Abstract Guidelines from Program Committee

Abstracts are an important tool in assembling the program for the 2020 Denver meeting so that papers can be grouped into the most intellectually coherent panels.
For this year’s meeting, the program committee decided to require abstracts in the range of 100-roughly 250 words (up to 2000 characters for individual papers, up 850 characters for sessions).  We ask you to be thoughtful about your abstract, use clear language, and be concrete. 
The program committee will rely on your abstract to decide whether your participation is accepted, and where to place it in the conference program.  Remember that all abstracts must be in English.
To assist you in preparing and making the abstracts as useful as possible, below are some guidelines adapted from the website of the Linguistics Society of America:       
 

Suggested Outline for Paper Abstracts

Choose a title that clearly indicates the topic of the research in no more than 300 characters. Note that your choice of title has considerable influence on how your paper is grouped with others to form thematically coherent sessions. This is important even if your paper proposal is part of a panel proposal because it is sometimes necessary to reassign papers if too many members of the original proposed panel choose not to register by the deadline in late January. A clear relationship between the title and content of your abstract will help ensure it is assigned to an appropriate session, either if it is submitted independent of a full panel proposal, or in the situation that it has to be reassigned.
State the problem or research question raised by prior work, with specific reference to relevant prior research. 
State the main point or argument of the proposed presentation. 
If your research presents the results of an empirical study, also indicate explicitly the nature of the empirical materials you have or will be collecting and the specific hypothesis to be tested or question to be answered. 
If you have completed some or all data collection, report what results you've already obtained in sufficient detail that your abstract may be evaluated. 
State the relevance of your ideas to past work or to the future development of the field of law and society, including —if applicable— the connection with the conference theme. 
When you submit your abstract to the website, please identify as accurately as possible both primary and secondary keywords that most align with your topic’s general area and describe the methodology you use.  If you are a member of a CRN, please include that information as well. 
While the panels will be predominantly in English the call will include an invitation for the submission of complete panels that will be in languages other than English. These panels may have no fewer than four papers and no more than five. We however cannot accept unassigned papers in languages other than English.

Suggested Outline for a Roundtable

An abstract for a suggested roundtable should be between 100-rougly 200 words (850 characters).  In a roundtable, there are no formal papers; a group of scholars exchange views on a particular theme, followed by questions and statements from the audience.   If you submit a proposal for a roundtable, your abstract should, ideally:
Choose a title for the roundtable that clearly indicates the topic in no more than 300 characters. 
Identify the problem, the issue, or the subject of the roundtable;
Explain the importance of the subject, how it relates to the theme of the conference, or to law and society themes in general; and explain also what you would like the roundtable to accomplish-- the goals of the roundtable, in other words;
Mention the different aspects and points of view about the subject that you would like the panel to represent; 
While the panels will be predominantly in English the call will include an invitation for the submission of complete panels that will be in languages other than English
When you submit your abstract to the website, please identify as accurately as possible both primary and secondary keywords that most align with your topic’s general area and describe the methodology you use.  If you are a member of an IRC or a CRN, please include that information as well.