Research Dissemination

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Research dissemination: The art of writing

an abstract for conferences

Jane Coad a,*, Patric Devitt b

a School of Health, 52, Pritchatts Road, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston,

Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdomb

School of Nursing, University of Salford, United Kingdom

Accepted 23 August 2005

Summary This article aims to assist readers with developing an abstract for a con-ference in order to have a paper accepted for presentation at a conference,whether it is in poster or an oral format. This is important as the authors argue thatuse of conferences as a method of disseminating research findings and good practiceis expanding each year. Drawing on author experiences, both as members of scien-tific review panels and as submitters of abstracts, the article includes a practicalreview about the meaning of an abstract, how to get started and then breaks downin clear sections what reviewers look for in a good abstract. There are also some keypoints on the actual process of review, which are helpful in understanding of whathappens to an abstract following submission.

c 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDSResearch dissemination;Abstract writing;Conferencepresentations;Steering committees

Introduction

The use of conferences as a method of dissemi-nating research findings and good practice isexpanding each year (RCN, 2004). Ordinarily, pro-

spective presenters have to submit a short ab-stract of their presentation for review by theconference scientific committee. The aim of thisarticle is to assist you to develop a successful ab-stract for a conference presentation, whether it isin poster or an oral format. Whilst, we have drawn

upon some literature this article is based on ourexperiences. We are both members of scientificreview panels and regularly submit abstracts forconferences.

The first point is to consider the purpose of an

abstract. Dictionary definitions provide a usefulstarting point to breaking the concept into parts.The word ‘abstract’ was reviewed in the OxfordEnglish Dictionary (2004), which helped to identifykey components of ‘to purloin’; ‘forming a generalconcept from consideration of particular instances’and ‘theoretical summary’. Thus, as identified bySheldon and Jackson (1999) it provides a succinctoverview of the paper. It is far from being a simple

1471-5953/$ - see front matter c 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.nepr.2005.08.003

* Corresponding author.E-mail address: [email protected].

Nurse Education in Practice (2006) 6, 112–116

www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/nepr

Nurse

Education

in Practice

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



matter to distil the complexities of a research pro-ject, literature review or practice innovation into afew hundred words. As Pierson (2004) states:

‘‘If you want a 10 min summary, I can have it foryou a week from today; if you want it to be 30 min-utes, I can do it tomorrow; if you want a wholehour, I’m ready now.’’ (p. 1207)

The dictionary definitions illustrate that the word‘abstract’ does have a well-established definitionand meaning. Its purpose is also clear and is usuallystated to be twofold. Firstly, it enables the confer-ence committee to make an informed decisionabout your proposed presentation. Such decisionswill be based on the suitability of the content, aca-demic rigor and applicability for the conference.Secondly, if accepted, your abstract will providethe relevant, background information needed byconference participants. However, when consider-ing submitting an abstract one of the biggest hurdles

is often getting started.

Getting started

Cook (2000) suggests that time taken to considerand plan your work is always time well spent. Thefirst and crucial step is to ensure that you targetyour paper to an appropriate conference. Thismeans that you should always spend some timeensuring that the focus of your paper is adapted

to reflect the themes of the conference.The first essential thing to do is to review the ti-

tle and aims of the conference. You must make surethat the stated objectives, guidelines and themesof the conference are reflected in your abstractand in some cases the title of your proposal. Whilstconferences in exotic locations may be tempting,you should ensure that your paper meets these ele-ments. If the focus of a conference is educationsuch as the Nurse Education Tomorrow conference,there is little chance of a paper on encouragingbreastfeeding in public being accepted (unless thefocus could be developed into an educational one).

Secondly, despite stating the obvious you needto make sure you read the information providedby the conference organisers. Starting with theeasiest task, which is ensuring that your abstractwill be received before the closing date. We haveboth have missed closing dates, so we strongly rec-ommend that you put a note in your diary at least aweek before the very last date of submitting yourabstract. Many conferences have a relatively shortturnaround period from receiving your abstract towhen the scientific committee meet to make their

decision about which are the most suitable andthus the successful papers. Late submission of ab-stracts is a sure-fire way to achieve rejection.

Most conferences give presenters an option ofthe mode of presentation. You should decide fromthe outset whether you would prefer to make anoral presentation or to develop a poster for presen-

tation. Spoken presentations allow greater interac-tion and discussion with the audience, but requirea level of confidence in public speaking. In con-trast, poster presentations allow the potentialaudience to study the content in depth, and it isopen to a wider audience than those attending aparticular session. Sometimes conference organ-isers will offer presenters a poster rather than theirrequested oral presentation and vice versa.

Finally, you should give regard to the format re-quested for an abstract: traditionally abstractshave been requested as hard copy, however, manyconference committees now prefer (or in some

cases only accept) submissions via e-mail. Somealso accept submission on line, e.g., The RoyalCollege of Nursing International Nursing ResearchConference (http://www.man.ac.uk/rcn/research2005/cfa.htm).

