1953,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1241\/revisions\/1953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/lsurc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}