Tips for writing a good abstract

Thereare rules that help to build a good abstract and that increase thepossibility of acceptance by the SPP.

Thepurpose of the Annual Congress of the SPP is to provide an exchangeof knowledgeand experience within the paediatric community nationwide.
Writean abstract for the Annual Congress is an important way of share yourresearch or clinical experience with its peers and
colleagues.

SPPreceives dozens of abstracts that will be evaluated by threereviewers independent and ranked of4-20 according to the relevance of the study, rigor in applyingmethodology, contribution to health gains and originality.Abstracts with rated higher than 10 are accepted.

Mostof the time, the work presented in a rejected abstract is welldesigned and made, but the way as it’s exposed not allow hisacceptance. This leads to a good scientific work that can not beshared with colleagues the way it deserves.

Inan attempt to prevent this occurrence, the subsequent informationgive practical advice on how to write an abstract that has the bestchance of being ranked well by reviewers and selected for nextcongress.

Whywrite an abstract?

Anabstract is a short version of the first draft of an article. It’simportant for several reasons:

•Provides the first opportunity to advertise and quote the preliminaryresults of its study
•Allow you to communicate your findings to your colleagues and haveanswers and critics
•It is the first step towards the ultimate goal of job research: writeand publish an article with conceptualized reviewers.

Theoptimal structure of a resume should include:

Title

Thetitle should contain an accurate summary of the content. Must expose
asmuch as possible, the content and objectives of the study. Ideally,the title
shouldhave 10 - 12 words and should include the scope of research, studydesign and objectives.

Ispreferable that the title describes what has been investigated thanis a statement of findings or conclusions. The title should be simpleto allow easy understanding and so, should avoid jargon, acronyms orunfamiliar abbreviations.

Authors

Thelist of authors should be restricted to those who worked on thestudy, who conceived, designed, obtained the data, analyzed thenumbers and wrote the abstract. The author submitting the abstractmust appear on first place. All authors must read and approve thesummary before its submission.

StructureSummary

Agood summary should address the five relevant issues listed below:

1."Whydid it start?" - Introduction or historical

Mustsynthesize, preferably in one sentence, the current knowledge orthe
stateof the art, specifically related to the work presented.

2."Whatdid you tried to do?" - Purposes and objectives

Hereyou must define the purpose of the study and ideally include a shortstatement of the hypothesis to be tested. A legitimate study does nottake place "to prove that any find is true”, but "todiscover whether a certain fact is true”. The difference seemssmall but is in fact abysmal. Exposing a formal hypothesisdemonstrates objectivity.

3."Whatdid?" - Methods

Insummary, the description of the methods should be concise and mostdetails should be omitted. However, in a short sentence should giveto the reader a clear idea of the study design, the context in whichit is made and the type of patients or measurements that wereincluded.

4."Whatwere your findings?" - Results

Itis important to mention the main results of the study, not justsubjective point of view ("we found that the equipment X wassuperior to the equipment Y ") but in the form of real data.Should make choices for data that will choose to present in theabstract and findings of which will base its conclusions. Do notinclude a table or figure unless strictly necessary to display yourresults.

5."Whatis the significance of this study?" - Opinion

Spaceconstraints usually limit it to a single sentence, explaining why youthink your results are important and potential implications. Keepyour findings within reason, supported by the results of your study.Remember that your study was restricted to certain patients or to aparticular therapy or a specific device and the results can not beextrapolated beyond these determinants.

Somebasic rules for writing abstracts

Followthe instructions

Asgood as your study is, he deserves to be reviewed and presented. Thismeans that you must follow the rules for submission to the SPPCongress.

Usesimple sentences

Exceptthe basic and universally accepted (e.g.: ARDS, FEV1) the acronymsand abbreviations should be exposed in full version the first timethat are used in the abstract. As well, local expressions and slangshould be avoided. Remember that health care vary from place toplace.

Askcolleagues

Beforesubmitting the abstract it should be rechecked, not only for theaccuracy of the data presented but also the methods and otherdetails.
Tablesand figures should be checked particularly well. The reading by oneor more colleagues who have not been involved in the study that cancriticize constructively can be extraordinarily useful.

Cite: Translatedand adapted the suggestions of the European Respiratory Society, 2008