Hello. My name is Tom Annesley, Professor of Clinical Chemistry at the University of Michigan. This presentation is designed to cover important

Hello. My name is Tom Annesley, Professor of Clinical Chemistry at the University of Michigan. This presentation is designed to cover important information about preparing an abstract for submission and presentation at a scientific conference. There are many benefits to submitting your work for presentation to your peers, but there are also responsibilities involved in submitting your work as well. The goal of this presentation is to provide you with information that can help you prepare a high quality abstract that is clear, concise, and relevant to your intended audience. 4

In this presentation I will cover multiple topics that relate to preparing and presenting an abstract. In the first part of the presentation I will discuss the 3 purposes of an abstract and several good reasons for submitting abstracts to scientific conferences. I will then then cover the characteristics of a good abstract and the various steps involved in writing an informative abstract. I will also give you some tips for writing an abstract. I also want to you understand the fallacies and misconceptions about abstracts so that you can avoid some pitfalls that I am sure that you have noted in abstracts that you have read, and therefore get the most benefit from your abstract. Finally I will cover the benefits of an oral presentation versus a poster presentation, and how to cite abstracts so that they make the most punch in your curriculum vitae or annual report. 7

An abstract serves three purposes. First is provides the reader or conference attendee with a brief yet informative summary of your study. Note the word informative in this first point. The problem with many abstracts is that they are not informative and are therefore at an immediate disadvantage when the reader forms an initial opinion about the abstract. I will cover this later, but want to stress this point here as well. Secondly, an abstract shows that your study makes a contribution to the conference. The abstract is your opportunity to highlight and bring meaning to your work. To not only show the relevance of your work to conference attendees, but also what sets it apart from other studies that were submitted for presentation. What is important about your topic and why should it be studied? What new aspect did you perform the study? What do your results show, and what do they mean to the field? The third purpose of an abstract is to draw conference attendees to your poster or oral presentation. It is nice to have the opportunity to publish an abstract, but it has little long term meaning or impact to anyone, including you, if nobody comes to see your work or recognize its value. Thus, an abstract must be informative, must be relevant, and must be able to draw people to want to hear more about your work. 8

There are a variety of good reasons to submit abstracts to conferences. Abstracts give visibility to you as a researcher. People who otherwise would not know who you are or what you have done will see your name and your topic of research. This is good publicity for you. Abstracts serve as a permanent record of your accomplishments. They can be listed in a curriculum vitae, annual report, promotion packet, job application, skills set, or other document. In a competitive field of research, an abstract can represent a permanent record that you were working on a particular project, or first reported a finding, at a specific date and time. Abstracts allow you to discuss your research and why you did it. It helps others to see the importance of your work. Just as important, presenting a poster or oral presentation at a conference gives you the opportunity to get feedback from others about your data, and possibly even some ideas about future studies. Someone may ask you whether you have tried X or tried Y, or whether you performed a certain control experiment. You may actually discover a missing piece to the puzzle through discussions with your colleagues. Submission of abstracts is an excellent way to reward students and staff for their extra efforts in performing or contributing to your study. Abstracts also provide an opportunity for you to attend a conference, or to justify sending someone else to a conference. In some institutions the presentation of an abstract is the only way to get to a conference. 9

A good conference abstract possesses several attributes. First, it stands on its own in telling a story. Readers should be able to understand what you did, why you did it, and what your results show without the necessity for you to explain it to them. Certainly, the restrictions on the lengths of abstracts preclude including every detail of the study, but there is no reason that a clear story cannot be presented in the abstract. It is important to state the hypothesis, question, or objective of your study. If the person reading the abstract cannot appreciate the goal of a study, why go learn more about it while at the conference? Of course, if you state a question or problem, it is equally important to give the answer as well. Conference attendees may come to your poster or oral presentation to learn more about your study, or ask a question, but they will feel frustrated if they must come to you just to find an answer. They may decide not to come to your presentation at all. Don t make conclusions that are unsupported by the data you are presenting in the abstract. If you have data or a result that you plan to present at the conference to draw a conclusion, then it is important enough data to add to the abstract. Conversely, do not include information in the abstract that will not be part of your final poster or presentation. You may think that it is alright to include preliminary data or results in an abstract and then replace them with newer, better, or more accurate data in the final presentation. This does everyone a disservice. Those individuals who just read the abstract will come away with one set of information, while those individuals who come to the presentation will have access to another set of information. Remember that it is the published abstract, not what you add to a poster or oral presentation, that is the official 11

record that will be cited or referenced. 11

While it may seem obvious, it is surprising how many scientists fail to follow the designated style and format set forth by the conference organizers. The required style, format, and allowed word count are there for a reason, and should not be considered as suggestions. For many conferences, the peer review volunteers are instructed to reject an abstract if the authors cannot take the care to follow the instructions. If you want readers or conference attendees to remember your study, you should continue to use the same key words and terms throughout the abstract that were used in the title. Even subliminally, it helps to drive home your point if you use the same terms again. I mentioned the need for clarity earlier. Clarity and readability are generally improved by limiting the use of abbreviations. If you are going to use a term multiple times in the abstract, it is OK to designate an abbreviation after a term is first used. Abbreviations take up less space then spelled out terms, and therefore are helpful here. However, the overuse of abbreviations can make the text look busy and make the abstract tedious to read. 12

