abstracts lecture--aiello--14 july 2011.ppt

Writing the
Writing the
Scientific Abstract
Scientific Abstract
Presented for Texas A&M University
July 14, 2011
Susan E. Aiello, DVM, ELS
susan@words-world.net
WordsWorld Consulting www.words-world.net

Overview
Overview
 Purposes and uses of abstracts
 Types of abstracts
 Common errors
 The writing and the writing process
 Special considerations for
presentations, meetings, posters, etc

The Abstract
The Abstract
 The abstract should be the best
part of the paper!
 It is the most frequently read part
of an article after the title.

Purposes of the Abstract
 Provides an overview of the article
(readers may read nothing else)
 Provides context for those who do
read the article
 Used by journals to assign reviewers
 Used by abstracting and information
services to index and retrieve articles
 Used by translation services for
foreign readers

 Helps reader decide whether to read
the article (ie, is this important to me?)
 Provides reminders for readers after
they’ve read the article
 Directs readers’ attention to the
highlights of the article
In general, the abstract reflects on the
professionalism and integrity of the work.

Characteristics of the Abstract
 Accurate, coherent, and
readable
 Concise, specific, and selective
 Self-contained, ie, stand alone

 Complete and internally consistent
 No references
 No tables or figures
 No or few abbreviations (must be
defined)
 Conclusions should be based on
data/info presented within the abstract
Self-contained, ie, stand alone
Self-contained, ie, stand alone

What Abstracts Are NOT
What Abstracts Are NOT
 Not substitutes for the article and
should not be cited as references
 Not a summary of the entire article;
should present main finding
 Do not contain enough information for
a critical evaluation of the research
 Not fully peer-reviewed; up to 60% are
never followed by a complete scientific
article

Content of an Abstract
 Define purpose and scope of study,
ie, the question
 Describe materials and methods used
 Summarize the results
 State the conclusions and their
implications

 Define purpose and scope of study, ie, the
question
Introduction
 Describe materials and methods used
Materials and Methods
 Summarize the results
Results
 State the conclusions and their implications
Discussion

 Introduction Why?
 Materials and Methods How?
 Results What?
 Discussion So What?

Types of Abstracts
Types of Abstracts
 Descriptive abstracts
 Indicative abstracts (review articles)
 Informative abstracts (results papers)
 Structured abstracts
 Presentation, meeting, poster abstracts

Descriptive Abstracts
 Indicate the scope of the findings
 Contain little substantive information
 Emphasize the report itself, not its
contents
 Called “pap” abstracts
“A study was undertaken, the data were
accumulated, and some interesting observations
were made. Our conclusions are given.”

This report describes a brief, 15-session couples
group therapy format developed by a university-
affiliated human sexuality clinic for the
simultaneous treatment of marital and sexual
dysfunctions. The major marital and sexual
themes addressed in this group treatment
design, an overview and description of the
structure of the cognitive-behavioral approach,
and a case illustration are presented.
Example:

Behavioral wellness has become a recent focus for the
care of laboratory animals, farm and zoo animals, and
pets. Behavioral enrichment issues for these groups are
more similar than dissimilar, and each group can learn
from the other. The emphasis on overall enhancement
for laboratory dogs and cats in this review includes an
emphasis on behavioral enrichment. Understanding the
range of behaviors, behavioral choices, and cognitive
stimulation that cats and dogs exhibit under non-
laboratory conditions can increase the ability of
investigators to predict which enrichments are likely to
be the most successful in the laboratory. Many of the
enrichment strategies described are surprisingly
straightforward and inexpensive to implement.
Example:
ILAR J. 2005;46(2):202-215.

Indicative Abstracts
 State objective of review
 Give succinct summary of the data sources
 Specify criteria used to select studies
 Describe guidelines used for abstracting
data and assessing data quality
 State main results of review and methods
used to obtain these results
 State conclusions and potential applications
of the results
Abstracts of Review Articles
Written after the paper has been written

Objective—To review the literature relating to the
effectiveness of education strategies designed to change
physician performance and health care outcomes.
Data Sources—We searched MEDLINE, ERIC, NTIS, the
Research and Development Resource Base in Continuing
Medical Education, and other relevant data sources from
1975 to 1994, using continuing medical education (CME)
and related terms as keywords. We manually searched
journals and the bibliographies of other review articles
and called on the opinions of recognized experts.
Example:
cont.

