IAFOR Webinar Series Episode 2: Writing an Abstract for Maximum Impact – Report

On Wednesday, May 18, 2022, IAFOR hosted the second instalment of its free Zoom webinar series, titled “Writing an Abstract for Maximum Impact”, with the Editors of the IAFOR Journal of Education, Yvonne Masters, Issue Editors Michael Menchaca and Pearl Subban, and Associate Editor of the IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship, Murielle El Hajj Nahas.

Whether presenting at a conference or writing a journal article, it is important that your abstract has maximum impact. Conference participants and journal readers frequently use an abstract to decide whether to pursue a topic further, so it is important that you aim to provide enough information in a way that captures attention. It is also important to realise that different journals have different requirements. In this presentation, led by Dr Masters, the panellists looked at issues such as abstract length, attracting attention from the start, what needs to be included and what should not be included, and how to link your abstract to your presentation / paper.

In the second part of the seminar, the panellists added on to Dr Masters' presentation and answered questions from the audience. Even though many questions were answered, since over 280 attendees joined the webinar, not every question could be given a response. However, our panellists have taken the time to prepare a document in which the remaining questions have been answered.



IAFOR Webinar Series Episode 2: Writing an Abstract for Maximum Impact


Speaker Biographies

Yvonne Masters
Independent Researcher, Australia

Yvonne MastersYvonne Masters is an independent researcher in Australia. She has been involved with IAFOR for several years as a member of The Asian Conference for Education Organising Committee, as co-facilitator of The Asian Undergraduate Research Symposium, and as a member of the International Academic Advisory Board. Yvonne is the current Executive Editor of the IAFOR Journal of Education, a Scopus indexed, open access journal on education.

Yvonne was a teacher and teacher educator for over 40 years and is still passionate about education. She was a senior lecturer in Professional Classroom Practice in the School of Education, University of New England, Australia, a position that she accepted after five years as Director of Professional Experience in the same School. Prior to taking up her position at UNE, she had 30 years’ experience in secondary schools including in the roles of Curriculum Coordinator, Deputy Principal and Principal. Her teaching experience spans three Australian states. Her research interests centre on undergraduate research, academic publication, teacher education and policy, professional experience, teacher identity, online learning and virtual worlds. Yvonne was awarded her PhD, focused on school principalship, from Deakin University.

She is an active researcher and gained, in collaboration with other researchers, 4 Internal UNE School of Education Research grants; was a partner in a $200,000 ALTC (OLT) grant, VirtualPREX: Innovative assessment using a 3D virtual world with pre-service teachers; in 2014 achieved a UNE Seed Grant for a one year project to explore teacher quality; and in 2015 gained a $50,000 OLT seed grant to develop resources to assist pre-service teachers to gain online teaching skills to assist them in teaching wholly online into virtual schools.

Yvonne serves as a reviewer for several education journals and is a senior reviewer for IAFOR conferences. She presents on a variety of education topics including publishing as an academic, teacher education policy, undergraduate research, and online teaching at a range of conferences, both Australian and international.


Murielle El Hajj Nahas
Lusail University, Qatar

Murielle El Hajj NahasDr Murielle El Hajj Nahas holds a PhD in French Language & Literature from the Lebanese University, Lebanon. She is currently Assistant Professor at Lusail University, Qatar. She is also Associate Editor of the IAFOR Journal of Literature & Librarianship and the IAFOR Journal of Education (Language Learning in Education issues), The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan, as well as Editorial Board Member of In Analysis, revue transdisciplinaire de psychanalyse et sciences, Elsevier Masson SAS, France. Her domain of research focuses on psychoanalysis of literature, the perspective on the unconscious in literary study, the roles of the instances involved in the analytical/critical praxis, and the relation between literature and psychoanalysis. Her research interests include analysis of written narrative structure and focalization; comparative studies of literary genres; discourse analysis and semantics; French linguistics, literature, modernism, and postmodernism studies; gender studies; literary semiotics and semiology; psychoanalysis; psychoanalytic criticism and textoanalysis; rhetoric and stylistics; and schizoanalysis. She has published peer-reviewed book chapters and articles, as well as book reviews and poems in international journals. (ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9445-6281)


Michael Menchaca
University of Hawai’i at Manoa, United States

Michael MenchacaMichael Menchaca is Chair of the Department of Learning Design and Technology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He specialises in distance education, and has designed, implemented, and coordinated online and hybrid programs for over 20 years. He serves as editor for the IAFOR Journal of Education: Technologies and Education Issue. He was an IT specialist for many years in the public and private sector. He teaches and conducts research in the areas of online learning, technology integration, and social justice with technology.


Pearl Subban
Monash University, Australia

Pearl SubbanDr Pearl Subban is an academic in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. She is a published author of several research articles, book chapters and books. Her teaching and research focus on accommodating student diversity through creating engaging classrooms and effective teaching programs. Instructional Design is embedded within her research, teaching and learning programs, and involves planning, detailing and assessing how instructional units can be used to enhance learning and improve student outcomes. Her personal value systems encompass the view that all learners should be given opportunities to thrive, and that each should strive to give of their personal best with individual tasks.



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