Let s now consider how to prepare an informative abstract. Even at the beginning of writing the abstract, the process should include consideration of whether the conference you wish to submit to is the right one for you to present your data. If you were only going to submit the work to one conference, would this be the one? Even if the conference organizers accept a high percentage of abstracts, is your study really appropriate for the conference? Do you believe that the reviewers will accept the abstract? Stated differently, Is the submission to this conference a stretch for the amount and quality of data you have? If you answer no to any of these questions, then send your work to another conference. 14

The next step also involves gathering information before you begin to compose the abstract. Check the deadline date and submission requirements for any conference that you are considering. The worst thing to do is try to compose an abstract on the day before submissions are due. While you may succeed in creating an abstract, chances are good that it is not written as well, not proofed as well, not as clear, or not as accurate as what could have been accomplished with the correct amount of time. Remember, the published form of the abstract is the version of record and is the one that reflects your efforts and impacts your reputation. 15

One way to get useful information about how to prepare an informative abstract for a selected conference is to look at previously accepted abstracts for that conference. Read through a number of these abstracts. Look for the things that drew your attention to that particular abstract, and why. Was the message clear from the title? Was the information presented in a logical fashion? Did the authors use language that simply appealed to how you perceived the abstract? Also look at the abstracts that were selected for oral presentation. As will be discussed later in this presentation, abstracts selected for oral presentation are usually judged as superior to others. Were these abstracts prepared better or differently than the average abstract for that conference? What might the reviewers or conference organizers have seen in these submissions? Is there something you see that can help you as you write your abstract? 16

The title is the first thing that readers see and use to make a judgment about the abstract. You want to create a title that is concise, clear, and informative. Don t make the readers guess what the abstract is about or have to read in its entirety to grasp the topic. Don t risk losing the reader with a long title. In some cases the entire abstract must fit within a rectangle of specified size dimension to fit a printed pages. Since the title may be included in this allotted space, conciseness can be a virtue here. Select key words and terms carefully and place the words you want associated with your study early in the title. Key words and terms are often used by the conference organizers to decide which subject matter to classify your work into when setting the conference program and schedule. Most published conference proceedings contain a table of contents or table of subject matter, which is based on key words and terms that the author used in the abstract. So consider who may see your abstract based on the key words or terms you emphasize in your title. One simple way to condense a title is to eliminate wasted words or phrases that generally add nothing to the title. Examples include phrases such as development of, or a study of. Similarly, avoid terms such as new, novel, robust, and sensitive. Why would you report on a study or assay that was not new, not novel, or not sensitive? Terms like these are also subjective and may depend on the authors definition of newness or novelty. 17

The body of the abstract should follow the style set by conference organizers. Some conferences require simple abstracts, and some require structured abstracts with specific headers. Be sure to follow any required formats. I find it easiest to write the main body of the abstract if I try to tell a story by answering 4 basic questions. What problem or question was studied? How did I perform the study? What did I find? What did my results tell me? Since abstract have restrictions on words, you want to devote the bulk of the text, roughly 60 to 70%, to your experimental approach and your data or result. Only use as much text as necessary to introduce the topic to the reader. Only 1 or 2 sentences are necessary to state the conclusions. There should not be a Discussion section or Discussion paragraph in your abstract. 24

Before you submit the abstract, proof the abstract and then proof it again. Unlike publications in scientific journals, where the authors are sent galleys for review, you will not have the opportunity to see your abstract before it is printed. There will be no copyeditor to correct your grammar, catch incomplete sentences, or question unclear statements. What you submit is what you will see. Make sure that all authors have seen and signed off on the abstract. Don t assume what your coauthors may want to say or whether they agree with the conclusions. If requested as part of the submission process, look at the various scientific or topic categories being included at the conference and choose a topic category that best reflects the topic of your work. Follow the submission instructions exactly and do not assume that someone will correct some misstep you made. And most importantly, celebrate a job well done when you are finished with the submission. Even if the abstract is not accepted for presentation at the meeting, celebrate your efforts. 25

Use active voice instead of passive voice, especially for informative abstracts. For example, change B is exceeded by A to A exceeds B. Why is active voice important in abstracts? [ANSWER: Active voice is shorter.] Can the first person pronoun be used in abstracts? [ANSWER: Yes, if firstperson pronoun is used in document.] Use short, simple, concrete, familiar words. Avoid repetition and all unnecessary words. If possible, avoid the use of abbreviations, colloquialisms, and trade jargon. Abbreviations should be avoided because they are not universally recognizable. If a widely used abbreviation is available for a term that is used three or more times in an abstract, then be sure to define these terms on first use. Jargon refers to words that are understandable in conversation but that are vague, confusing, depersonalizing, or generally inappropriate in scientific writing. For example, avoid prepped and use prepared. For more examples, refer to The AMA Manual of Style or Edie Schwager s Medical English Usage and Abusage. When you finish writing the first draft of your abstract, review it carefully. Read it aloud and scrutinize every word. Don t use the 400 word allocation if you can tell your story in 250 words. Be economical and remember that readers are busy and don t have time to read. How many times have you skipped something because it had too many lines?