Study Selection—We reviewed studies that met the following
criteria: randomized controlled trials of education strategies or
interventions that objectively assessed physician performance
and/or health care outcomes. These intervention strategies
included (alone and in combination) educational materials, formal
CME activities, outreach visits such as academic detailing, opinion
leaders, patient-mediated strategies, audit with feedback, and
reminders. Studies were selected only if more than 50% of the
subjects were either practicing physicians or medical residents.
Data Extraction—We extracted the specialty of the physicians
targeted by the interventions and the clinical domain and setting
of the trial. We also determined the details of the educational
intervention, the extent to which needs or barriers to change had
been ascertained prior to the intervention, and the main outcome
measure(s).
cont.

Data Synthesis—We found 99 trials, containing 160 interventions,
that met our criteria. Almost two thirds of the interventions (101 of
160) displayed an improvement in at least one major outcome
measure: 70% demonstrated a change in physician performance, and
48% of interventions aimed at health care outcomes produced a
positive change. Effective change strategies included reminders,
patient-mediated interventions, outreach visits, opinion leaders, and
multifaceted activities. Audit with feedback and educational materials
were less effective, and formal CME conferences or activities, without
enabling or practice-reinforcing strategies, had relatively little impact.
Conclusion—Widely used CME delivery methods such as conferences
have little direct impact on improving professional practice. More
effective methods such as systematic practice-based interventions
and outreach visits are seldom used by CME providers.
JAMA 1995;274:700-705.

Informative Abstracts
 State briefly the content of the paper
 Follow the sequence of the article
– Intro, Method, Results, Discussion
– Also possibly Background, Conclusions, Implications
 Include the species or population, study
design or experimental approach, and
independent and dependent variables
 Represent each section of the paper by at
least one sentence in the abstract
Abstracts of Results Papers

 Inconsistency between
text and abstract (~50%)
 Reporting data not present
in the paper (~30%)
 Both (15%)
Common Errors

Double check every
single piece of data in the
abstract against the data
in the body of the article!
How to Fix Most Common
Errors

 No question or question stated vaguely
 Implication stated instead of answer
 Too long
 Too much detail
Other Errors

 Study design
 Experimental
subjects
 Methods
 Results
 Interpretation
 Patient
 Unusual
features of the
case
Research Paper Case Report

A
In patients with heart disease, left ventricular diastolic
performance is evaluated clinically by inserting a Swan-
Ganz catheter to measure pulmonary capillary wedge
pressure as an estimate of left atrial pressure. B1
To
determine whether pulmonary venous flow and mitral
inflow assessed less invasively, by transesophageal pulsed
Doppler echocardiography, accurately estimate mean left
atrial pressure, B2
we prospectively studied 27 consecutive
patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery. C
We
correlated Doppler variables of pulmonary venous flow
and mitral inflow with simultaneously measured mean left
atrial pressure and changes in pressure assessed by left
atrial or pulmonary artery catheters.
Example:
Cont.

D
We found that the most strongly correlated pulmonary venous
flow variable, the systolic fraction of pulmonary venous flow,
correlated more strongly with mean left atrial pressure (r = -0.86)
than did the most strongly correlated mitral inflow variable, the
ratio of peak early diastolic to peak late diastolic mitral flow
velocity (r = -0.75). E
Similarly, changes in the systolic fraction of
pulmonary venous flow correlated more strongly with changes in
mean left atrial pressures (r = -0.79) than did changes in the ratio
of peak early diastolic to peak late diastolic mitral inflow velocity
(r = 0.65). F
We conclude that pulmonary venous flow assessed by
transesophageal pulsed Doppler echocardiography accurately
estimates mean left atrial pressure. G
We suggest that this
technique may offer a relatively noninvasive means of estimating
the mean left atrial pressure of patients with heart disease.

