2. Abstract
What to write
Summarise key elements of the study including:
- background about the problem or phenomenon of interest
- description of the study purpose or research question
- methods, including the approach or perspective (e.g., general inductive, grounded theory), context (setting, time period), sample (number and key characteristics of participants, events, documents), data collection strategies (e g., observation, interview, focus group) and data analysis techniques
- description of main findings (e.g., themes or inferences) related to the study purpose and/or research question
- study implications
Information presented in the abstract should be consistent with the information presented in the full text.
Use the format of your intended journal (see below).
Why readers need this information
A reader should be able to read the abstract independent of the manuscript and get a sense of the background, purpose, methods, main results and implications that will be described in greater detail in the manuscript.
Your abstract will be indexed by search tools so descriptive words will make it easier for others to discover.
Use the format of your intended journal
Some journals require abstracts to have subheadings, others don’t. In some cases the journal’s structured abstract format aligns more with positivist paradigms and quantitative approaches than with qualitative traditions, so translation may be necessary. For example, what might be labelled “Findings” in many qualitative research traditions could be reported as “Results” in the abstract. Similarly, “Design” might be labelled as “Approach” or “Methodology” for a qualitative study.
Training and Resources
The EQUATOR Network provides training for writing effective manuscript abstracts as part of their publication school.
See this article from the London School of Economics for general abstract writing tips.
Discuss this item
Visit the discussion board to ask questions, get help, give feedback, and see what other researchers think about this item.
Examples
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Purpose: Although academic centers rely on assessments from medical trainees regarding the effectiveness of their faculty as teachers, little is known about how trainees conceptualize and approach their role as assessors of their clinical supervisors1
Method: In 2010, using a constructivist grounded theory approach, five focus group interviews were conducted with 19 residents from an internal medicine residency program. A constant comparative analysis of emergent themes was conducted.
Results: Residents viewed clinical teaching assessment (CTA) as a time-consuming task with little reward. They reported struggling throughout the academic year to meet their CTA obligations and described several shortcut strategies they used to reduce their burden. Rather than conceptualizing their assessments as a conduit for both formative and summative feedback, residents perceived CTA as useful for the surveillance2 of clinical supervisors at the extremes of the spectrum of teaching effectiveness. They put the most effort, including the crafting of written comments, into the CTAs of these outliers. Trainees desired greater transparency in the CTA process and were sceptical regarding the anonymity and perceived validity of their faculty appraisals.
Conclusions: Individual and system-based factors conspire to influence postgraduate medical trainees’ motivation for generating high-quality appraisals of clinical teaching. Academic centers need to address these factors if they want to maximize the usefulness of these assessments. (1)
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