Writing a Powerful Title and Abstract

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Writing a Powerful Title and Abstract

• APS Professional Skills Course
• Writing and Reviewing for Scientific Journals

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Meeting Abstracts Versus Journal Abstract

• Focus on journal abstracts
• Different purposes
• Different content

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Title and Abstract

• Critical components
• Most frequently read sections
• Must be clear and concise

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The Public Face of Your Work

• Indexes post titles and abstracts
• Must inform the reader about your work
• Must include important keywords

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When Do You Write It?

• Final section to write
• Be specific
• Key elements should be included in both

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Writing the Title

• Tell the complete story but keep it short
• Focus on YOUR study
• Dont be ambiguoustell what you found
• Should be a sentence with a subject and a verb
• The effect of Compound A on Compound B
• Compound A inhibits the production of Compound
  B
• Begin the title with an important word
• Include the model system
• Compound A inhibits the production of Compound
  B
• in C-type weanling rats
• Indicate if this is one in a series of articles

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Title Writing Tips

• Follow the journal guidelines and examples
• Avoid waste words (Effect of, Response to,
  etc.)
• Be specific in your results
• Avoid catchy or cute titles in research
  articles
• Use punctuation if necessary
• Use only very common abbreviations

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Do These Titles Meet the Major Criteria?

• Criteria
• Concise
• Identifies model system
• Identifies variables
• Reveals major finding(s)
• Examples
• Increased adrenal androgen secretion with
  inhibition of 11ß-hydroxylase in HIV-infected
  women
• Glycine-gated chloride channels depress synaptic
  transmission in rat hippocampus
• Exercise-induced reversal of insulin resistance
  in obese elderly is associated with reduced
  visceral fat
• Mice expressing ACE only in the heart show that
  increased cardiac angiotensin II is not
  associated with cardiac hypertrophy

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The Journal Abstract

• Self-contained summary of the study
• Balances detail and clarity
• Does not typically include
• Data
• Abbreviations
• References

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Parts of an Abstract

• Same sections as the manuscript
• Background
• Hypothesis
• General methodology, including model system
• Results
• Significance
• Each section is 1-2 sentences
• May require several drafts
• Follow the story of your manuscript

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Background

• 1-3 sentences
• Describe the general topic
• Discuss why the topic is important
• Avoid replicating the entire manuscript
  introduction
• Use transitions between abstract sections

(Dichek et al. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 290
E908-E915, 2006) Hepatic lipase (HL), a
liver-expressed lipolytic enzyme, hydrolyzes
triglycerides and phospholipids in lipoproteins
and promotes cholesterol delivery through
receptor-mediated whole particle and selective
cholesterol uptake. HL activity also occurs in
the adrenal glands, which utilize lipoprotein
cholesterol to synthesize glucocorticoids in
response to pituitary ACTH. It is likely that the
role of adrenal HL is to facilitate delivery of
exogenous cholesterol for glucocorticoid
synthesis.
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Model System

• Describe the model system used
• Rat
• Human
• In vitro
• In vivo
• List specifics as needed (strain, modification)
• Wistar rats
• C2C12 cell line
• Db/db mice
• NIH-3T3 fibroblasts

To test these hypotheses, we compared the
corticosterone response to eight daily ACTH
injections in HL-deficient (hl/),
LDLR-deficient (Ldlr/), and HL- and LDLR-doubly
deficient (Ldlr/hl/) mice with that in
wild-type (WT) mice.
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General Methodology

• 1-2 sentences
• Keep methods description general
• Exception is new and innovative methods
• Specifics are NOT needed

Plasma corticosterone levels were measured on
days 2, 5, and 8. ACTH suppressed cortisol
release by 50 (Plt0.05).
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Hypothesis

• 1-2 sentences
• Describe the specific question being investigated
  OR the purpos e of the study
• State as a hypothesis
• Avoid run-on sentences
• Be sure the hypothesis in the manuscript and
  abstract are the same

On this basis, we hypothesized that HL deficiency
would blunt the glucocorticoid response to ACTH.
Furthermore, because exogenous cholesterol also
is derived from the LDL receptor (LDLR) pathway,
we hypothesized that LDLR deficiency would blunt
the response to ACTH.
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Results

• 1-2 sentences
• Complete summary that is specific to the study.
• Actual data is not needed
• Include main point(s) only

ACTH suppressed cortisol release by 50 (Plt0.05).
Our results demonstrate a trend toward reductions
in plasma corticosterone levels on day 2 and
significant reductions on day 5 and day 8 in the
knockout models. Thus, on day 5, plasma
corticosterone levels were reduced by 57, 70, and
73 (all P lt 0.05) and on day 8 by 76, 59, and
63 (all P lt 0.05) in hl/, Ldlr/, and
Ldlr/hl/ mice, respectively.
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Significance

• 1 sentence
• Summarize significance of findings
• Place in a broader context
• Focus on YOUR study

These results demonstrate that HL deficiency,
like LDLR deficiency, blunts the adrenal response
to chronic ACTH stimulation and suggest a novel
role for HL in adrenal physiology.
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Meeting Abstracts versus Journal Abstracts

• Meeting Abstracts
• May be limited by space rather than word count
• Provide more background in the introduction
• Provide more detail in the methods section
• Include data, even figures and tables on occasion
• Have expanded conclusions sections
• Often cite references

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Final Hints

• Dont misuse scientific terms
• Use active voice
• Dont hesitate to claim the significance of your
  findings
• Build your grammar and writing skills