In view of the remarkable decrease of the relative heart weight (HW) and the relative
blood volume in growing pigs, we investigated whether HW, cardiac output (CO),
and stroke volume (SV) of modern growing pigs are proportional to BW, as
predicted by allometric scaling laws: HW (or CO or SV) = a●BWb
, in which a and b are
constants, and constant b is a multiple of 0.25 (quarter-power scaling law).
Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that both HW and CO scale with BW to the
power of 0.75 (HW or CO = a●BW0.75
) and SV scales with BW to the power of 1.00 (SV
= a●BW1.0
). For this purpose, 2 groups of pigs (group 1, consisting of 157 pigs of 50 ±
1 kg; group 2, consisting of 45 pigs of 268 ± 18 kg) were surgically instrumented with
a flow probe or a thermodilution dilution catheter, under open-chest anesthetized
conditions to measure CO and SV, after which HW was determined. The 95%
confidence intervals of power-coefficient b for HW were 0.74 to 0.80, encompassing
the predicted value of 0.75, suggesting that HW increased proportionally with BW,
as predicted by the allometric scaling laws. In contrast, the 95% confidence intervals
of power-coefficient b for CO and SV as measured with flow probes were 0.40 to 0.56
and 0.39 to 0.61, respectively, and values obtained with the thermodilution
technique were 0.34 to 0.53 and 0.40 to 0.62, respectively. Thus, the 95% confidence
limits failed to encompass the predicted values of b for CO and SV of 0.75 and 1.0,
respectively. In conclusion, although adult breeding sows display normal heart
growth, cardiac performance appears to be disproportionately low for BW. This
raises concern regarding the health status of adult breeding sows.
J Anim Sci 2011;89(2):376-382.

Due to increased production of ethanol, abundance of distillers grains
(DG) is increasing. Steers (n = 176) were assigned to 1 of 5 treatment
groups: steam-flaked corn (SFC), 10% dry DG (DDG), 10% wet DG (WDG),
20% WDG, or 30% WDG. The objectives were to determine the effects of
feeding greater amounts of WDG, or DDG on meat quality. Steaks, 2.54
cm, were cut from strip loins and identified for simulated retail display,
Warner-Bratzler shear force analysis, palatability, and fatty acid
composition. Steaks from cattle fed 10% WDG and 30% WDG had smaller
(P <0.05) Warner-Bratzler shear force values than steaks from cattle fed
20% WDG. Trained sensory panelists found no differences (P >0.05) in
overall tenderness and off-flavors. No differences were found in total SFA
and MUFA composition among treatments; however, 20% and 30% WDG
had a greater proportion of PUFA and n-6 fatty acids than 10% WDG. No
differences were found during simulated retail display between various
amounts of WDG. Further research needs to be conducted to evaluate
methods that aid in increasing shelf life of steaks from cattle fed greater
rates of WDG.
J Anim Sci 2011;89(1):179-184.
Problems?

The Writing
The Writing
 Continuity
– Repeat key terms
– Consistent order
– Consistent point of view in the
question and answer
 Parallel form!
 Verb tenses: same as in the paper
– Present tense for question and answer
(intro and discussion/conclusions)
– Past tense for methods and results

The Writing Process
The Writing Process
 Read paper carefully
 Mark key words and sentences (look
for the why, how, what and so what)
 List all marked material
 Edit to condense
 Refine to reflect desired style

Structured Abstracts
 Also called “more informative” abstracts
 Purposes:
– Help readers quickly judge the findings of a study
– Guide authors into better summaries
– Aid reviewers
– Facilitate electronic searches (eg, MEDLINE)
 Include headings
 May use incomplete sentences
 Follow journal requirements

Background—Dual-chamber (atrioventricular) and single-
chamber (ventricular) pacing are alternative treatment
approaches for sinus-node dysfunction that causes clinically
significant bradycardia. However, it is unknown which type
of pacing results in the better outcome.
Methods—We randomly assigned a total of 2010 patients
with sinus-node dysfunction to dual-chamber pacing (1014
patients) or ventricular pacing (996 patients) and followed
them for a median of 33.1 months. The primary end point
was death from any cause or nonfatal stroke. Secondary
end points included the composite of death, stroke, or
hospitalization for heart failure; atrial fibrillation; heart-
failure score; the pacemaker syndrome; and the quality of
life.
Example:
cont.

