Writing Abstracts for Scientific Conferences

Kishor Patwardhan

Conference, Symposium, Workshop, Seminar: What is the difference?

• Conference– Large event, Research oriented

– Large number of participants

– Pre-planned

– Diverse topics with sub-themes

– Invites abstracts submissions

– Peer-review

– Oral /Poster

– Keynote addresses

– Plenary lectures

• Symposium

– Small event (Usually one day)

– Limited number of participants

– Invited lectures by Experts

– Scope for interaction

– No abstracts are invited

• Workshop

– Transfers skills along with knowledge

– Hands-on training involved

– Limited participants

– Known Expert groups train participants in a pre-planned way

• Seminar

– Educational

– Transfers knowledge

– Minimum presentations

– Limited audience

– Specific topics

• Congress / Colloquium

– Includes almost everything:

• Conference

• Symposium

• Workshop

• Seminars

Purpose of a Conference

• Focuses on the current trends of research and practice in a field

• For a researcher, it is a ‘pre-publication’ event

• Opportunity to receive feedback on your work

• Opportunity to interact with different groups

• You can still improvise upon your work

• Poster Presentations: Provides betteropportunity to have feedback than Oralpresentations

Submitting your work to a conference

Kinds of submissions

• Original research

– Experimental studies (In vitro / in vivo studies, Educational experiments etc)

– Surveys / Observational studies

– Clinical trials

• Discussion / Policy papers

• Reviews /Hypothesis / Meta-analyses

Pre-requisite

• You must have done some work before you submit abstract ! (Original Research)

• You must have given some thoughts on some policies / debatable issues (Policy / Discussion papers / Theoretical submissions)

• You must have developed some new insights after going through the available literature on a topic (Review)

Principles of writing an abstract

• Transparent, Ethical, Unbiased and Complete reporting

• Summary of your work / idea

• There must be something ‘New’ in your work that must be highlighted

Parts of an Abstract(Irrespective of whether it is structured or not)

• Title

• Authorship

• Introduction

• Methods

• Results

• Discussion and Conclusion

Title

• Title should be complete, specific and shouldcover the central idea

• Should include the key methods like ‘Survey’, or‘Double blind Randomized placebo controlledTrial’, or ‘Observational study’ etc.

• Independent and dependent variables should be mentioned

• Name of species (if not human) to be mentioned

• Do not use abbreviations, jargon, chemical formulas, series identifiers

Title conveys the ‘central idea’

• Identify central topic: be creative

• ‘Immunomodulatory, neuroprotective andlongevity enhancing effect of Emblica officinalisin mice’ is better than:

‘Evaluating the Rasayana effect of Amalaki’

• “How did Sushruta treat typhoid?” is better than:

“The concept of Jvara in Sushruta Samhita”

Title for a work on clinical research must include

• Setting (location)

• Patients (what was studied)

• Intervention (treatment)

• Comparator (control group)

• Endpoint (outcome of interest)

• Design (study design)

Examples for complete titles

• A randomised clinical trial to evaluate the effects of

Plantago ovata husk in Parkinson patients: changes

in levodopa pharmacokinetics and biochemical

parameters

• Six-month effects of integrative treatment,

therapeutic acupuncture and conventional

treatment in alleviating psychological distress in

primary care patients - follow up from an open,

pragmatic randomized controlled trial

Avoid:

• Institution’s name / number of cases in the title

• Outcomes of Panchakarma: The Mumbai Ayurveda Hospital Experience

• Outcomes of Ksharabasti trial in Amavata: A review of 275 Cases with 5-Year Follow up

• Interrogative titles

• Measurement of colonic polyps by radiologists and endoscopists: Who is most accurate?

(Usually reserved for editorials/ discussion articles)

Avoid:

• Declarative Title:

• Grape seed extract prevents skeletal muscle wasting

(Results instead of writing what was studied)

• Instead, go for:

• Effect of grape seed extract on skeletal muscle wasting in interleukin 10 knockout mice

How can these titles be improvised?

• Anxiolytic, sedative, and hypnotic activities of aqueousextract of Morinda citrifolia fruit.

• in rodents in comparison to diazepam

• Does copper enhance the antihypertensive effect ofElaeocarpus ganitrus in experimentally inducedhypertensive rats?

