Entering Research is much like our Traditional UROP Program, in that it is an introductory seminar to prepare students to enter the world of research at the University of Michigan.
UROP creates research partnerships between University of Michigan students, faculty, staff, post-docs and research scientist from all across campus and the surrounding community. More than 1200 students work on one of 900 real research and scholarship projects every year!
Monday, February 11, 2013
What makes the reader want to learn more...
An abstract is a short summary of your completed research. If done well, it makes the reader want to learn more about your research.
After consulting your research sponsor, write about the basic components of an abstract in your discipline.
After consulting with my research sponsor and PI, I now have a better understanding of what my abstract will look like as a final product. My research is in the field of kinesiology and therefore follows the general guidelines as many other science disciplines. My abstract will start off with a general introduction of what the issue or problem is that I am studying, and then transition into specifically what my experiment involved. After the introduction, I will include an overview of how the experiment was conducted and the basic procedures that it involved. Because there is a 250 word limit, I need to be careful not to go into too much depth during this materials/methods portion, otherwise I will run out of room. I now realize that this portion will just be a general overview over what was done, as the real specifics of the experiment would be included later in a research paper. Finally, after methodology, I will explain the results if I have any. If the experiment is too long, I will just discuss what I expect to see instead. Following the results, I will include conclusions (i.e. what does this mean?) and, if word count permits, suggestions for further investigation into this topic. After talking to my sponsor and looking over abstract examples from my field, I now have a better understanding of what my finished abstract will look like.
I haven't really had the chance to meet with my sponsor yet (she's never there because she's super busy). However, I did speak with my current supervisor about the abstract I was supposed be writing for the symposium. He didn't really say much to be honest. The project I am working for is related to physical rehabilitation and just improving the overall lives of those who are disabled. I am still a bit unclear about the abstract, but I believe it will be about the FIM score which helps to better classify patients with spinal-cord injuries. Later in the week, my supervisor gave me a paper of an abstract he created. It has an objective, design, participants/methods, results, conclusion, and support. For the most part, I'll probably just model my abstract off of what it is he gave me. I think I'll also bring in some examples so we can talk about it more thoroughly. This way I'll have a better understanding. I am also going to bring it up to my sponsor who I will be meeting for the first time this coming Wednesday.
My sponsor and I had a conversation about writing an abstract and the elements that it should contain. Our research is about Functions of Notch Proteins in Development and Disease, which means the abstract has to fulfill the requirements needed for the Biomedical/ Science field. He basically reinforced what we already said in class. He said that it should be short, concise, and clear. He said that the abstract is not the introduction of the paper so it should be meaningful and be able to give to the reader a clear idea of what the paper is going to be about on its own. A really important thing when writing an abstract is the word choice. The short paragraph (not more than 300 words usually), in the case of our field, has to include a lot of scientific terminology, but when it is possible the author of the abstract should use not really fancy words. This way it will be easier to understand and of course you don't want to overdo it because it will be confusing. To avoid a lot of repetition of what we already have discussed, what my sponsor also said is that the abstract should include the intro, methods, results and conclusions. Deciding if your abstract is informative or descriptive depends on the paper you are going to publish and the conclusions you have achieved. My sponsor and I are going to talk more about this subject as I start my writing.
My research is about how music (opera) has played important role in South Africa's history and how it is becoming the element that is bringing the whites and blacks in south Africa together. My sponsor said my abstract should be short, straight to the point and also focus on the main idea. She said I should use action verbs, no grammar errors and is should be powerful. She said people should be able to understand what my project was about by just reading my abstract. Abstract serves as a summary of the project but is shouldn't give too much information away. The sentences should flow smoothly and also avoid weird word choice. It should also state the hypothesis of my experiment.
After consulting my research sponsor, I have a much better understanding of how my abstract should be organized and what information should be included. I am conducting research alongside Dr. William Armstrong and Dr. Amrita Karve, and we are using patient data to determine whether new onset atrial fibrillation is truly connected to coronary heart disease. Atrial fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia in the heart that be caused from many different situations, ranging from possible heart disease to binge drinking. Coronary heart disease is much more serious, and requires an extensive exam that is also very costly. In this project, we are trying to see if it is absolutely necessary to provide this exam to all patients with new onset atrial fibrillation. My sponsor suggested that I be as clear and concise as I can about describing atrial fibrillation and coronary heart disease. Also, that I explain the exam required, and present the information about why we are conducting this project in a clear manner. She explained that it is a lot of information, and that it must be as thorough, but concise, as possible. Also, I should include pictures or diagrams of what coronary heart disease looks like.
