Writing of Abstract
[Link]. Ir. Dr. [Link] Osman
Deputy Dean (Postgraduate Studies and Research)
Faculty of Civil Engineering
3 Oct, 2012
Chapters
INTRODUCTION
LITERATURE REVIEW
METHODOLOGY 1
METHODOLOGY 2
METHODOLOGY 3
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION
Project Report / Dissertation /
Thesis
Title Page
Students Declaration
Dedication and Acknowledgement (optional)
Abstract (in Malay and English)
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures and Plates
List of Symbols and Abbreviations
List of Appendices
Chapters (main texts)
References and Bibliography (optional)
Appendices
Work flow of your thesis submission for
graduation process
1)
2)
3)
4)
Submission of final manuscript to supervisor
Submission of abstract for examiners
Nomination of internal and external examiner
SPS approval of the nomination (once a month
meeting)
5) Submission of thesis manuscript to faculty/SPS
6) SPS submit the thesis to the examiners
7) Examiners read the thesis (3 weeks)
8) Examiners read the thesis (3 weeks)
9) Date of viva set by SPS
10) Viva , and result of viva
11) Correction (0, 1, 3, 6, 12 months)
12) Submit the corrected, to be checked by examiners.
13) Binding + ABSTRACT
14) Filling the form application for graduation
15) Abstract to be checked by 2 panels in the faculty.
15) Abstract to be checked by 2 panels in the faculty.
16) Abstract to be doubled checked by Deputy Dean
17) PG Office submit to SPS for Senate meeting
18) ABSTRACT commented by Senate members
19) If not satisfied, abstract to be corrected and bind
again.
20) Submit again to SPS for the approval of Graduation.
21) Convocation ..
Types of abstract :
Abstract is required summary of :
publications and research studies.
presentations,
posters,
general audience
Abstract for review articles
Abstract for case reports
The focus of all abstracts is not the same, but the goal
of literally abstracting the structured highlights of the
overall studyare fairly universal.
Abstract for submission to journal / conference
prior to the full paper
Is a shortened version of the first draft of a paper.
It provides the first chance for you to announce
and cite the preliminary findings of your study;
It allows you to communicate your findings to
your colleagues and get their feedback;
It is the starting point for achieving the ultimate
aim of a research project, the writing and
publishing of a full paper in peer-reviewed
literature.
The abstract provides a glimpse of the authors
work and attention to detail.
The optimal structure of an abstract
TITLE
The title should be an accurate promise of the abstract's contents.
It should explain as much as possible about the context and the
aims of the study.
Ideally, the title should be about 1012 words long, and should
include the scope of the investigation, the study design and the
goal.
In general, it is preferable to make the title a description of what
was investigated rather than a statement of the results or
conclusions.
The abstract's title should be easy for the reader to understand
and should not include jargon or unfamiliar acronyms or
abbreviations.
Structure of abstract
Introduction /Background
Purpose
Method
Results
Discussion / Conclusion
A good abstract should address the five
following questions :
1. "Why did you start?" Introduction or background
2. "What did you try to do?" Aims and objectives
3. "What did you do?" Methods
4. "What did you find?" Results
5. "What does it mean?" Conclusions
1. "Why did you start?" Introduction or
background
You should summarise, preferably in one
sentence, the current knowledge, or state-ofthe-art, specifically in relation to the work you
are presenting.
Research problem.
Gap of research in the field
Background
No more than 5 sentences here, explaining
why this study is important, what it will add to
the science, or why your project matters. You
may cite a critical reference here if crucial to
substantiating the significance of this work.
Content in this section should relate directly
to the purpose/aims/question.
2. "What did you try to do?" Aims and
objectives
Here, you should state the aim of the study,
and ideally include a short statement of the
study's hypothesis.
A legitimate scientific study is not done "to
prove that something is true" but rather "to
find out whether it is true."
The difference may seem small, but it makes a
huge difference. A formal hypothesis shows
that you were objective.
Purpose/aims/research question:
Begin like this:
The purpose / aim of this
(study/project/investigation) is to or
The question guiding this study/ project/
investigation) is or,
You get the picture. Three sentences at most
should cover this.
