“Writing an Abstract” Fellow’s Seminar Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and Psychology Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Department of Pediatrics Case Western Reserve University Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital H. Gerry Taylor, Ph.D., ABPP-CN

Purposes and Formats for Abstracts Orient reader to issue under investigation and intelligible to wide audience. Describe background, methods, results, conclusions. Provide stand-alone summary and give take- home message. Have different formats and maximum words depending on journal and professional group, but usually words.

Why Important? What reader sees when searching through electronic data base--e.g., to see if interested enough to retrieve full paper or to decide whether to include in meta-analysis or in formal review of literature. What reviewers are sent to help them decide if they are willing to review a paper. Part published from conference presentation.

Goals of Seminar Provide guidelines in writing each of the four major sections of an abstract. Review and critique example abstracts from meeting presentations and journals. Practice abstract writing: draft and critique your own abstract based on presentation of study of traumatic brain injury in young children.

Title and Background Title: Short, concise, and catchy. Simple statement of content or major finding. Background: 1-3 sentences. States what is known and/or not known and gives aim or hypotheses. Unnecessary content should be excluded.

Contents of Methods Research design--e.g., cohort, case control, longitudinal, clinical trial. Groups being compared with n’s (e.g., diagnostic groups, controls, doses) and (if relevant) setting for study. Duration/timing of follow-ups if longitudinal. Measures (may want to specify primary vs. secondary ones). Analytic procedures, though these can also be mentioned in Results.

Contents of Results Often longest part of abstract. Focus on most important/primary findings that relate to stated aims and try to tell story (cohesiveness). Make sure to give direction of findings (e.g., low scores on … were associated with higher rates of …) rather than just stating that the association was significant. Provide statistics (e.g., percents, odds ratios and confidence intervals, betas, p-values) for selective key findings.

Conclusions Provides concise take-home message. Highlights primary finding, novelty of results, and what adds to literature. May list other findings if important. States what findings mean (e.g., “Results suggest that…”) or gives clinical or research implications.

Guidelines in Drafting Abstract Review author guidelines for journal or professional group. Write last after paper written and only include information that is in the paper. Avoid citations and minimize abbreviations, though may need some to meet length requirements. Can draft by including sentence for each section, then add transitions and make more cohesive.

Guidelines in Drafting--Continued Usually don’t include tables or figures. Use past tense and active voice--e.g., “We measured social status using…” instead of “Social status was measured using…”. Avoid passive constructions--e.g., “Two groups were tested” instead of “There were two groups that were tested”. Make sure conclusion stated fairly in light of study limitations so as not to mislead reader.

Guidelines in Revising Abstract Delete unnecessary content and make sure major aspects of study and findings are covered. Add transitions to improve flow and link sections together where possible. Proofread to correct errors in spelling and grammar and to shorten overly long sentences.