Writing an Abstract

Abstracts play a vital role because of today’s electronic information retrieval systems.  Titles and abstracts are filed electronically and key words are put in electronic storage.  When people search for information, they enter key words related to the subject and the computer prints out the titles of articles, papers, and reports containing those key words.  Thus, an abstract must contain key words about what is essential in an article, paper, or report.

Generally speaking, an abstract is a condensed version of a longer piece of writing, but it can also be a brief summary of a project or research study.  There are typically two types of abstracts: 1) descriptive; describes a project but does not include results or conclusions, and 2) informative; describes a project and also provides results and conclusions.   Abstracts presented at UHMS meetings are generally the informative type and are limited to 300 words or less.

An effective abstract has the following qualities:

·       Uses one or more well-developed paragraphs which are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone.

·       Uses an introduction/body/conclusion structure which presents a project’s background, methods, results, conclusions and, if appropriate, recommendations, in that order.

·       Provides logical transitions between each section.

·       Is understandable to a wide audience.

The abstract should look similar to the following:

TITLE

Authors (last name, initial, presenting author listed first) followed by Department, Institution, City, State and Country.

Background:

Method(s):

Result(s):

Conclusion(s):

Before submitting your abstract, carefully proofread it to correct errors in spelling, grammar, formatting and word count.

Copyright (c) 2006 Associates of the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society.  Rights Reserved.