3. "What did you do?" Methods
In an abstract, the description of the methods
has to be concise, and much of the details of
what was done must be omitted.
However, in a few short sentences, you can
give the reader a good idea of the design of
the study, the context in which it was done,
and the types of measurements that were
included.
Methods
For a research study, it should include the design,
the setting, the sample, the measurement tools,
and the analysis approach.
For a project, should include the setting, the
composition of your team, the participants you
worked with, your project intervention, and your
evaluation strategy.
These should be appropriate to the purpose
/aims/questions.
4. "What did you find?" Results
Give the main results of the study, not just in
subjective terms ("We found device X to be
superior to device Y") but also in the form of
some real data.
You will need to choose which findings to report
here: it should be the most important data in
your study, and the findings on which your
conclusions will be based.
Do not include a table or figure unless you need it
to show your results.
Results
Here you state just the facts.
If a research study, include simplified
demographics, primary results.
If a project, what was done and what did the
evaluation show.
This should flow directly from the methods
and be consistent with the purpose/
aims/questions.
Discussion:
Relate your results directly back to your
purpose/aims /research question. This is critical.
Did you achieve your purpose, either in your
research or project? If not, why not? How was
your question answered?
Is the answer is what you expected? Why or why
not? What were the major limitations of the
study or project (every study/project has them,
so dont leave this out).
5. "What does it mean?" Conclusions
Here, space limitations generally limit you to a
single sentence of why you think your findings
are important, and their potential implications.
Keep your conclusions reasonable and
supportable by the findings of your study.
Remember that if your study was restricted to
certain case or a specific device, its results may
not extend beyond these restrictions.
Recommendation / implication
Advice for a good abstract writing
Use simple sentences
Ask your colleagues
Good abstracts are easy to ready, clear and concise.
Use simple sentences
Unless they are basic, universally accepted
abbreviations, like E, RM10, acronyms and
abbreviations should be spelled out the first
time they are used in the abstract.
Similarly, local expressions and jargon should
be kept out of the abstract.
Ask your colleagues
Before the abstract is submitted, it should be
double-checked for accuracy, not only of the data
reported but of the description of the methods
and all other details.
Having one or more colleagues (who were not
involved in the study) read the abstract and offer
constructive criticism can be extremely helpful.
PROOF READ YOUR WORK! Avoid grammatical
errors and typos. Ask someone you trust and
respect to read it and give you feedback.
Check Yourself
Because your thinking may have evolved as you wrote the
abstract take time to be sure the entire abstract evolves
from your stated purpose/aim/question.
The background discussion should be narrowly focused; the
methods have to be right for the purpose/aim/question;
and the discussion should use the same words as found in
the statement of purpose, etc.
Example of abstract
EMS Treatment of CHF: How Well Do We Do?
Background: Reported error rates in out-of-hospital (OOH) diagnosis of CHF range from 12-40%,
using ALS provider diagnosis.
Objectives: To determine the error rates in OOH diagnosis for CHF based on choices of ALS
treatment.
Methods: Retrospective case series; convenience sample of OOH and emergency department (ED)
records on patients 50 and older who received OOH care for respiratory distress. Dates: January 1,
2001 through June 30, 2002. Field intubated patients were excluded. OOH treatment for CHF defined
as treatment of older patients (>=50) with complaint of respiratory distress with furosemide,
nitroglycerine (NTG), or morphine sulfate (MS). ED diagnosis was defined as one of the first three
ED diagnoses as CHF or pulmonary edema.
Results: 310 matching charts with complete data. 70 patients were treated with one or more of the
target treatments: 5 patients received MS, 46 received furosemide, and 53 received NTG. 98 patients
received an ED diagnosis of CHF or pulmonary edema. Sensitivity=0.357 (35/98); Specificity= 0.835
(177/212);Treated for CHF but did not have (false positive rate)= 0.165 (35/212); Not treated for CHF
but had it (false negative rate) = 0.642(63/98); agreement = 0.684 (kappa= 0.21, p<.001).
