How to write a scientific abstract - Undergraduate Research如何写一个科学抽象——本科研究.pptVIP

How to write a scientific abstract Anne E. Carey Interim director, Undergraduate Research Office August 2, 2011 When do you write an abstract? Professional meeting Conference paper Journal article Grant proposal Thesis Why care about writing abstracts? A good abstract will repay you with increased impact on the world by enticing people to read your publications or come to your poster. Make sure that all the components of a good abstract are included in the next one you write. Writing a good abstract is hard work. Helps you learn to read others’ abstracts effectively Getting started Questions to ask yourself before you start writing your abstract… What’s the problem? Why hasn’t it been done before? Why and how could you do it now? What was the purpose of the research? Parts of an abstract Introduction Background Why you are doing your research How you did your research Findings Implications 1. Introduction Set the stage for why your work is important Was the research difficult? Does it have major implications? Make sure you make the work interesting to the reader Brief introduction to your work Usually one to two sentences 2. Background What have others done? What has not yet been done? Identify gaps in the field Which are the important gaps? The hook that draws the reader in 3. Why your research How were your data collected, compiled, generated, analyzed? What gaps are you filling? Is the problem urgent? What new method or tools became available that you used? What method from another field are you applying to your field? 4. Methods List, tabulate, mention Methods Models Procedures Approaches Avoid detail here (unless your work is about methods development) 5. Findings What’s the answer? What did you learn (or invent or create)? Give quantitative results (if you have them) Avoid hand-waving words (very, small, significant…) Use hedge words if you need them (might, could, may, seem) Don’t give results that could be mis-interpreted or don’t actually exist yet 6. Im