Research Day

Use these guidelines to prepare your abstract:

1. Limit title to a maximum of 10 words. Capitalize the first letter of all principal words as well as the first letter of words of four or more letters. The title should be in bold font.
2. Capitalize all letters in the names of presenters. Use initials for first names and middle names. Omit degrees and academic titles. Place an asterisk after the name of the primary presenter.
3. Place name(s) of institution(s) within parentheses.
4. Do not use all capital letters in the body of the abstract.
5. Limit the body of the abstract to 300 words or less (this does not include the title and author/institution information).
6. The abstract must contain a brief statement of the objectives of the investigation, experimental methods used, and essential results. Results should include data. Results should also include statistics, if applicable.
7. Illustrations are not permitted n the abstract.
8. Results and conclusion must be stated in the abstract. It is not acceptable to report that results "will be presented at the meeting."
9. Abstracts reporting studies with unidentified drugs or materials will not be accepted. All drugs and materials must be identified both in the abstract and during the presentation.
10. Underline the conclusion.
11. Include name of supporting agency and grant number, if applicable.
12. Proofread carefully.
13. IUSD Research Day does not accept abstracts for papers that are already published. However, abstracts for works that have been submitted but not yet accepted for publication are accepted. If there are areas of the research that were not included in the published work, then abstracts presenting alternate studies or new unpublished data may be submitted.

Research Day participants who choose to compete for awards must be available to attend the judging competition event that will be held in person at the IU Indianapolis Campus Center on the evening of Wednesday, April 15, 2026. 

Participants will present their research at their poster displayed at the Campus Center and answer questions from the judges assigned to the award categories. Refer to the oral presentation guidelines for more information. Participants are automatically matched to the awards available for each presenter category.

• Presentations should be a maximum of five minutes.
• Bear in mind that the judges and the audience on Research Day may not be experts in your area of research.
• Describe the aim of your research and explain why it is important to answer your research question.
• Briefly describe the materials and methods you used to conduct your research.
• Allocate most of the presentation time to the results of your project. State the results simply and clearly so that significant facts can be readily identified.
• Conclude the presentation with a brief summary of the essential findings you believe were demonstrated by the experimental data and their clinical relevance.
• Acknowledge your co-authors, sponsors, and anyone who made significant contributions to your research.

The Research Day poster template and instructions about submitting posters will be emailed to each presenter after their abstract submission is received. Posters for the Research Day 2026 event must be submitted by Wednesday March 18, 2026.