writing a research abstract

[neuro1617]

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I have to submit an abstract of my work (thus far; it's not even halfway done) for my summer research program and was wondering if anyone could give me some info as to what to include? Do I have to write my reasons for hypotheses? My PI pretty much said to give it a try and she'll help me revise it. I'm really not even sure where to start...

 

[Law2Doc]

I have to submit an abstract of my work (thus far; it's not even halfway done) for my summer research program and was wondering if anyone could give me some info as to what to include? Do I have to write my reasons for hypotheses? My PI pretty much said to give it a try and she'll help me revise it. I'm really not even sure where to start...

Go to some scientific journals online or through pubmed and look at some abstract examples. Should give you a better notion.

 

[ar2388]

here is the astract i wrote for a SURP program last summer

Thalamus volume and glucose metabolism in autism spectrum disorder
patients.

Abstract


The flow of sensory information to the cortex is controlled by the
thalamus. Patients with autism spectrum disorders have known sensory
impairments suggesting thalamic abnormalities. However, postmortem
studies with autism have not found any abnormalities in thalamus. In
this
study, positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) scans were used to measure the relative glucose metabolic rate
(rGMR) and assess the volume of the thalamus in 20 patients with
high-functioning autism (N = 9) or Asperger's disorder (N=11) and 23
age-
and sex-matched controls. Subjects performed the California Verbal
Learning Test (CVLT) during the PET uptake of
[(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose.
The thalamus was outlined on contiguous axial MRI slices and then
co-registered to the PET scan. We analyzed the relative volume and the
relative metabolism of the thalamus using a Group (Normal Controls,
Autism, Asperger's disorder) by Hemisphere (Left, Right)
repeated-measures
ANOVA. There were no group differences in the volume of the thalamus.
However, we found that patients with Autism had significantly lower in
rGMR compared with normal controls and Asperger's disorder patients
(F=3.95, df=2, 40, p=0.027). Our results replicate two previous studies
which showed thalamic functional changes in autism patients. In the
future, we plan to correlate rGMR with neuropsychological clinical scores.

 

[foster033]

My PI pretty much said to give it a try and she'll help me revise it. I'm really not even sure where to start...

I spent ~15 hours straight trying to write an abstract to submit (conference deadline was the next day). I thought it was really great. Once my PI and I finished going through it I only had 1 of my original sentences left...and this is good for his editing...usually there is only 1 or 2 phrases left.

moral of the story. Don't waste too much time b/c even if it's good your PI will probably want it written a certain way. Just make sure you get the basic ideas down.

 

[Dienekes]

I spent ~15 hours straight trying to write an abstract to submit (conference deadline was the next day). I thought it was really great. Once my PI and I finished going through it I only had 1 of my original sentences left...and this is good for his editing...usually there is only 1 or 2 phrases left.

moral of the story. Don't waste too much time b/c even if it's good your PI will probably want it written a certain way. Just make sure you get the basic ideas down.

15 hours? For an abstract? Wow.

 

[foster033]

15 hours? For an abstract? Wow.

Yeah, well I knew how critical my boss is about this stuff and I was really trying to get it just right.

But in the end I realized it didn't matter...even though I had revised what I had written about 30 times, and it was pretty much perfect, he still changed it b/c it wasn't exactly the way he writes. He did congratulate me for having so much of my own work stay in there after his revision though, and this is really what I was working for.

 

[neuro1617]

here is the astract i wrote for a SURP program last summer

Thalamus volume and glucose metabolism in autism spectrum disorder
patients.

Abstract


The flow of sensory information to the cortex is controlled by the
thalamus. Patients with autism spectrum disorders have known sensory
impairments suggesting thalamic abnormalities. However, postmortem
studies with autism have not found any abnormalities in thalamus. In
this
study, positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) scans were used to measure the relative glucose metabolic rate
(rGMR) and assess the volume of the thalamus in 20 patients with
high-functioning autism (N = 9) or Asperger's disorder (N=11) and 23
age-
and sex-matched controls. Subjects performed the California Verbal
Learning Test (CVLT) during the PET uptake of
[(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose.
The thalamus was outlined on contiguous axial MRI slices and then
co-registered to the PET scan. We analyzed the relative volume and the
relative metabolism of the thalamus using a Group (Normal Controls,
Autism, Asperger's disorder) by Hemisphere (Left, Right)
repeated-measures
ANOVA. There were no group differences in the volume of the thalamus.
However, we found that patients with Autism had significantly lower in
rGMR compared with normal controls and Asperger's disorder patients
(F=3.95, df=2, 40, p=0.027). Our results replicate two previous studies
which showed thalamic functional changes in autism patients. In the
future, we plan to correlate rGMR with neuropsychological clinical scores.

