How
to
write
an
abstract
Why
write
an
abstract?
An
abstract
is
a
shortened
version
of
a
draft
paper.
It
is
important
for
several
reasons:
1.-‐
It
provides
the
first
chance
for
you
to
announce
and
cite
the
preliminary
findings
of
your
study;
2.-‐
it
allows
you
to
communicate
your
findings
to
your
colleagues
and
get
their
feedback;
3.-‐
it
is
the
starting
point
for
achieving
the
ultimate
aim
of
a
research
project,
the
writing
and
publishing
of
a
full
paper
in
peer-‐reviewed
literature.
Some
useful
tips
that
will
help
get
your
abstract
accepted
in
a
Conference
The
aim
of
a
Conference
or
a
Congress
is
to
support
the
exchange
of
knowledge
among
the
international
academic
and
scholarly
community
of
a
given
field
of
study.
Writing
a
good
abstract
an
important
way
for
you
to
communicate
your
research
with
your
peers
and
colleagues
because
it
should
attract
them
to
your
presentation
and
then
discuss
with
you
the
strong
and
weaker
points
of
your
work.
Typically
a
Conference
Committee
will
read
and
evaluate
your
abstract
to
decide
if
your
paper
will
be
accepted
for
presentation
during
the
sessions
of
the
meeting.
It
will
be
reviewed
on
its
content
and
scientific
merits.
Structure
of
an
abstract
TITLE
-‐
The
title
should
be
an
accurate
promise
of
the
abstract’s
contents.
It
should
explain
as
much
as
possible
about
the
context
and
the
aims
of
the
study.
Ideally,
the
title
should
be
about
10–12
words
long,
and
should
include
the
scope
of
the
investigation,
the
study
design
and
the
goal.
In
general,
it
is
preferable
to
make
the
title
a
description
of
what
was
investigated
rather
than
a
statement
of
the
results
or
conclusions.
The
abstract's
title
s hould
be
easy
for
the
reader
to
understand
and
should
not
include
jargon
or
unfamiliar
acronyms
or
abbreviations.
AUTHORS
-‐
The
list
of
authors
should
be
restricted
to
those
individuals
who
carried
out
the
study,
conceived
it,
designed
it,
gathered
the
data,
analysed
the
numbers
and
wrote
the
abstract.
The
author
who
will
present
the
abstract
should
be
listed
first.
Every
listed
author
should
read
and
approve
the
abstract
before
it
is
submitted.
MAIN
TEXT
-‐
An
abstract
should
address
the
five
following
questions
in
the
relevant
sections:
1.
"Why
did
you
start?"
–
Introduction
or
background
You
should
summarise,
preferably
in
one
sentence,
the
current
knowledge,
or
state-‐of-‐the-‐art,
specifically
in
relation
to
the
work
you
are
presenting.
2.
"What
did
you
try
to
do?"
–
Aims
and
objectives
You
should
state
the
aim
of
the
study,
and
ideally
include
a
short
statement
of
the
study's
hypothesis
–(es).
A
legitimate
scientific
study
is
not
done
"to
prove
that
something
is
true"
but
rather
"to
find
out
whether
it
is
true."
The
difference
may
seem
small,
but
it
makes
a
-‐
1
-‐
How
to
write
an
abstract
huge
difference.
A
formal
hypothesis
shows
that
you
were
objective.
3.
"What
did
you
do?"
–
Methods
In
an
abstract,
the
description
of
the
methods
has
to
be
concise,
and
much
of
the
details
of
what
was
done
must
be
omitted.
However,
you
can
give
the
reader
a
good
idea
of
the
design
of
the
study,
the
context
in
which
it
was
done,
and
the
types
of
data
that
were
included
and
analysed.
4.
"What
did
you
find?"
–
Results
It
is
important
to
give
the
main
results
of
the
study,
not
just
in
subjective
terms
("We
found
X
to
be
superior
to
Y")
but
also
in
the
form
of
some
real
data.
You
will
need
to
choose
which
findings
to
report
here:
it
should
be
the
most
important
data
in
your
study,
and
the
findings
on
which
your
conclusions
will
be
based.
Do
not
include
a
table
or
figure
unless
you
need
it
to
show
your
results.
5.
"What
does
it
mean?"
–
Conclusions
Space
limitations
generally
limit
you
to
a
single
sentence
of
why
you
think
your
findings
are
important,
and
their
potential
implications.
Keep
your
conclusions
reasonable
and
supportable
by
the
findings
of
your
study.
Remember
that
if
your
study
was
restricted
to
a
limited
amount
of
data,
its
results
may
not
extend
beyond
such
restrictions.
Some
general
advice
for
writing
abstracts
FOLLOW
THE
INSTRUCTIONS
-‐
However
good
your
study
was,
it
deserves
the
best
possible
chance
for
review
and
presentation.
This
means
that
you
should
follow
the
guidelines
or
stylesheet
for
submission.
USE
SIMPLE
SENTENCES
-‐
Unless
they
are
basic,
universally
accepted
abbreviations,
acronyms
and
abbreviations
should
be
spelled
out
the
first
time
they
are
used
in
the
abstract.
Similarly,
local
expressions
and
jargon
should
be
kept
out
of
the
abstract.
Keep
in
mind
that
practice
varies
from
country
to
country
and
that
you
should
aim
to
reach
the
largest
possible
readership.
ASK
YOUR
COLLEAGUES
FOR
HELP
-‐
Before
the
abstract
is
submitted,
it
should
be
double-‐checked
for
accuracy,
not
only
of
the
data
reported
but
of
the
description
of
the
methods
and
all
other
details.
Having
one
or
more
colleagues
(who
were
not
involved
in
the
study)
read
the
abstract
and
offer
constructive
criticism
can
be
helpful.
Special
attention
should
be
paid
to
tables,
figures
and
illustrations.
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+
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