Writing Abstracts for
Research Projects
September 27th, 2011
Organized by the Writing Across the Curriculum,
Emerging Scholars, and Honors Scholars Programs
What is an abstract?
 A self-contained summary of the main ideas in a paper,
talk, or project that runs approx. 150 – 300 words.
 May include one or more paragraphs.
 Self-contained: Your audience should be able to get a
sense of what your paper, talk, or project is about
without consulting the actual work itself.
 Summary: Adds no new information outside of what is
already contained in the corresponding work.
Why write an abstract?
 Selection: Helps your audience decide whether to
read your paper/go to your talk/visit your poster.
 (Note: Your abstract is not a “teaser” or a “trailer” for
your project.)
 Indexing: Many online databases allow users to
search abstracts in order to find papers that are
relevant to their research.
 Abstracts can help readers get a sense of the existing
literature on a certain research topic.
When do you write an
abstract?
 When submitting articles to journals.
 When applying to conferences.
 When giving a talk.
 When doing a poster presentation.
 When applying for research grants.
What goes into an abstract?
Social Support and Mental Health in Middle-Aged Adults: Gender
Moderation
Research indicates that social support can have a powerful impact on
mental health. Importantly, social support is a multidimensional construct
that consists of the type of support (i.e., instrumental or emotional), the
direction of support (i.e., given or received), the sources or targets of
support (e.g., kin vs. non-kin), and whether support is actual or potential.
In addition, there is evidence that social support may differentially affect
men and women. The purpose of this study is to determine whether
gender moderates the association between these various aspects of
social support and depressive symptoms. Using a sample of 6,824
middle-aged adults from two waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study
(1992-3 and 2003-5), we tested the hypothesis that social support would
have a greater positive effect on the mental health of women. Using a
series of linear regressions predicting Time 2 depressive symptoms and
controlling for a variety of background variables as well as Time 1
depressive symptoms, we found that social support decreased
depressive symptoms in women more than in men. Specifically, for
women who receive emotional support from non-kin, receive emotional
support from kin, anticipate instrumental support from non-kin, provide
emotional support to kin, or who have a friend they call a ‘confidant’ have
lower depressive symptoms than women who do not; in men, the
association between social support and depressive symptoms was close
to zero. Overall, our study supports previous research showing that, to
some extent, social support is more beneficial for women than for men.
We consider the implications of this work for mental health practices.
Social Support and Mental Health in Middle-Aged Adults: Gender
Moderation
Research indicates that social support can have a powerful impact on
mental health. Importantly, social support is a multidimensional construct
that consists of the type of support (i.e., instrumental or emotional), the
direction of support (i.e., given or received), the sources or targets of
support (e.g., kin vs. non-kin), and whether support is actual or potential.
In addition, there is evidence that social support may differentially affect
men and women. The purpose of this study is to determine whether
gender moderates the association between these various aspects of
social support and depressive symptoms. Using a sample of 6,824
middle-aged adults from two waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study
(1992-3 and 2003-5), we tested the hypothesis that social support would
have a greater positive effect on the mental health of women. Using a
series of linear regressions predicting Time 2 depressive symptoms and
controlling for a variety of background variables as well as Time 1
depressive symptoms, we found that social support decreased
depressive symptoms in women more than in men. Specifically, for
women who receive emotional support from non-kin, receive emotional
support from kin, anticipate instrumental support from non-kin, provide
emotional support to kin, or who have a friend they call a ‘confidant’ have
lower depressive symptoms than women who do not; in men, the
association between social support and depressive symptoms was close
to zero. Overall, our study supports previous research showing that, to
some extent, social support is more beneficial for women than for men.
We consider the implications of this work for mental health practices.
What goes into an abstract?
 All abstracts should include the following sections:
 Motivation (Why should anyone care about your project?)
 Problem (What specific problem(s) are you trying to solve?)
 Methodology (What methods did you use to solve it?)
 Conclusions/Results (What answer(s) did you arrive at?)
 Implications (What follows from these results?
Future directions?)
 Note: Depending on what stage you’re at in the project, you
can either include your results or leave them out.
What makes an abstract
work?
 Keep your audience in mind.
 Your abstract should make your audience want to see
the whole project, to pick it from other things they might
want to read/see/do.
