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Writing and Publishing Scientific Articles
Note: The use of abbreviations in abstracts should be limited, and all abbreviations should be defined at first mention (in the abstract and then again in the body of the article). Most abstracts include the elements listed below. The suggested number of sentences is shown after each element. Background Rationale for study, including gap in knowledge (1 or 2 sentences) Hypothesis or purpose statement (1 sentence) Methods (usually 1 to 3 sentences) Results (usually 3 or 4 sentences) Conclusions, including implications (1 or 2 sentences) To construct your abstract, write a sentence or sentences for each element, in the order shown. ( Tip: You can sometimes use sentences from the main body of your article instead of writing new sentences.) Details about each element are given below. Background/Hypothesis The first few sentences of your abstract should give the basic background information that led to the development of your study, including the rationale. Be sure to mention the gap in knowledge that your study was designed to fill. Clearly state the hypothesis or purpose of the study. This statement should be as specific as possible and should mirror the hypothesis or purpose statement given in the Introduction section of the article. (In fact, the hypothesis or purpose statement in the abstract can be identical to the hypothesis or purpose statement in the Introduction.) Methods The methods section of an abstract describes the experimental approach used and explains what was done to achieve the stated purpose. In a basic science article, describe the materials used (for example, cell lines) and kinds of experiments conducted, in chronological order, and tell what each was designed to show. In a clinical article, describe the patients, interventions, and primary end points of the study. Do not use brand names of equipment, reagents, or drugs unless your study was designed to test or compare specific brands. Use generic names instead.
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