Continue editing the abstract with each subsequent revision of the manuscript. 27

Let s look at a hypothetical abstract as an example of an informative, yet concise abstract. Stop the presentation and take a moment to read the slide. Section 1 of the abstract, which you will see in the end takes up abut 10 to 15% of the abstract, includes the title and background. It answer the questions what did I study? and what was the goal of the study? The title is brief and states that the study was about antiproxin as a marker for congestive heart failure. Note that, while I used an abbreviation for congestive heart failure in the body of the abstract, I did not use it in the title and assume that the reader or conference organizers would know what CHF meant as a key term. The background text describes how BNP, a known marker of CHF, and antiproxin, a newly identified compound, are both released from the ventricles of the heart. This gives the reader some idea of why I studied antiproxin. I then state the goal of the study. The bold text shows that I used the same key words or terms more than once, even in this introductory section, to drill home what I wanted the reader to remember about the study. Note that I used the terms congestive heart failure, ventricles of the heart, and marker more than once. 28

This slide and the next contain the main body of the abstract. Take a moment to read this slide. The first sentence describes the experimental design of the study. It is informative because, rather than stating that 3 different groups were studied, it gives specific information about each group as well as how many subjects were in each group. The next 3 sentences describe the data and results for the antiproxin portion of the study. Rather than being generic and just stating that differences were noted, both data and results are provided for the benefit of the reader so the reader can see the differences and whether they were statistically significant. 29

Using the same presentation style and layout, the data and results for BNP are presented. Take a moment to compare this slide and the last one to see the consistency in the presentation of the data and results. 30

Lastly, the abstract ends with a sentence stating the conclusions from the study. It also provides the answer to the question posed at the beginning of the abstract. In the end, this abstract was informative because it described the topic of the study, why the study was performed, how it was performed, what data and results were obtained, and what the results showed. 31

This is the complete abstract, which contained only 253 words. After you have listened to the rest of this presentation, come back to this slide and read this abstract in its entirety. Are there ways you might improve it? What else would you like to see in the abstract? 32

Let s take a moment and summarize some of the tips for writing a conference abstract. You want to use key words in the title. In this case I want the reader to remember antiproxin and congestive heart failure. I also want to use these same key words whenever possible in the main body of the abstract. Avoid abbreviations in the title. As shown here, would the average scientist seeing just this title in a program know what SES and ER+ mean? To make sure that the reader remembers the point of the abstract, use the same term consistently throughout the abstract. The example here shows 3 different ways to state the same idea. Pick one. Avoid any possibility for the reader to become confused. Use the bulk of the body of the abstract to cover your methods and results. Given the length restrictions for an abstract, these are what readers are likely to be most interested in anyway. Make sure that you answer the question or state whether you reached your objective. The background and conclusions must be consistent. 33

To save space, unless the instructions for abstract submissions specifically state otherwise, do not add indentations, line, or section breaks. Use the word wrap feature to make maximal use of the space allowed. Use the active voice when you can. It not only sounds more affirmative, but also uses less words in most cases. Avoid phrases that contain weak, even subjective terms such as suggest, trended, or tended. Don t promise future results or future experiments. The only time that such language is appropriate is when you are asked to provide a summary of the content of a future lecture or research seminar that people may wish to attend. Lastly, if you truly want to give your abstract the least possibility of acceptance, end with the obvious. Future studies are needed. 34

If not prohibited by the instructions for abstract submissions, consider inserting a figure or table if it would help explain the data or results better. If you do so, however, the placement of the table or figure is important. Describe the results, that is, what you found, before showing the data. Otherwise the reader will have to locate where in the body of the abstract the data is explained. In an abstract you do not need a table title or figure legend since you are describing in the immediate text what to look for. Use the same font size and style as the rest of the text. And make sure that the figure or table will be legible when reduced to fir within the allotted space. 36

This is the same abstract that I used as an example earlier. In this case I removed all of the data from the main text and create a table where the reader can visually compare all of the data for the patient groups. But I placed the table containing the data after I told the reader what to look for. 37

So let s finish with some take home messages. The first goal when creating an abstract is to provide sufficient useful information so that the reader can understand what you did, how you did it, what you found, and what you conclude from your study. If the abstract does not contain this basic information, then it has failed to achieve its goal. Abstracts can be concise and still contain sufficient information. The key is to take the time and effort to think about what you want to say and the best way to say it. Don t wait until the last moment before the submission deadline to prepare an abstract. If you do, it will show. Missing information or data will create a negative impression with the reader, who may choose to just skip your poster. An abstract that has holes in it will also not be cited as much. Conference participants want as much information as you can provide. Most importantly, peer reviewers want any excuse to reject an abstract, so don t give them a reason to do so. 39