 Don’t include too much detail, but don’t be too general
either.
 If you try to include too much detail, your abstract will
likely run on too long.
 If you are too general, the substance of your project may
be lost on your audience.
What makes an abstract
work? (Cont’d)
 Be clear and concise.
 Use appropriate language. Be careful when using
technical terms and jargon.
 Use keywords throughout to flag main ideas.
Sometimes you will be asked to provide a separate list
of keywords.
 Cover main ideas in your paper with emphasis on ideas
your audience will likely find most interesting, even if
that’s different from the idea that you find most
interesting.
Application
(1) Leptin, its involvement in the feeding circuit and obesity.
Recent studies shows that almost 65% of Americans are overweight, 31%
are obese, and another 5% are morbidly obese. Obesity is a medical
condition noted by an accumulation and storage of body fat that becomes
immobilizing, dehabilitating, increases mortality, and the risk for serious
medical conditions. Recently, research has delved deeper into the
understanding of this epidemic and conjured up new theories behind
uncontrollable obesity. Body weight, feeding and glucose homeostasis are
regulated by a number of circulating hormones, like leptin and neuopeptides
like neuropeptideY (NPY), agouti-related protein (AGRP) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC). These are the members of the hypothalamic
regulating orchestra which inform the brain about the state of energy storage
and utilization. In addition, circulating hormone and neuropeptides that
control feeding and energy expenditure regulate the hypothalamic
gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) pulse generator, and therefore the
production of gonadal steroids. Estrogen also has reciprocal effects on
feeding, body weight, and energy expenditure. Working with mice and other
animals model researchers have traced out the possible pathway these
hormones and neuropeptides take when responding to feelings of hunger
and satiety. This study will analyze the hormonal impact on the brain, the
feeding circuit, conscious recognition of hunger or fullness, followed by
body’s storage and uptake of fats.
(2) Research for a book project: Contemporary American
Drama: Performing Postmodernism (Edinburgh University
Press, forthcoming 2007).
As the semester began, I wondered how I was going to balance
my already busy schedule of a full-time course load and work. I
didn’t think that entertaining any new ventures would be a good
idea, until the opportunity to work with Dr. X presented itself.
With concentrated thought, and a lot of prayer, I accepted this
great opportunity and it’s turned out to be all I expected it to be.
The Honors Scholars Program has been beneficial to me in
many ways. It has enabled me to improve my research skills
and methods. It has also helped me appreciate the many works
in theatre and drama and the authors of those works. Lastly, it
has given me an added confidence in my ability to take on new
projects. Before accepting this position there was some doubt
whether I could handle the added responsibility. Now, I feel I
can accept, and overcome, any type of challenge.
(3) Presence of Pathogenic Bacteria in Salted and Smoked Seafood.
Many of the coastal communities living outside the United States of America
preserve their seafood using a very basic salting and drying method. Most of
these edibles are imported into the country with little regulation from FDA
and are easily accessible to the local public. It is a common concern that
due to lack of regulation in food preparation in these countries, there might
be pathogenic bacterial contamination in these foods which can cause
consumer illness. Dried and smoked seafood from different sources were
selected for this study to randomize the sample.
Samples of dried and smoked fish and shrimp from four different sources
were analyzed for microbial contamination by the plating method.
Preliminary results from the initial plating showed significant bacterial
contamination. Colony counting by dilution plating method showed an
excess of 3000 colonies per gram of dried seafood. Gram staining indicated
the presence of
Streptococcus sp, Bacillus sp and other gram-negative bacteria. These
studies show that further research is required to determine its health impact.
Future studies will focus on confirming the identity of these bacterial
contaminants using various biochemical and immunological tests. The
results will be presented and its health implications will
be discussed.
(4) Future of Nuclear Energy
Nuclear power industry is a fast growing international industry
with a proven half-century track record of providing energy for
the base economical activities of developed industrial nations.
With different nations being involved in nuclear power
generation to a different degree the spectrum includes such
front-runners as France and Lithuania, where up to 80% of
electricity is being generated by nuclear plants and US as the
world biggest producer of nuclear power.
THANK YOU!
 If you have any further questions, feel free to contact:
 Norman Perlmutter ([email protected])
 Myrto Mylopoulos ([email protected])