First impressions

First impressions are important, poor presentationis often taken to reflect a lack of interest or a lack

of academic rigor. In all cases you should word pro-cess your abstract. You should ensure that you usean appropriate font size and most commonly this isrequested as font size 10–12. It may sound pedan-tic, but papers have been rejected because thefont size is too small for the reviewer to actuallysee. The use of too large a font gives the impres-sion of trying to fill space as a result of having littleto say. It is important not to overload the reader sotry to keep your points concise and to the point.Some conferences provide a box and/or word limit(e.g., 250 words). This criterion must be adheredto. We have both found from experience that thereis little point in spending hours trying to expandthese boxes. However using a ‘‘true’’ font suchas Arial or Times New Roman does allow the maxi-mum wordage within a limited space.

Good practice indicates that your abstract shouldbe written in the past tense and that it should remainconstant, i.e., you should not mix tenses. A good lit-erary style is not essential but is very helpful to thereviewer and if the abstract is accepted, it will alsohelp the delegates to make their choice. If you feelyou may have a stylistic problem we recommend

Research dissemination: The art of writing an abstract for conferences 113

http://www.man.ac.uk/rcn/research2005/cfa.htm






that you ask a colleague to critically read your pa-per. Whilst this exposes yourself to criticism andmay cause you some disquiet it can be very helpfulin helping you to have your abstract accepted. Werecommend that you photocopy the abstract formseveral times or save back up electronic copies. Asyour colleague(s) provide feedback then you can

regularly update the abstract until you are happywith its overall flow and coherence. A ‘critical-friend’ may also be useful at this stage, especiallyif they do not share your professional background.If your abstract is not clear or contains hiddenassumptions this friend is often able to identifythem. Do not be fooled into thinking that if an ab-stract is full of jargon littered with unnecessarytechnical terms and complex language that it willimpress the reviewers. Remembering your potentialaudience is important as many may not have Englishas their first language and so being able to express acomplex idea simply is far preferable for every audi-

ence you are likely to attract. There are a number ofexcellent guides to help you use English in a clearand simple way one example is: Plain English Cam-paign (2004). Another example of language to avoidare colloquialisms such as; ‘placed on an observa-tion chart’ and ‘pushing fluids’ although conjuringup interesting images should be avoided. Standardabbreviations can be used but they should alwaysbe written in full the first time they are used forexample: General Practitioner (GP); United King-dom (UK) or Kilograms (kgs). Try to avoid abbrevia-tions that are non-standard no matter how

commonly they are used in professional conversa-tion for example: ‘obs’ for observations. Rememberalso that if you are addressing an international audi-ence they may well be familiar with different abbre-viations, or more worryingly the same abbreviationswith different meanings.

It is also essential that you check your abstractfor any spelling mistakes. It is hard to overempha-sise the poor impression given by simple avoidable

errors. This is especially true given that all wordprocessing packages come with ‘‘spell checkers’’,but you need to make sure you have not inadver-tently added some mis-spellings. On the other handdo not be lulled into a false sense of security; spellcheckers only ensure that a word is correctly speltnot that it is the correct word. Important and impo-

tent are both spelt correctly, but the substitutionof the latter for the former considerably changedthe meaning of one abstract we recently reviewed.

Finally in this section, it is important that yousend all the biographical information that has beenrequested by the conference organisers. Usuallythis information is requested on a separate sheetfrom the rest of the abstract to ensure anonymousreview. When a paper or electronic form is beingcompleted it is easy to check whether there areany blank spaces in the form. More difficult perhapsis to check whether an e-mail contains all the re-quested information. Do double check, however,

as it is not unusual for an abstract to be rejectedbecause no-body knows who sent it.

Title

Aim to keep your title clear and concise. As out-lined previously, you should ensure that your titlereflects the overall aims and themes of the confer-ence. Some authors are able to think of eye-catch-ing, punchy titles but make them so obscure that itis not clear what the delegate should expect fromthe presentation. It may also be worth checkingprevious conference proceedings to see whetherthe organising committee appreciates clever orhumorous titles.

Aim and outcomes

What is your presentation trying to achieve? Thisneeds to be made explicit; if you as the author are

Aims Learning outcomes

Gives a general statement of thegoal to be achieved

Does not give an indication of

how the goal is to achieved.

May emphasise the value of the

goal

Derived from the aim

Describe the desired end-state in

terms of knowledge, skills and

attitudes.

Usually take the form of a

behavioural statement i.e. “at the

end of the session the participants

will be able to…”

Figure 1 Defining characteristics of aims and learning outcomes (adapted from Quinn, 2000).