Results—The incidence of the primary end point did not differ
significantly between the dual-chamber group (21.5 percent) and the
ventricular-paced group (23.0 percent, P=0.48). In patients assigned to
dual-chamber pacing, the risk of atrial fibrillation was lower (hazard
ratio, 0.79; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.66 to 0.94; P=0.008), and
heart-failure scores were better (P<0.001). The differences in the rates
of hospitalization for heart failure were not significant in unadjusted
analyses but became marginally significant in adjusted analyses. Dual-
chamber pacing resulted in a small but measurable increase in the
quality of life, as compared with ventricular pacing.
Conclusions—In sinus-node dysfunction, dual-chamber pacing does
not improve stroke-free survival, as compared with ventricular pacing.
However, dual-chamber pacing reduces the risk of atrial fibrillation,
reduces signs and symptoms of heart failure, and slightly improves the
quality of life. Overall, dual-chamber pacing offers significant
improvement as compared with ventricular pacing.
NEJM 2002;346:1854-1862.

Objective—To identify predictors in medical schools
that can be manipulated to affect the proportion of
graduates entering generalist practice.
Design and Participants—Cross-sectional and
retrospective studies of medical schools and practicing
generalist physicians; surveys of MD-granting and DO-
granting medical schools; site visits to nine schools with
a high proportion of graduates becoming generalist
physicians; surveys of national samples of MD and DO
generalist physicians.
Example:
cont.

Independent Variables—Characteristics of medical
schools, including structural characteristics, financing,
mission, admissions policies, student demographics,
curriculum, faculty, and the production of generalist
physicians; information on personal characteristics,
background, perceptions, and attitudes of practicing
generalist physicians.
Dependent Variable—Estimated proportion of
graduates of the classes 1989, 1990, and 1991 in family
practice, general internal medicine, and general
pediatrics.
cont.

Results—Institutional mission, certain admissions policies,
characteristics of entering students, and the presence of a primary
care–oriented curriculum explained statistically significant
variation in the number of physicians choosing generalist careers,
even after the structural characteristics of public or private status,
age of the school, and class size were controlled for statistically.
Conclusions—Public and institutional policies, where
implemented, have had a positive effect on students' choice of
generalist careers. The most influential factors under the control
of the medical school are the criteria used for admitting students
and the design of the curriculum, with particular emphasis on
faculty role models. Personal social values was the individual
characteristic that most strongly influenced graduates' career
choice.

Objective—To determine clinical features and
outcome in dogs and cats with obsessive-
compulsive disorder (OCD).
Design—Retrospective study.
Animals—103 dogs and 23 cats.
Procedures—Records of patients with OCD were
analyzed for clinical features, medication used,
extent of behavior modification, and outcome.
Example:
JAVMA 2002;221(10):1445-1452. cont.

Results—Most dogs affected with OCD had been obtained from
breeders. Male dogs significantly outnumbered females (2:1). Female
cats outnumbered male cats by 2:1 in a small sample. Most affected
dogs lived in households with 2 or more humans and other dogs or
cats, and had some formal training. Client compliance with behavior
modification was high. A combination of behavior modification and
medication resulted in a large decrease in intensity and frequency of
OCD in most animals. Clomipramine was significantly more efficacious
for treatment in dogs than was amitriptyline. Only 1 dog and 1 cat
were euthanatized because of OCD during the study.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—OCD in dogs does not appear
to be associated with lack of training, lack of household stimulation, or
social confinement. In cats, OCD may be associated with
environmental and social stress. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
appears at the time of social maturity and may have sporadic and
heritable forms. With appropriate treatment (consistent behavior
modification and treatment with clomipramine), frequency and
intensity of clinical signs in most dogs and cats may decrease by >
50%. Success appears to depend on client understanding and
compliance and the reasonable expectation that OCD cannot be

Presentation and Meeting
Presentation and Meeting
Abstracts
Abstracts
 Must be comprehensive
 Must strictly follow format and content rules
(the old “blue box”) and must be neat
 Often contain more details of methods
 More likely to include implications
 May be published in conference proceedings
 Provides opportunity for feedback from
others in the field
Written before the paper has been written

Poster Abstracts
Poster Abstracts
 Include lots of illustrations, tables, and graphs
 Keep words to a minimum
 Consider as a billboard, not a summary
People decide whether to read your
poster in the first 3 seconds!

Poster Abstracts
Poster Abstracts
96 point
48 point
36 point
28 point
12 point
Type size is important!

Remember
Remember
 Make the abstract the best part
of the article
 Make sure it stands alone
 Double check every piece of
data

abstracts lecture--aiello--14 july 2011.ppt

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