Download Two sample abstracts

Sample Abstracts
Two abstracts based on the same data are provided as examples of wellwritten abstracts. Each conforms to the required format yet the two versions
illustrate flexibility in expression and emphasis.
The footnotes provided in the first abstract indicate important aspects to be
considered when writing your own abstract.
Near Point of Accommodation in College-Age Men and Women1
To focus on nearby objects, the ciliary muscle contracts which allows the lens to become more rounded due to
its natural elasticity and thus more refractive. The near point of accommodation (NPA)2 is the closest distance
at which a person can focus on an object. With advancing age, the lens loses some elasticity and does not
develop as great a curvature. Thus the distance to the nearest plane of sharp focus increases with age.3 To
determine whether NPA is affected by gender in subjects who do not wear corrective lenses, NPA was
determined one eye at a time (while the other eye was closed) in college-aged men and women by having
subjects hold a piece of paper with text at a distance and slowly bring it closer until they were unable to
maintain sharp focus.4 The distance from the cornea to the nearest plane at which the focus could be maintained
sharply was measured with a ruler by a partner. Subjects who wore corrective lenses were excluded from
analysis.5 NPA for the left eye for college-age women was 91 ± 7 mm (mean ± standard error; n = 15) and for
men was 94 ± 5 mm (n =21.)6,7 There was no statistically significant difference in NPA for the two groups (p >
0.7586, two-tailed t-test.)8 Thus the ability to focus closely does not differ based on gender and suggests that
the elastic properties of the lenses are similar in college-age men and women who do not wear corrective
lenses.9,10 However, small difference in NPA may not have been detected due to the means by which NPA
measurements were made. Each subject’s NPA was measured by a different person and no estimates of the
variability in measurements were obtained. It is likely that errors in estimates were several millimeters. Such
variability could be minimized by having one person make all the NPA measurements for all subjects. Since
there is no reason to suspect that measurement errors were greater for women than for men, the conclusion is
almost certainly correct. Also NPA measurements were also obtained for 41 young men and women who wear
corrective lenses. It would be interesting to determine whether NPA in those persons differ from the present
sample who presumably have normal vision for their age.
1. Keep the title simple. Avoid puns or other words that would suggest the work is not serious science.
Also, verify that you’re using Times New Roman 12 point font with one-half inch margins on all sides
and blank line between your title and the body of the abstract.
2. If there are terms that are used repeatedly, one way to save space is to abbreviate that term or phrase. At
the first mention of such a term or phrase, provide an abbreviation in parentheses and thereafter use the
abbreviation.
3. These first four sentences provide information that is already known about the topic, and provides the
background that sets up the purpose or hypothesis.
4. Note how it is possible to incorporate at statement of purpose into the first portion of the “materials and
methods.” With careful wording, one can avoid writing “The purpose of this study was to…..” or “It
was hypothesized that…..”
5. Note how compactly the methods section is written, yet it adequately describes the subjects, the
materials, and the procedure that was used so that the reader can clearly visualize what was done.
6. The plus/minus (±) symbol can be inserted in the text from the “symbol” toolbox of Microsoft Word.
Values should be expressed to the nearest appropriate decimal place and should be rounded up to the
least accurate measurement.
7. The results section can consist of one sentence. Note how concisely the number of subjects and the
means and standard errors for the measurements are presented. It not necessary to write out mean ±
standard error after the first time these terms are used. It is crucial to include the units of your
measurements, whether it is mm or some other form (such as the number of touch-sensitive sites.)
8. Means and standard errors and n values are typically provided before moving on to the statistical
analysis. Always assume that the reader understands the meaning of a p value so there is no need to
write out some long sentence like “Since the p value was 0.7586 which is clearly less than 0.05, this
indicates that there was no significant difference in the means for the two groups.” P values can be
expressed to 3 or 4 decimal places. Indicate the type of statistical test used and, in this case, whether it
was a one-tailed test or a two-tailed test. Recall that two-tailed tests are employed with your hypothesis
is looking for any difference between two groups, and a one-tailed test is used when the hypothesis
predicts that one group will have a higher or lower value than the other.
9. Immediately following the results is a statement that interprets those results and relates them to a “real
world” situation. Often the difference between a result and a conclusion is subtle.
10. Once the conclusion is provided, the author is free to address other issues in the remaining space, such
as the limitations of the present experiment or ways to improve the experiment or other questions that
would be of interest or emphasize how this information is relevant to a “real world” situation. Avoid the
tendency to be overly critical of your procedures, especially if your results are significantly different.
Instead, emphasize the “biology” and why such a difference might be important and relevant.
A Comparison of the Near Point of Accommodation in College-Age Men and Women
The near point of accommodation (NPA) is the closest distance at which a person can focus on an object.
Focusing on a nearby object is achieved as the ciliary muscle contracts and the lens develops a greater curvature
due to its intrinsic elasticity. Since girls often reach sexual maturity at an earlier age than boys, one might
hypothesize that the elastic properties of the lens varies with gender. The purpose of this study was to
determine whether NPA differs in college-age men and women who do not wear corrective lenses. To measure
NPA, each subject held a piece of paper with text at some distance and slowly brought the paper closer to the
eye until they were unable to maintain sharp focus. The distance from the cornea to the nearest plane at which
the focus could be maintained sharply was measured with a ruler by a partner. NPA was measured one eye at a
time while the other eye was closed. NPAs from subjects who wore corrective lenses were excluded from
analysis as was data from the right eye. For 15 college-age women, the average NPA for the left eye was
91 ± 7 mm (mean ± standard error.) For 21 college-age men, the average NPA for the left eye was
was 94 ± 5 mm. There was no difference in NPA for these subjects (p > 0.7586, two-tailed t-test) which
indicates that the ability to focus closely is unaffected by gender. These results also imply that the elastic
properties of lenses are similar in college-age men and women who do not wear corrective lenses. Because each
subject’s NPA was measured by a different person, it is quite likely that there was substantial imprecision in the
measurements of NPA in this study. Such variability could have been minimized by having one person make
all NPA measurements for all subjects. Even though these errors in measurement may have been several
millimeters, it is unlikely that the errors were greater in one group than the other so one can be fairly confident
that there is no gender difference in NPA in this age group.
Near Point of Accommodation (NPA) for College-age
Men and Women who do not wear corrective lenses
There is no statistically significant difference in the average near point of accommodation for collegeaged men (n=21) and women (n = 15) who do not wear corrective lenses (p>0.7586; T-test). Each
error bar is constructed using 1 standard error from the mean.