Basic Author Guidelines for Student Research Project Abstract

I. Abstract structure and contents

The abstract should consist of the following six sections:

1. Main title

2. Author's (student's) data:

This section includes:

  • Name (first name and last name)
  • Major
  • Email

If there is more than one author, these data should be listed for each of them.

3.  Research adviser's name

This section includes:

  • Name (first and last)
  • Title
  • Email

4. Keywords   

This is a comma-separated list of up to five words or expressions.

5. Basic text

The text should be up to 20 lines (about 260 words) including at least the following two paragraphs:

  • The research project description (formulation)
  • Results and personal contribution to the project

6. References

This is a list of up to three titles. Bibliographical references should be numbered.

When references are made in the main text, enclose the citation number in square brackets, for example [1].  

Sample abstract

Hollerith Machines: Information Technology and the Holocaust

Ronald Harman
Information Sciences & Technology
(Student email)

Research Adviser: Dr. Gene Miller
Assistant Professor of History
(Faculty email)

Keywords: Hollerith, holocaust, International Business Machines (IBM), information technology, Nazi Germany

Abstract. Hitler's Nazi regime in Germany before and during World War II utilized information technology. The equipment of that era consisted of punch card machines, originally invented by Herman Hollerith in the late 1880s. These machines proved their usefulness in the 1890 U.S. census. Advances in the technology through the 1930s and 1940s produced electrical devices capable of quickly punching, sorting, and tabulating punch cards. DEHOMAG, the German subsidiary of International Business Machines, provided the government with Hollerith technology. IBM assisted in this effort and continued to reap financial benefits before, during, and after the war. Three sectors of the Third Reich utilized these machines: industry, military, and government. Industrial uses were numerous, including a variety of administrative functions. Military usage involved all facets of wartime production and supply. The government took advantage of the machines' capabilities to take censuses identifying aggregates of undesirable populations, to determine the feasibility of and implement racial policies, and to manage concentration camp labor. All of these applications facilitated the genocide committed by Hitler's regime. The author conducted a thorough review of literature related to the subject, including books, journal articles, and web-based resources. In addition, the author performed a partial search of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum archives for information relevant to the investigation. Information obtained from these sources was combined to create a comprehensive treatment of the subject, including the author's conclusions based upon the material.

References
[1] Aly, Götz, and Karl Heinz Roth. The Nazi Census: Identification and Control in the Third Reich. 2000. Trans. Edwin Black and Assenka Oksiloff. Politics, History, and Social Change. Ed. John Torpey. Pre-publication, uncorrected proof. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2004.
[2] Luebke, David Martin, and Sybil Milton. "Locating the Victim: An Overview of Census- Taking, Tabulation Technology, and Persecution in Nazi Germany." IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 16.3 (1994): 25-39.
[3] Seltzer, William. "Population Statistics, the Holocaust, and the Nuremberg Trials." Population and Development Review 24.3 (1998): 511-552.