Datamatics and Projecting Sierra Leone

a First Impression: 6 Tips for Writing a

The abstract is perhaps the most important section of your manuscript for several reasons. First, the abstract is the first section that is read by journal editors when deciding whether to send your manuscript for review. Similarly, once your work is published, it is the first section that is examined by readers; in many cases, it is the only section of the manuscript that they will ever read. This is in part because most literature databases index only abstracts, and access to full-text articles is often restricted.

In this way, the abstract emerges as a tool to communicate your research succinctly while highlighting its most important facets. The following article describes how to write a great abstract that will attract maximal attention to your research.

1. Write the paper first
Some authors will tell you that you should write the abstract as soon as your research is complete. However, it is likely that your project has been spread out over months or even years; thus, the full picture of what you have accomplished may not be fresh in your mind. Writing the paper first solves this problem, effectively refreshing your memory as you condense all of the aspects of your work into a single document. The manuscript can then be used as a guide to write the abstract, which serves as a concise summary of your research.

If you are having a hard time figuring out where to start, consider going through your paper and highlighting the most important sentences in each section (introduction, methods, results, and discussion/conclusions). Then, use these sentences as an outline to write your abstract. At this point, it is also important to check your target journal's style guide to examine their abstract guidelines. For example, some journals require a structured abstract with discrete sections, and most journals impose a strict word count limit.

2. Provide introductory background information that leads into a statement of your aim
The first section of your abstract is very valuable real estate. These 1-3 sentences must inform the reader about why you have undertaken this research.

For example, “The importance of epistasis¬—non-additive interactions between alleles—in shaping population fitness has long been a controversial topic, hampered in part by lack of empirical evidence”1 is an excellent example of an introductory sentence that both states the main topic (the role of epistasis in shaping population fitness) and describes the problem (the lack of empirical evidence in this area). Thus, it immediately grabs the attention of the reader. The next sentence might go on to describe what information is lacking in the field or what previous researchers have done to try to address the problem.

Such statements can lead very naturally into a statement of how your research uniquely addresses the issue. Use of introductory phrases such as “Here, we aimed to…” or “Here, we demonstrate that…” indicates to the reader that you are stating the aim or purpose of your work.

AJE's abstract editing service is specifically designed to help you polish your abstract and meet word count limits.

3. Briefly describe your methodology
The methods section of your abstract is your chance to summarize the basic design of your study. Excessive detail is unnecessary; however, you should briefly state the key techniques used. Abstracts in biological or clinical fields should mention the organism, cell line, or population studied. For ecology papers, the location of the study is often an important piece of information. Papers describing clinical trials should mention the sample size, patient groups, dosages, and study duration. The following example provides all of this information clearly and concisely in a single sentence: “One hundred consecutive consenting male inpatients in a state of moderately severe, uncomplicated alcohol withdrawal at screening were randomized to receive either lorazepam (8 mg/day) or chlordiazepoxide (80 mg/day) with dosing down-titrated to zero in a fixed-dose schedule across 8 treatment days.”2

4. Clearly describe the most important findings of your study
Just as the abstract may be the most important part of your paper, the results subsection is likely the most important part of your abstract. This is because the main reason that people are reading your abstract is to learn about your findings. Therefore, the results subsection should be the longest part of your abstract, and you should try to maximize the amount of detail you include here.

For example, statements such as “significant differences in body weight were observed between the animals in groups A and B” are not very informative. Instead, consider making more specific statements, such as “the average body weight loss of the animals in group A was greater than that of the animals in group B (20.4±0.3 g vs. 8.4±0.6 g; p

TURNING YOUR / INTO A PUBLISHABLE JOURNAL ARTICLE

The dissertation and a peer reviewed journal article are rather different entities, and although there are similarities, each has their own requirements and audiences. This paper provides guidelines to assist a doctoral candidate to write up and publish journal articles based on their doctoral dissertation. The task of doing so requires thought and structured preparation to ensure that the draft article is in the appropriate format and is ready to be considered for publication in a peer reviewed journal.

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