My research sponsor informed me that there were no formal guidelines for writing an abstract to a paper, all that it really needs is to be succinct and fully explain what you are trying to accomplish. He did, however, direct me to a few of his published papers. Most of the abstracts in these seem to first set the context of the abstract in terms of problem that it is trying to address. If there are no specific problems in mind, then they just give background information regarding why the research has been done. They then move on to briefly discuss methods of data collection and analysis. At this point they start to get a bit technical, going into linguistic specific language in regards to what has been discovered. Most of the abstract is spent here, as you need to be very specific to describe exactly what your results represent in the terms of the field. All in all, it seems that abstracts in linguistics are only really useful for fellow linguists.
I talked to my research sponsor about how to write an abstract for the field in which I am researching (bio-medical - my project is protein synthesis). He didn't provide extensive information about the subject, but told me he will send his latest research paper as a reference. He did tell me to limit the abstract to approximately 300 or so words, and to maintain a concise and clear tone throughout the piece. He said the abstract should be easily understood to people without much prior knowledge of the experiment, therefore to not use too many scientific terms. My research sponsor plans to explain the process more thoroughly and send me more examples of his own research when we start writing.
I recently sat down with my research sponsor to talk about writing abstracts for our project. The field of research is called ecosystem science and I work on a number of different projects related to forest Carbon and Nitrogen accumulation and successional patterns in a forest ecosystem. My sponsor told me that the first thing I need to do is hypothesis about what type of relationships we might see when we begin to get data back in about three weeks. So for now I am just trying to brainstorm what some of these relationships may be. I think I will try and relate the amount of Carbon in organic material in the different plots of land that have had controlled burns for the past 100 years. I am looking forward to it our lab has one many blue ribbons over the years and I hope I can win one too.
After talking with my research mentor about what my abstract should look like, coming from the biomedical field, and more specifically coming from our lab, I learned a few pointers that I had not really thought of before. When I brought the abstract up, he first gave me a general overview of what the project is hoping to accomplish, and what has been accomplished up until this point. He told me to take down bullet points or short notes over the next few weeks to make the writing process easier, even if it is just a sentence or two. In addition, he said it may be easier to format the abstract with key sections like we saw in some examples in class (with an intro, methods, etc. clearly outlined), however he said for reading purposes, he finds it easier and less choppy to read when it is a well written, concise and informative paragraph.
Finally, I have been taking pictures on a microscope that I will be using on my poster, and he told me to think about how the poster will be laid out and to keep that in mind as I continue to take pictures, and begin outlining my abstract.
After talking to my sponsor about my the research project I am working on with her, she has told me a little more about abstracts and the project it self. Hearing additional detail about the project has helped me to gain more ideas about what to exactly write in my abstract. The project I am working on is called Fathers and Sons. I am working with Dr. Cardwell and her research assistant Dr. Shervin Assari. The project in place to find the relationship between African fathers and sons. The research being done is not only to find the relationship but to use the information found to make the relationship between the father and son better. She told me to state the purpose of the research study being going into more detail. She also stated that since we do not have all the results yet I can state what we will be doing further into the research to make the readers want to know more since the project will be moving to Chicago soon. We did not have much time to talk but she will be making more time this week to help me figure out how to write this abstract and to start coming up with ideas soon.
After speaking with my sponsor I realize my project as a very unique abstract for,at. For projects in which one creates a database the main purpose is to provide information to others. It is very much based on background on the subject of your database and not on a specific problem. The database must be linked into other databases in order to be useful. I hope to speak with her more on the subject this week.
After talking to my sponser it was evident that my abstract should be precise and stright to the point. In detail, he explained how the research project should be outlined and through. The readers should be able to understand even if they have no idea or backgroung in the information that is presented.
My research project focuses improving transional programs, like Summer Bridge Programs, for underrepresented students who are accepted to major universities. Unlike the natrual sciences, my social science project does not have a concrete problem. My job is to analyze information and data from previous years and conduct focus groups to create new ideas and possible improvements for future programs. Considering that, my abstract will be organized differently from many others. As my sponser stated, the components of my abstract will have to tell what our project is about, what's the significance, and how the research was conducted.