Conclusions: Both over and under-treatment of CHF in older patients with respiratory distress
remains a problem, even when field diagnosis is not required. Clinical decision rules may be helpful
in this regard. Until the treatment accuracy can be improved, limit treatment to those in severe distress
(benefits outweigh risks of erroneous treatment), or long transport times. Limitations include:
retrospective cases series analysis limits generalizability; convenience sample and exclusion of
patients intubated in the field may bias results; no outcome data to evaluate any benefits or risks
associated with unnecessary or missed ALS treatments; relying on ED diagnosis as gold standard for
presence of CHF.
Sample Abstract #2
Unit Level Nurse Workload Impacts on Patient Safety Study
Nancy E. Donaldson RN, DNSc., Principal Investigator
Director, Center for Research & Innovation in Patient Care;
Associate Clinical Professor
Diane S. Brown RN, PhD., Co-Investigator; Assistant Clinical Professor
Linda Burnes Bolton RN, [Link], FAAN, Co-Investigator; Assistant Clinical Professor
Carolyn Aydin PhD., Co-Investigator; Assistant Clinical Professor
Steven Paul PhD., Co-Investigator; Senior Statistician
Research-In-Progress Abstract
The aims of this 2-year descriptive correlational study build on the established integrity and
capacity of the California Nursing Outcomes Coalition (CalNOC) to engage California acute
care hospitals in voluntarily using ANA nursing quality indicators for reporting standardized
nurse staffing, patient safety and quality indicators in a collaborative research, repository
development and benchmarking project. For the purposes of this study, it is posited that the
daily unit level configuration of nurse staffing and workload may buffer patients from the
effects of error and resulting injury or compromise patient safety when variance in these
factors exceeds a staffs adaptive capacity and breaches a unit level margin of safety. The
aims of this study are grounded in the knowledge that the potential to compromise patient
safety through human error is inherent in nursing practice and medical care (IOM, 1999;
QUIC, 2000; Reason, 1990). In collaboration with CalNOCs statewide voluntary
convenience sample of medical-surgical acute care units from 77 hospitals, this study will
break new ground in tracing daily unit-level direct care nurse staffing, in 100 patient care
units over a two (2) month period, to examine associations between the structure of hospital
nurse staffing and patient safety and outcome indicators such asfalls, pressure ulcers,
restraint prevalence and significant clinical events. In addition the effect of patient activity
(turnover) and nurse staffing will be examined. The staff measures to be studied include
hours of direct nursing care per patient day, nursing skill mix, percent of contracted or
agency nursing staff, ratio of required to actual hours of care, and RN years of post-licensure
experience. This study recognizes and quantifies the impact of patient turnover, a key factor
in nurse staffing workload, and integrates it into multiple regression analyses examining
associations between nurse staffing and patient care outcomes.
This project is supported by grant number RO1 HS11954 from the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality 9/30/01-9/29/03.
Sample Abstract #3
Unit Level Nurse Workload Impacts on Patient Safety
Nancy E. Donaldson RN, DNSc., FAAN Principal Investigator
Diane S. Brown RN, PhD, FAHCQ, Co-Investigator
Linda Burnes Bolton RN, Dr. PH, FAAN, Co-Investigator
Carolyn Aydin PhD, Consultant Co-Investigator Steven Paul PhD, Co-Investigator,
Senior Statistician
Bruce A. Cooper PhD, Senior Statistician
Kathleen Yule RN, MS, Project Coordinator
AbstractFinal Report (limited to 250 words)
Purpose
Study aims were to test associations between daily nurse staffing in adult medical-surgical
units and hospital acquired pressure ulcers, patient falls and other significant events. This
study integrated a measure of workload, admissions, discharges and transfers to explore
how the pace of patient care impacted patient safety.
Scope
This 2-year AHRQ Working Conditions and Patient Safety study built on the work of the
California Nursing Outcomes Coalition (CalNOC) to engage acute care hospitals in using
ANA nursing indicators for reporting staffing, patient safety and quality indicators in a
research, repository development and benchmarking project. In 25 acute care, not-for-profit
California hospitals participating in CalNOC, the sample included urban and rural sites with
an average daily census from 100 to 400 plus. Most patients principal diagnosis was
medical (66%).