• additive effect of copper

• Central nervous system activity of an aqueous acetonicextract of Ficus carica L. in mice

• CNS depressive activity

Authorship

• First Author:(Usually the corresponding author too)

– The one who has carried out the actual work andthe one who wrote the abstract

• Last (Senior) Author:

(Corresponding author for publication in a journal)– The one who originally conceived the study,

planned it and approved the final manuscript to bepublished

• Second/ third/.. authors:

– Who helped in carrying out the work and also inmanuscript preparation

Abstract:

• Reader should get the central idea of your work byreading the abstract

– Should be brief

– Should state the problem and the hypothesis

– Should state the methods (e.g., Random ControlTrial)

– Should summarize the results

– Should include inferences of the study

– Avoid known/ generally accepted facts

Abstract

• Introduction/background: what was the purpose (10%)

• Material and methods: what was the study design, techniques, and statistical methods (30-35%)

• Results: what are the most important findings (35-45%)

• Conclusions: why are the results important (20-25%)

Cornett, 2001

IMRAD: a mirror of your research process

Introduction

Material & Methods

Results

And

Discussion

Ask a question

Attempt to answer the question

Obtain and compile data

Answer the question

Introduction

• Based on what was known and unknown,why did you do the study?

• What was the research question? Whatwas the tested hypothesis? What was thepurpose of the research?

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Methods

• When, Where and How did you do thestudy?

• What materials were used?

• Who was included in the study groups(patients, animals etc)?

• What statistical methods were used?

Results

• What answers did you get?

• Was the tested hypothesis true?

Discussion

• What does it mean in the context of the existingknowledge?

• How does it fit in with what other researchershave found?

• What are the perspectives for future research?

Goal of an abstract:“maximum info in minimum space”

Structured

• Uses headings to identify

• Follows IMRAD format

• 250 -300 words

Unstructured

• Arranged in 1 paragraph

• Follows IMRAD format

• 150 – 200 words

What makes a good abstract?

• Follows guidelines of the conference

• ‘Stands alone’ : it is an independent unit of information

• Is accurate (check for inconsistencies and omissions)

• Is readable and coherent

• Includes specific data

Cornett, 2001

6 steps for writing your abstract

• Identify guidelines of the conference

• Highlight key features of your work

• Insert sentences into abstract format

• Write, revise, and condense

• Edit sentences and words

• Check final

Do you find this abstract alright?

Ayurveda is one of the most ancient healthcare systems inthe world. The term Ayurveda consists of two words: ‘Ayu’and ‘Veda’. ‘Ayu’ means life and Veda means knowledge.Therefore, Ayurveda means the science of life. In Ayurvedicliteratude, immunity has been described as ‘Ojas’. This is oftwo kinds: ‘Para’ and ‘Apara’. In the recent years, immunesystem related disorders are being increasingly recognizedand the role of immunomodulatory drugs is being explored.In Ayurveda, ‘Rasayana’ drugs are described to haveimmunomodulatory effect. The present study aims atevaluating the role of Amalaki as an immunomodulatoryagent in animal model. Details are explained in the paper.

Do you find this abstract alright?

Ayurveda is one of the most ancient healthcare systems inthe world. The term Ayurveda consists of two words: ‘Ayu’and ‘Veda’. ‘Ayu’ means life and Veda means knowledge.Therefore, Ayurveda means the science of life. In Ayurvedicliteratude, immunity has been described as ‘Ojas’. This is oftwo kinds: ‘Para’ and ‘Apara’. In the recent years, immunesystem related disorders are being increasingly recognizedand the role of immunomodulatory drugs is being explored.In Ayurveda, ‘Rasayana’ drugs are described to haveimmunomodulatory effect. The present study aims atevaluating the role of Amalaki as an immunomodulatoryagent in animal model. Details are explained in the paper.

Review: abstracts

• Accepted only if they are exceptionally good

• Provide new insights

• Rejected if repetitive and contain known information

• There has to be ‘something new’

Do NOT submit:

• Already published work

(It is already there in the public domain)

• Plagiarized work / Cooked data / Falsified / Fabricated data

(It will do more harm than help)

Advantages of conferences

• Abstract is often published • Full paper may be published in proceedings• You can present your work that is still underway

and incomplete• Based on the feedback, your direction of work can

be changed• Get to know people working in your field• Most beneficial for young scholars / budding

scientists

Limitations of conferences

• Mushrooming journals are serving the purpose of conferences ! (By publishing anything and everything !)

• Your work is no more a secret!

• Often Commercial interests dominate

• Often promoting self-interest

• Often promote only positive studies

Thanks!