114 J. Coad, P. Devitt



not sure it is unlikely the scientific committee or in-deed your potential audience will understand. Thismay be in the form of an aim, learning outcomesor indeed both. Take note of the characteristics ofeach (Fig. 1) and ensure you provide the conferenceorganisers with what they have requested. Theseare often used by conference delegates to decide

which paper to attend so clarity is essential.

Content

In the main section you should take the opportunityto include some of the key, background literatureto the paper. It is important that this is informativeand not over-verbose in its message. If your paperis a literature review then this section makes upthe entirety of the abstract, otherwise a short par-agraph to set the scene and gain the reader’s inter-est will suffice.

If your abstract is in relation to a research study itis relevant to summarise the process. A few clearsentences about each element such as sample,methodology, data collection and analysis is all thatis usually required. However, if the focus of the con-ference is research, or your paper is primarily aboutthe process then this section needs to be increasedin both length and depth.

At the end of your abstract you should take theopportunity to reiterate your message about whatyour presentation is about in a summary of one ortwo sentences. Remember, a punchy and/orthought provoking conclusion may be useful in

focusing the reader’s attention.

References

It is also crucial that you submit your abstract witha sample of references on the topic using the refer-encing style requested, most commonly, this beingHarvard. Some conferences limit the number ofreferences to be used, often to three. You shouldcarefully read and abide by the conference instruc-tions. The rule is; if references are limited ensurethat you choose wisely. You should aim to include

references that are current, can be easily obtainedand are relevant to the central focus of your paper.It is well worth the time to ensure they are correct,as wrongly cited references give an impression oflack of care and rigor.

And, just before submission. . .

Before you submit your abstract, whether it be ashard or electronic copy, invest five minutes in a fi-nal check. Have you completed it according to the

conference organisers’ instructions? Have you elim-inated every single misspelled word, typographicalerror and grammatical mistake? Finally, all thelisted authors should read and agree the final draft.Now it is ready for submission!

What happens next?

The details of what happens to an abstract follow-ing submission vary but the general path they fol-low will not be dissimilar. Abstracts will be sentout to ‘expert’ reviewers who will be asked to com-ment on the relevance, currency, rigor and inter-est. Each abstract is usually read by at least tworeviewers and they will have clear, pre-determinedguidance for acceptance. A top tip here is that theguidelines for acceptance are usually publishedalong with information about the conference, sotake particular attention to utilise key words or fo-

cus, as we have recommended earlier in this arti-cle. It is on these guidelines that reviewers willrecommend acceptance or rejection, followingwhich, recommendations are sent back to the sci-entific committee for consideration.

If there is a discrepancy between reviewers it isthe scientific committee that makes the final deci-sion.Theymayevenaskforafurtherreviewertoreadthe abstract. Whilst it is unlikely for the scientificcommittee to accept a paper that reviewers recom-mend for rejection it is possible that the reversemay occur. This is because whilst the individualreviewersconcernis with thequalityof theindividual

submission the scientific committee is also chargedwith ensuring the balance of papers throughout thewhole conference. On occasions, this may mean thatpapers may be of good quality but may be rejectedbecause of the volume of submissions and the focusand quality of other papers were felt to be better.

We have both noticed that the approach torejecting abstracts is changing. In the past a rejec-tion was communicated in a short letter describingthe quality and number of submissions received,more recently the letter of rejection is accompa-nied by the reviewers’ comments. Do not be put

off by the comments; they are there to help youand whilst rejection is painful, consider the feed-back as guidance for future submissions, after allthe reviewer has taken the trouble to make theircomments in the hope that they provide you witha learning opportunity.

Conclusion

In this article, we have outlined the principles andpractice of writing an abstract for presentation at

Research dissemination: The art of writing an abstract for conferences 115



conference. It is not good fortune that allows someprospective presenters to have their abstracts ac-cepted whilst others suffer serial rejection. If youfollow the guidelines above you are not guaranteedto be successful with every abstract submission.You will however increase you chances of successconsiderably. We hope to meet you at a conference

and hear or see the fruits of your labours soon.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the members of the RCN Research inChild Health (RiCH) Group who encouraged us tocommit these ideas to paper.

References

Cook, R., 2000. The Writer’s Manual. Radcliffe Medical press,Oxford.

Oxford English Dictionary Online (2004). http://www.oed.com.Pierson, D.J., 2004. How to write an abstract that will be

accepted for presentation at a national meeting. RespiratoryCare 49 (10), 1206–1212.

Plain English Campaign, 2004. <http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/plainenglishguide.html> (accessed 20.10.2004.).

Quinn, F.M., 2000. Principles and Practice of Nurse Education.Stanley Thornes, Cheltenham.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN), 2004. Conference unit <http://www.man.ac.uk/rcn/research2005/cfa.htm> (accessed28.10.04.).

Sheldon, L., Jackson, K., 1999. Demystifying the academic aura:preparing an abstract. Nurse Researcher 7 (1). Autumn.

116 J. Coad, P. Devitt

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