Methods
A prospective, descriptive correlational design tested associations between daily unit level
nurse staffing, skill mix, hours of care, contract hours of care, workload and patient outcome
measures. Falls were unplanned descents to the floor.
Results
Registered Nurse (RN) Hours of Care was significantly associated with outcomes. In
addition, percent RNs with BSN or higher was associated with fewer falls. Unit activity index
and hospital complexity (measured by bed size) were also significant predictors of falls.
Percent of patients with hospital acquired pressure ulcers was significantly associated with
mean staffing ratio and with percent days with the staffing under 100% for week PRIOR to
the prevalence study. Greater percent certified RNs was associated with lower percent of
restrained patients.
Key Words
SOME SILLY MISTAKE ..
What can be easier than writing a thesis abstract?!
Actually, thesis abstract writing can become a real
problem. Here is a list of mistakes while writing
thesis abstracts:
Mistake number 1: this piece of writing did not
present good thesis ideas.
Mistake No. 1 : Not representative
This piece of writing did not present good
thesis ideas. Students, being involved in thesis
abstract writing, did not realize that short
does not mean meaningless.
They simply reflected general thesis ideas with
no real value, so they had to rewrite theses
abstracts a lot of times.
Mistake No.2: Too long
This work was way too long. Keep it short!many students forget this easy rule, failing to
meet thesis abstract format and length
requirements.
Mistake No.3 : Thesis statement
Thesis abstracts were not based on a thesis
statement. Your thesis abstract is a longer
version of your thesis statement, basically. So,
you need to focus on your thesis idea, adding
some relevant and informative details about
it.
Mistake number 4 : Therminology
Students have used some complicated
terminology in their papers. This piece is so
short that you should not include any specific
terms, complicated sentences. Keep it
simple- one more rule for you to remember.
The language of abstract Writing
1. Often uses the third person
2. Often uses passive voice verbs to describe the researchers
own actions
3. Negative results and conclusions not included
4. Avoid abbreviation, jargon, other language shortcuts that
may lead to confusion
5. Avoid repetition
6. Avoids meaningless expressions
7. Avoid adjective and descriptive details
8. Avoid illustration
9. Avoid footnotes
10. Avoid preliminaries
11. Avoid superlatives
1. Often uses the third person
eg: he/she/it/they, NOT I,we/you
2. Often uses passive voice verbs to describe the
researchers own actions
eg: It was found that NOT We found that.
However : Active voice is used to describe
phenomena in the study.
e.g : The mice grew , Patients reponded ,
Water evaporated .
3. Negative results and conclusions not included.
e.g: Z was not found
It was not possible to test Y ..
4. Avoid abbreviation, jargon, other language shortcuts
that may lead to confusion.
If you use abbreviation, write out the meaning, inless
if you absolutely certain that readers will understand.
5. Avoid repetition
It becomes more difficult to read.
6. Avoids meaningless expressions
e.g: Results are provided
Discussion follows.
7. Avoid adjective and descriptive details
8. Avoid preliminaries
It includes both literal pictures as well as examples.
9. Avoid footnotes
10. Avoid preliminaries
e.g: This paper discusses three issues..
11. Avoid superlatives
e.g: Instead of using words like very and
extremely, try to choose stronger nouns and verbs.
Terima Kasih
TIPS FOR WRITING A GOOD ABSTRACT
Barry W. Hamilton, Ph.D. Northeastern Seminary
Take the task of writing the abstract seriously. The abstract
will determine whether future researchers will read your
thesis or dissertation. The abstract needs to bring out the
significance of the entire document. When writing the
abstract, the author should model the tone and vocabulary of
the documents conclusion. The abstract should accurately
and succinctly describe the content and scope of the entire
document.
It is extremely important to stay within the limits defined by
the institution/department. Do not exceed the stated limits,
or else someone will use a chainsaw to disembowel your
abstract to make it fit.
Put your best writing into the abstract, just as you did into the
conclusion. Strive for clarity with all that is within you! Make
the abstract transparent for researchers in your subject field.
