In this paper, a design method for a compact slot antenna for 5.8 GHz RFID band (5.725-5.875 GHz) is studied. The proposed slot antenna is size-reduced by bending both ends of the straight slot in "I"-shape, and a rectangular feed patch is located inside the slot. The effects of slot length, location of feed patch, and width and length of feed patch on the antenna performance are examined. A prototype antenna with optimized parameters for 5.8 GHz band is fabricated on an FR4 substrate and tested experimentally to verify the results of this study. The experimental results show that the frequency band for a VSWR < 3 ranges 5.72-6.13 GHz (bandwidth 410 MHz), and it corresponds fairly well with the simulated band 5.64-5.97 GHz (bandwidth 330 MHz). The fabricated antenna shows good radiation performance such as maximum power density in both directions normal to the slot plane, low cross-polarization level of < -20 dB, and realized gain > 0 dBi within the frequency band.