Abstract Writing & Presentation Skills

Presented

by

DR. Fatuma A. Affey

DEAN, SONAM ,

Umma University

13/6/2023

Introduction

• An abstract is a brief summary of a longer piece of work, published in isolation from the main text &stands on its own without reference to the longer piece.

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• Conferences have their own guidelines on how an abstract should be prepared &if guidelines aren’t followed abstract is rejected

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• Abstract is a short piece of written work, not more than 200 or 300 words & serves at least three separate functions.

� Functions of Abstract �

• Convince the conference organizers that your paper is worth accepting.

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• After it has been accepted as a presentation (paper /poster ) will end up in the conference program / abstract book, act as an advert for your talk or poster.

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• Abstract will act as a permanent record, in the conference program or abstract book (either in hard copy or on the web).

Types of abstract

1. Research-based
1. Background
2. Methods
3. Results
4. Conclusions and recommendations
2. Issue / program-based
1. Issues
2. Descriptions
3. Lessons learnt
4. Recommendations

3. Symposia or round table discussions & less structure .

Steps to writing an abstract

After Identification of a suitable conference, then the follow the following 6 (six) Steps:

1. Find the stream where your topic best fits
1. Look for all the possible streams& choose the stream that your topic best fits
2. Discuss with your peers or other professionals

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2. Decide on your topic if it is an empirical study or program/policy driven:

• There are essentially three kinds of abstracts:
• Research-based,
• Issue / program-based
• Symposia or round table discussions.

Steps to writing an abstract

3. List the main points in bullet form;

• It will limit what you are saying.
• How to describe/explain your research? How you can undoubtedly state the objectives of your presentation?
• Think about your target audience: who are your audience? Inform them what you are going to say - this is the “who, what, when, where, and how” of your presentation.

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Steps to writing an abstract

4. Adapt the bullet points into linking sentence:

• Make sure your abstract reads easily &each sentence follows into the next;
• In the final draft, bullets or numbers should only be used for lists;
• Remember that this is only an abstract; use a clear, direct writing style.
• Your abstract should be accessible to both specialists and non-specialists, (jargon free).

Steps to writing an abstract

5. Choose a descriptive and interesting title;

• thinking about your title, be descriptive and simple, though no too brief.

Example:

“children, challenges and changes”- ? Which children, which challenges, or which changes

“Youth entertainment center”- too general.

“TB in Nairobi”- too brief.

‘’Knowledge on Spread of TB among the adult population at kibra, Nairobi ‘’

• Its more descriptive and clearer,

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Steps to writing an abstract

6. Re-check your abstract using the checklist and submit

• Can people from other fields understand my presentation?
• Does it give more information than just reading the research paper?
• Is my presentation clear and concise? & Are acronyms explained?
• Is the too much introductory and material/material?
• Has someone proofread it over to ensure it is free of
• grammatical errors or spelling problem and awkward sentence structure, and that it is factually correct?

�Scientific paper : �

• Utilize keywords at the beginning of the title.
• Avoid passive voice & abbreviations (title and abstract).
• State clearly the objective & answer the research question at the result section

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• Provide sample size if you report percentages (abstract)
• Provide effect sizes with confidence intervals (abstract).
• Check & confirm if the abstract covers the 4 Ws:

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• Background: What is known and why is this study needed?
• Methods: What did you do? Results: What did you find?
• Discussion: What does it mean?
• Ensure that the abstract can be read independently from the main text.

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Conclusion�

• Title /topic
• Introduction
• Objectives/ purpose
• Methods/ material
• Conclusion
• Recommendation
• References

Journals may require : background, methods, results, and discussion.

Recommendation for practice

• Most conferences will specify the type of abstract &guidelines for presentation
• Follow the guidelines and make your abstract attractive , interesting , clear and understandable and convincing
• It is unusual to see references in research-based abstracts, though it is worthy to read the guidelines
• Scientific abstract has clear structure (introduction, objectives, methodology ,result , conclusion &recommendation.

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NOTE – Take Home

• Observe and follow all abstract style and formatting guidelines- comply
• write only what is necessary &avoid wordy (word limit250-500)– concise
• Plan your abstract carefully before writing it- Clean &clear .
• Final presentation is error free- edit your abstract

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THANK YOU

References�

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Ochen W.L. and Daniel Kotz (2013) Effective writing and publishing scientific papers, part II: title and abstract. OpenAccessPublished:

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.01.005

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Simkhada, P., Van Teijlingen, E., Hundley, V., & Simkhada, B. (2015). Writing an Abstract for a Scientific Conference. Kathmandu University Medical Journal, 11(3), 262–265.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/kumj.v11i3.12518

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