Within the stated limits, make every word count! Reach for
the knifecut out the unnecessary. Prefer the active voice,
and use action verbs when dont contribute to the abstracts
substance. Avoid unnecessary, unusual .
Mine the document for important keywords and phrases that
directly relate to the major concepts in the paper. These
terms will be related to your thesis statement and will
describe concepts at the level of the whole document. Take
into consideration the vocabulary of abstracts from other
theses in your field (but dont merely imitate other
abstractsuse these vocabulary terms only if used in your
own thesis.
Have a colleague read the abstract and offer
criticism. Print out a hard copy and ask the
colleague to mark it up. Take another hard
copy with you on the bus or on the plane.
Sometimes it helps if you take it on an out-oftown trip and read it in a motel room in a
strange city. The new surroundings might help
you read the abstract in a new light
(seriously).
The tenses in scientific reporting
Section / Context in a report
Appropriate tense
Abstract
Past tense
Introduction
Mostly present tense
Methodology
Past tense
Methods, materials used
Past tense
Results
Past tense
Discussion
Mix of past and present tense,
some times future tense
Description of tables and figures
Present tense
Attribution
Past tense
The optimal structure of an abstract
TITLE
The title should be an accurate promise of the abstract's contents.
It should explain as much as possible about the context and the
aims of the study.
Ideally, the title should be about 1012 words long, and should
include the scope of the investigation, the study design and the
goal.
In general, it is preferable to make the title a description of what
was investigated rather than a statement of the results or
conclusions.
The abstract's title should be easy for the reader to understand
and should not include jargon or unfamiliar acronyms or
abbreviations.
Avoiding Ambiguity in Concise Writing
Concise: expressing much with few words, clear
Ambiguity: more than one way of understanding is
possible
Word limits encourage concise writing. Concise
writing is good. The problem is, when we try to be
brief, we don't always express ideas clearly. There
may be more than one way to interpret the same
sentence.
However, in science writing, it is critical to avoid
ambiguity as much as possible.
Here are some examples of ambiguity and
suggested corrections. Note that there are no
grammar errors in any of the original texts
quoted below. Nevertheless, there is more
than one way to interpret them.
Original: Interleukin (IL)-21 is a member of type
I cytokine family, which is produced by activated
CD4' T cells and regulates growth, differentiation
and maturation of lymphoid lineage cells.
Problem: It seems that the family, not (IL)-21,
is produced.
Possible solution:
Interleukin (IL)-2 I., which is produced by activated
CD4 T cells and regulates growth, differentiation
and maturation of lymphoid lineage cells, is a
member of type I cytokine family.
Problem: The emphasis is on the type I cytokine
family, but this doesn't seem most important.
Suggested solution:
Interleukin (IL)-21, is a member of type I
cytokine family, is which produced by
activated CD4 T cells and regulates growth,
differentiation and maturation of lymphoid
lineage cells.
(delete is, and delete which)
Original: Most importantly, joint-draining lymph
nodes from IL-2I R-Ig-injected mice contained
significantly fewer CD4+CD25- cells expressing PD- I
and B7.1, B220+[gG,' cells, and B220-Syndecan- I'
cells than those from control lgG1- administered
mice.
Problem : It is unclear how the text after the
highlighted "and" connects to the first part of the
text.
Possible solution:
Most importantly, jointdraining lymph nodes from IL-2 IR-Ig-injected mice
contained significantly fewer CD4+CD25'cells
expressing PD- I and B7.1, B220'IgG,- cells, and 21
B220-Syndecan- I' cells than those from control IgG1administered mice.
Problem : The structure is clear, but numbering should
be avoided when unnecessary. Also, the distance
between "fewer" and "than" means the comparison is
still hard to read. The last part looks like "B220Syndecan-1 + cells than those from control . . ."
Suggestion : Most importantly, joint-draining lymph
nodes from IL-21 R-Ig-injected mice contained
significantly fewer CD4'CD25' cells expressing both PD- I
and B7.1, fewer B220'IgG, * cells, and fewer B220Syndecan- I - cells than those from control IgG administered mice.
