Abstracts are typically a compact summary of scientific research or non-commercial clinical content that you would like to share with your colleagues in academia or clinical practice. It should include a title of your presentation, author information, degree credentials, contact information (email id), institution name, and the location.
This summary usually should NOT exceed one page and include the following content in a smooth, orderly fashion:
1. Purpose or Hypothesis: The first section of your abstract summary should highlight the importance and motivation of doing this research and clearly state the purpose of your project or study.
To write this section, try to answer questions such as “why is there a need to study this topic”, “what is not known in the literature or clinical experience”, “does this project fill a gap in research or clinical practice”, and “what is the central argument of your study”.
2. Materials or Methods or Approach: After determining the importance of your research problem and stating the purpose, describe how you methodically solved the research problem and conducted your research.
Include content on the research design (experimental, correlational, cross-sectional, case report etc.), study participants, variables, and statistical analysis as applicable.
3. Results summary: This section should present the results of your research project in a quantitative or qualitative manner.
To write this section, try to answer questions such as “what were the outcomes of your study”, “did the results meet the study’s expectations or hypothesis”, “were there any unexpected findings”.
4. Conclusions and clinical relevance: This section should describe the findings, limitations and applicability of the study’s findings to the research field or clinical practice. Include additional content on the need to expand research in this area.
Some Do’s and Don’ts when writing research abstracts:
- Abstracts require information on all author(s) or presenter(s), including degree credentials, contact information, institution and its respective location. Always check if your contact information is correct.
- Avoid unnecessary acronyms or abbreviations as much as possible. This simply confuses the reader as they read your summary.
- Your abstract typically shouldn’t have any in-text references. Provide all references or citations separately.
- Do NOT include figures or tables in your abstract. These are typically reserved for your poster or platform presentation.