Abstracts

I'm on the review committee for a science conference. I've learned a lot and have made some great friends. In some ways I'll miss the work. In others I'll be thinking...thank The Duck I don't have to survive another review cycle! Sometime on Tuesday I'm going to have scads (+200) of abstracts to review in a very short periodic of time.

Some suggestions to avoid having reviewers toss your abstract in the electronic garbage can:

• Use spell check. Seriously.
• Have a friend or colleague review your abstract. Grammar is important. I'm automatically suspicious of presenters who can't string together words to form complete sentences.
• State the purpose then describe the methods, results and your conclusions. All 4 elements should be included.
• There should be a logical path from purpose to conclusion. Crazy expectation, right?
• Don't just say you're going to discuss your results at conference. Give us a tidbit RE what you found.
• Be brief
• In the name of all that's sarcastic, follow the submission instructions!  

Here's a lovely article about submitting papers to professional journals. It's not brief, but he makes some good points. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noah-gray/abstract-science_b_1923214.html