Thanks for the example!🙂

 

[neuro1617]

I spent ~15 hours straight trying to write an abstract to submit (conference deadline was the next day). I thought it was really great. Once my PI and I finished going through it I only had 1 of my original sentences left...and this is good for his editing...usually there is only 1 or 2 phrases left.

moral of the story. Don't waste too much time b/c even if it's good your PI will probably want it written a certain way. Just make sure you get the basic ideas down.

Wow that's a little discouraging. But I figured she would probably want to revise a good bit of it so thanks for the advice.

 

[Bacchus]

And this is why some PIs need to get off their high horse imo and its one of the reasons why I haven't done any research. Telling someone to do something, without help, and then tear it apart isn't a learning experience. Its more like a brutal beating. Yeah you may learn, but its much nicer to have some lead and learn from there. Good luck!

 

[opb]

I second Law2Doc's post. I was in a similar situation as you, and I basically looked at a lot of abstracts online to get a feel for how people format it.

I think the abstract is the hardest part of a paper to write because you basically summarize the whole study in one paragraph. I'm sure your PI knows you've never written an abstract before, so just take a stab at it and do your best. PM me if you want a copy of an abstract I wrote a while ago. Good luck!

 

[Dienekes]

And this is why some PIs need to get off their high horse imo and its one of the reasons why I haven't done any research. Telling someone to do something, without help, and then tear it apart isn't a learning experience. Its more like a brutal beating.

I have no idea why so many people have experiences like this. In all of the projects I have done that have resulted in publications or presentations, I have never had a prof treat me in such a degrading manner.

 

[Bacchus]

I have no idea why so many people have experiences like this. In all of the projects I have done that have resulted in publications or presentations, I have never had a prof treat me in such a degrading manner.

I know, I know. And I know you're an awesome PI 😉. However, the description above of saving mere phrases out of an abstract is complete and utter poo.

 

[schismal]

I have no idea why so many people have experiences like this. In all of the projects I have done that have resulted in publications or presentations, I have never had a prof treat me in such a degrading manner.

I agree. And honestly, someone who views abstract critiquing as a "brutal beating" is probably going to cry himself to sleep every night during internship and residency.

Anyway, run the abstract by some of the grad students before bothering your PI.

 

[Bacchus]

I agree. And honestly, someone who views abstract critiquing as a "brutal beating" is probably going to cry himself to sleep every night during internship and residency.

Anyway, run the abstract by some of the grad students before bothering your PI.

Will you hold me as I cry?

 

[neuro1617]

I agree. And honestly, someone who views abstract critiquing as a "brutal beating" is probably going to cry himself to sleep every night during internship and residency.

Anyway, run the abstract by some of the grad students before bothering your PI.

Yeah, I was thinking of doing this tomorrow since she wants me to give it to her Friday.

 

[schismal]

Will you hold me as I cry?

Post n00dz and then I'll decide. 👍

 

[foster033]

And this is why some PIs need to get off their high horse imo and its one of the reasons why I haven't done any research. Telling someone to do something, without help, and then tear it apart isn't a learning experience. Its more like a brutal beating. Yeah you may learn, but its much nicer to have some lead and learn from there. Good luck!

He wasn't doing it to be mean at all, and I wasn't upset about it. My PI and I get along really well...we actually have the best relationship of any tech/PI I know (Which is probably why I spent so long on it, because I wanted to please him, and a little cause I had no idea what I was doing).
I think just going ahead and giving it a shot is the best way to learn. In my case I knew the most about the research since I designed it, so I was the best person to make sure everything got in there that needed to be.
I was aware before I wrote the abstract that he was probably going to totally redo it, and that it would have nothing to do with how good my draft was...he just wanted it done his own way...and why shouldn't he, he's putting his name on it and he paid for the research, so I think it's only fair.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

First start off by giving us some background info...Not too much

then Start out by giving some broad info/goals of your project : ex-help cure cancer, etc.

then start getting more technical-to see if so and so protein affected so an so

then give your hypothesis and some reasoning why you think this...and how you are going to go about proving the hypothesis.