Oddly enough, I am excited to start writing my abstract.
After consulting with my research sponsor and PI, I now have a better understanding of what my abstract will look like as a final product. My research is in the field of kinesiology and therefore follows the general guidelines as many other science disciplines. My abstract will start off with a general introduction of what the issue or problem is that I am studying, and then transition into specifically what my experiment involved. After the introduction, I will include an overview of how the experiment was conducted and the basic procedures that it involved. Because there is a 250 word limit, I need to be careful not to go into too much depth during this materials/methods portion, otherwise I will run out of room. I now realize that this portion will just be a general overview over what was done, as the real specifics of the experiment would be included later in a research paper. Finally, after methodology, I will explain the results if I have any. If the experiment is too long, I will just discuss what I expect to see instead. Following the results, I will include conclusions (i.e. what does this mean?) and, if word count permits, suggestions for further investigation into this topic. After talking to my sponsor and looking over abstract examples from my field, I now have a better understanding of what my finished abstract will look like.
ReplyDeleteI haven't really had the chance to meet with my sponsor yet (she's never there because she's super busy). However, I did speak with my current supervisor about the abstract I was supposed be writing for the symposium. He didn't really say much to be honest. The project I am working for is related to physical rehabilitation and just improving the overall lives of those who are disabled. I am still a bit unclear about the abstract, but I believe it will be about the FIM score which helps to better classify patients with spinal-cord injuries. Later in the week, my supervisor gave me a paper of an abstract he created. It has an objective, design, participants/methods, results, conclusion, and support. For the most part, I'll probably just model my abstract off of what it is he gave me. I think I'll also bring in some examples so we can talk about it more thoroughly. This way I'll have a better understanding. I am also going to bring it up to my sponsor who I will be meeting for the first time this coming Wednesday.
ReplyDeleteMy sponsor and I had a conversation about writing an abstract and the elements that it should contain. Our research is about Functions of Notch Proteins in Development and Disease, which means the abstract has to fulfill the requirements needed for the Biomedical/ Science field. He basically reinforced what we already said in class. He said that it should be short, concise, and clear. He said that the abstract is not the introduction of the paper so it should be meaningful and be able to give to the reader a clear idea of what the paper is going to be about on its own. A really important thing when writing an abstract is the word choice. The short paragraph (not more than 300 words usually), in the case of our field, has to include a lot of scientific terminology, but when it is possible the author of the abstract should use not really fancy words. This way it will be easier to understand and of course you don't want to overdo it because it will be confusing. To avoid a lot of repetition of what we already have discussed, what my sponsor also said is that the abstract should include the intro, methods, results and conclusions. Deciding if your abstract is informative or descriptive depends on the paper you are going to publish and the conclusions you have achieved. My sponsor and I are going to talk more about this subject as I start my writing.
ReplyDeleteMy research is about how music (opera) has played important role in South Africa's history and how it is becoming the element that is bringing the whites and blacks in south Africa together. My sponsor said my abstract should be short, straight to the point and also focus on the main idea. She said I should use action verbs, no grammar errors and is should be powerful. She said people should be able to understand what my project was about by just reading my abstract. Abstract serves as a summary of the project but is shouldn't give too much information away. The sentences should flow smoothly and also avoid weird word choice. It should also state the hypothesis of my experiment.
ReplyDeleteAfter consulting my research sponsor, I have a much better understanding of how my abstract should be organized and what information should be included. I am conducting research alongside Dr. William Armstrong and Dr. Amrita Karve, and we are using patient data to determine whether new onset atrial fibrillation is truly connected to coronary heart disease. Atrial fibrillation is a type of arrhythmia in the heart that be caused from many different situations, ranging from possible heart disease to binge drinking. Coronary heart disease is much more serious, and requires an extensive exam that is also very costly. In this project, we are trying to see if it is absolutely necessary to provide this exam to all patients with new onset atrial fibrillation. My sponsor suggested that I be as clear and concise as I can about describing atrial fibrillation and coronary heart disease. Also, that I explain the exam required, and present the information about why we are conducting this project in a clear manner. She explained that it is a lot of information, and that it must be as thorough, but concise, as possible. Also, I should include pictures or diagrams of what coronary heart disease looks like.
