======= Date Modified 15 Aug 2012 17:26:54 =======
In the humanities, does an abstract have to always include a summary of the results of the research, or I could skip this step and only mention motivation, problem statement, objectives, methodology and implications?

This is for a call for papers, not for a paper publication by the way.

My results are many and conditional, and the abstract should be less that 200 words. Thee is not much space left there. Moreover, I don't really wish to spoil the ... surprise of the results when I read my paper.

That's what I do anyway, Marasp. As you've alluded to, the purpose of the abstract is to whet the appetite of the potential audience to entice them into attending.

I would also suggest contacting someone with regards to your abstract word count and check how critical it is that you stay under it, particularly if you feel you have good reason to include more detail than the 200 words allows?

Thanks. I sent it out in the end, without mentioning the results but giving a very generic view of them in a brief sentence. No, sadly, the limit was 200 words without exceptions. Sorry about the typo in the title.