How to write an abstract workshop

Introduction

The topic

This small workshop activity is about helping you prepare abstracts in response to a 'call for papers'. It came about because it appeared that some people were having difficulty in writing abstracts for submission to the organising committee for the last two ALIA Top End symposia.

My expectations

At the conclusion of this training activity, it is hoped that:

You will have gained confidence in preparing abstracts.
The skills you have acquired will percolate through into better presentations.

What are your expectations?

My feeling is that you will fall into several categories:

Have never presented or written a paper before, but want to try or feel obligated to give it a go.
Have presented before or written papers but were dissatisfied with the outcome.
Have presented many times in the past, written oodles of papers, but just curious.

Program

Purpose - why we are asked to prepare an abstract
Content - what an abstract is expected to do and how it relates to the planned presentation
Structure and style - designing your abstract and walking it down the catwalk

Purpose

Why are we asked to prepare an abstract?

Specifically, to help the organising committee to assess the relevance and appropriateness of the proposed presentation and, if we are being honest, the state of preparedness of the proposer.
Indirectly, to cause the proposer to think more clearly about what they want to present (see above).

Will the effort involved be worth it?

Only you can decide if the trouble will be worth it, but you might consider that if you do decide to submit an abstract, and this leads to an invitation to prepare and present a paper at the next ALIA Top End Symposium, then this activity is something to add to your CV and, for ALIA members, counts also as a CPD activity.

If you think that it seems like so much effort for such a small amount of writing, you would be well advised to bear in mind the abstract is either 'the only part of a paper many workers will read' (Royal Society 1974), or it is read by significantly more people than the paper (by a factor of 100 to 500 times, according to the American Society of Agronomy 1976).

ALIA Top End Symposium , 7-8 October

The symposium theme

To help you start, it is worthwhile considering what the upcoming ALIA Top End Symposium organising committee is looking for:

Theme - Technology, Visions or Nightmares: True Stories in the Territory
What does this mean - how is relevance and appropriateness assessed?

Content

What information should an abstract contain?

An abstract should:

State the objectives and scope of the investigation or activity.
Describe the methods used, approaches taken etc, range of operation.
Summarise the results or findings.
State the principal conclusions.

The title of the paper is usually read as part of the abstract and should not be repeated in the abstract.

Relationship between an abstract submission and preparation of a symposium paper

If you consider what an abstract should contain, you will note that the content mirrors closely the elements that comprise the traditional research paper, namely:

Introduction - catching the reader's interest: emphasis, short, clarity, background, objectives of present work. The introduction links to the conclusion.
Materials and methods - not just for scientific investigations but what inputs were required (staff, resources), what approaches did you take?
Results or findings - present relevant observations and data gathered in the course of the work or activity; describe the results in a logical and chronological order.
Discussion - discuss the results, assess meaning, implications, highlight significance. Be certain to get the message over but do not restate the results.
Conclusions - summarise what has been done so the reader is left in no doubt as to what you did.

Structure and style

Structure - the physicality of an abstract

What do we look for in an abstract? How does it look?

Choose a specific and detailed title - this 'sets the scene'
An abstract should be short, not more than five per cent of the length of the final paper, or 250 words whichever is the smaller.
Usually a single, well-developed paragraph, comprising probably three to four sentences at most.
Consider the use of keywords embedded within the abstract to assist in electronic information retrieval, i.e. help it be googled?
Do not include references, figures, tables or citations.

Style - writing an abstract

'Nothing is more abjectly feeble than to write some such sentence as 'The relevance of these findings to the etiology of Bright's disease is discussed'. If it has been discussed, the discussion should be summarised. If not, say nothing' (Medawar 1979).

Good writing style involves:

Writing concisely in normal rather than abbreviated English.
Avoiding unnecessary contractions.
Making specific rather than general statements.

Some style examples

Avoid waffle

Whilst waffles are very nice to eat, writers should avoid waffle like the plague. Some examples of waffle:

(cf Medawar): 'includes a discussion on ...', 'we had a great time ...', 'I will energise the audience in my presentation'

Poor writing style; good writing style

Some examples of poor and good writing styles illustrate the difference:

Poor: two levels of P; Good: 40 and 80 kg P
Poor: nitrogen fertilizer increased the N-content of the grain; Good: nitrogen fertilizer increased the N-content from 1.3 to 1.5 per cent

Sample abstract

The Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) is a species of North American songbird inhabiting the United States and Canada. Unlike many other songbirds whose songs vary geographically, previous studies done on chickadee populations from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario, Missouri, Wisconsin, Alberta, Utah, British Columbia, Washington, and California have shown that males sing a typical two tone song, "fee-bee-ee," with little variation between populations. Researchers have also shown that an isolated population from Martha's Vineyard, an island offshore of Massachusetts, demonstrates singing patterns different from the usual two note songs. I am studying a second isolated population of chickadees in Alaska, which has not been systematically investigated previously. There is one anecdotal report that suggested the males from the Alaskan population have unusual singing patterns. For example, the males sing songs with multiple notes accompanied with frequency shifts. The goal of my research...

Sample abstract

Within the historiography of North American studies, my research attempts to combine criticisms of 'them vs. us' historical paradigms with recent psychological findings on stereotype formation, self-esteem and implicit self-theories.

Next steps

Closing date for submission - 30 May
If accepted, closing date for finalising the paper - on the day

Peter Walton, workshop presenter

A a