ReplyDeleteMy research sponsor informed me that there were no formal guidelines for writing an abstract to a paper, all that it really needs is to be succinct and fully explain what you are trying to accomplish. He did, however, direct me to a few of his published papers. Most of the abstracts in these seem to first set the context of the abstract in terms of problem that it is trying to address. If there are no specific problems in mind, then they just give background information regarding why the research has been done. They then move on to briefly discuss methods of data collection and analysis. At this point they start to get a bit technical, going into linguistic specific language in regards to what has been discovered. Most of the abstract is spent here, as you need to be very specific to describe exactly what your results represent in the terms of the field. All in all, it seems that abstracts in linguistics are only really useful for fellow linguists.
ReplyDeleteI talked to my research sponsor about how to write an abstract for the field in which I am researching (bio-medical - my project is protein synthesis). He didn't provide extensive information about the subject, but told me he will send his latest research paper as a reference. He did tell me to limit the abstract to approximately 300 or so words, and to maintain a concise and clear tone throughout the piece. He said the abstract should be easily understood to people without much prior knowledge of the experiment, therefore to not use too many scientific terms. My research sponsor plans to explain the process more thoroughly and send me more examples of his own research when we start writing.
ReplyDeleteI recently sat down with my research sponsor to talk about writing abstracts for our project. The field of research is called ecosystem science and I work on a number of different projects related to forest Carbon and Nitrogen accumulation and successional patterns in a forest ecosystem. My sponsor told me that the first thing I need to do is hypothesis about what type of relationships we might see when we begin to get data back in about three weeks. So for now I am just trying to brainstorm what some of these relationships may be. I think I will try and relate the amount of Carbon in organic material in the different plots of land that have had controlled burns for the past 100 years. I am looking forward to it our lab has one many blue ribbons over the years and I hope I can win one too.
ReplyDeleteAfter talking with my research mentor about what my abstract should look like, coming from the biomedical field, and more specifically coming from our lab, I learned a few pointers that I had not really thought of before. When I brought the abstract up, he first gave me a general overview of what the project is hoping to accomplish, and what has been accomplished up until this point. He told me to take down bullet points or short notes over the next few weeks to make the writing process easier, even if it is just a sentence or two. In addition, he said it may be easier to format the abstract with key sections like we saw in some examples in class (with an intro, methods, etc. clearly outlined), however he said for reading purposes, he finds it easier and less choppy to read when it is a well written, concise and informative paragraph.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I have been taking pictures on a microscope that I will be using on my poster, and he told me to think about how the poster will be laid out and to keep that in mind as I continue to take pictures, and begin outlining my abstract.
After talking to my sponsor about my the research project I am working on with her, she has told me a little more about abstracts and the project it self. Hearing additional detail about the project has helped me to gain more ideas about what to exactly write in my abstract. The project I am working on is called Fathers and Sons. I am working with Dr. Cardwell and her research assistant Dr. Shervin Assari. The project in place to find the relationship between African fathers and sons. The research being done is not only to find the relationship but to use the information found to make the relationship between the father and son better. She told me to state the purpose of the research study being going into more detail. She also stated that since we do not have all the results yet I can state what we will be doing further into the research to make the readers want to know more since the project will be moving to Chicago soon. We did not have much time to talk but she will be making more time this week to help me figure out how to write this abstract and to start coming up with ideas soon.
ReplyDeleteAfter speaking with my sponsor I realize my project as a very unique abstract for,at. For projects in which one creates a database the main purpose is to provide information to others. It is very much based on background on the subject of your database and not on a specific problem. The database must be linked into other databases in order to be useful. I hope to speak with her more on the subject this week.
ReplyDeleteAfter talking to my sponser it was evident that my abstract should be precise and stright to the point. In detail, he explained how the research project should be outlined and through. The readers should be able to understand even if they have no idea or backgroung in the information that is presented.
ReplyDeleteMy research project focuses improving transional programs, like Summer Bridge Programs, for underrepresented students who are accepted to major universities. Unlike the natrual sciences, my social science project does not have a concrete problem. My job is to analyze information and data from previous years and conduct focus groups to create new ideas and possible improvements for future programs. Considering that, my abstract will be organized differently from many others. As my sponser stated, the components of my abstract will have to tell what our project is about, what's the significance, and how the research was conducted.
Oddly enough, I am excited to start writing my abstract.