Undergraduate Research Symposium at UM-St. Louis

Writing Research Abstracts

William Klein, Ph.D.
Department of English

Research abstracts are brief descriptions of research reports. Their purpose is to provide readers with a quick, but exact, understanding of your research and the new knowledge it offers, and so brevity is essential, and choosing the right content critical. You should tell readers

1. what you researched and what is already known about it,
2. how you researched it,
3. what resulted, and
4. what you learned.

Abstracts are written for a variety of audiences and situations, and therefore you might see some variations among them. If they're written to a knowledgeable audience -- someone with deep experience in the research area -- abstracts are short, dense, and full of specialized terminology, names, and numbers. If the the audience is generally unexperienced, abstracts are longer and less compacted by specialized language.

Some audiences are educated, and can therefore understand complex knowledge, but they are not experienced in your research area. This will likely be the audience for your Symposium Abstract. Therefore, your abstract should avoid highly specialized language, but it should be short. Try to keep it to 6-8 pages.

Structure of the Abstract

Abstracts generally follow the structures of their research reports. A science journal article typically follows the Introduction, Methods, Results (and) Discussion (IMRAD) arrangement structure. This is an inductive structure. Research reports written for audiences within industries and government agencies will likely follow a different arrangement structure that begins with the results. This structure is a deductive. In either arrangment, writers try to describe their research as briefly and accurately and relevantly as possible.

For your Symposium Abstract, you should use the inductive structure. Include only information that the reader will need to understand the new knowledge you offer.

What You Researched and Why

The first few sentences of the abstract announces the objective of the research, or problem the research addresses, and what is known already about that research topic. Telling what is already known provides a context that helps others understand the significance of your research. It might even suggest why you chose certain methods over others. But remember to keep it short. This section is often written in present tense, but can be written in the past.

Examples (from http://research.berkeley.edu/ucday/abstract.html) are marked below in red. Notice the length of this section in the second example.

History/social science: "Their War": The Perspective of the South Vietnamese Military in Their Own Words Author: Julie Pham (UCB participant in UC Day 2001) Despite the vast research by Americans on the Vietnam War, little is known about the perspective of South Vietnamese military, officially called the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF). The overall image that emerges from the literature is negative: lazy, corrupt, unpatriotic, apathetic soldiers with poor fighting spirits. This study recovers some of the South Vietnamese military perspective for an American audience through qualititative interviews with 40 RVNAF veterans now living in San José, Sacramento, and Seattle, home to three of the top five largest Vietnamese American communities in the nation. An analysis of these interviews yields the veterans' own explanations that complicate and sometimes even challenge three widely held assumptions about the South Vietnamese military: 1) the RVNAF was rife with corruption at the top ranks, hurting the morale of the lower ranks; 2) racial relations between the South Vietnamese military and the Americans were tense and hostile; and 3) the RVNAF was apathetic in defending South Vietnam from communism. The stories add nuance to our understanding of who the South Vietnamese were in the Vietnam War. This study is part of a growing body of research on non-American perspectives of the war. In using a largely untapped source of Vietnamese history; oral histories with Vietnamese immigrant; this project will contribute to future research on similar topics.   Biological Sciences: "The Listeria monocytogenes p60 Protein is not Essential for Viability in vitro, but Promotes Virulence in vivo" Author: Sina Mohammedi, 2002 UC Day nominee and runner-up Intracellular pathogens (agents which infect host cells), such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes, cause very high mortality rates in the United States. Therefore, deciphering the mechanisms through which the pathogens cause disease is of great interest. Listeria infection of mice is a well-developed model system for studying the fundamentals of host-pathogen interactions. In vitro assays in animal cell cultures have helped show that Listeria causes illness by secreting molecules, called virulence factors, to the outside of the bacterial cell in order to affect the host organism. My work involves one such secreted protein, called p60. P60 is an antigen (an agent seen by the host immune system) implicated in regulated bacterial cell wall breakdown. The objective of this study was to examine two questions: first, is p60 essential to the viability of Listeria, as previously published? and second, is p60 a virulence factor in Listeria? To examine these questions, I contructed a Listeria strain lacking p60 (p60-). This new strain displayed no defect in viability. In fact, most standard in vitro pathogenicity assays were normal for p60-. However, when p60- was tested in a mouse (in vivo), a 1000-fold reduction in virulence was observed. This discovery suggests that p60 is indeed a key factor in the disease-causing ability of Listeria, but not essential for viability. Future studies will focus on the precise role of p60 in Listeria pathogenesis. This work increases our understanding of such diseases as tuberculoses, various food poisonings, and meningitis.

How You Research It

The next sentence or two (at the most) should describe the significant methods you used to research your topic, including your sampling and the criteria you used to analyze it. Your statement of methods will infer the validity of your research, so take care to describe them carefully. Methods sections are written in the the past tense to describe what was done. Examples below and written in blue.

History/social science: "Their War": The Perspective of the South Vietnamese Military in Their Own Words Author: Julie Pham (UCB participant in UC Day 2001) Despite the vast research by Americans on the Vietnam War, little is known about the perspective of South Vietnamese military, officially called the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF). The overall image that emerges from the literature is negative: lazy, corrupt, unpatriotic, apathetic soldiers with poor fighting spirits. This study recovers some of the South Vietnamese military perspective for an American audience through qualititative interviews with 40 RVNAF veterans now living in San José, Sacramento, and Seattle, home to three of the top five largest Vietnamese American communities in the nation. An analysis of these interviews yields the veterans' own explanations that complicate and sometimes even challenge three widely held assumptions about the South Vietnamese military: 1) the RVNAF was rife with corruption at the top ranks, hurting the morale of the lower ranks; 2) racial relations between the South Vietnamese military and the Americans were tense and hostile; and 3) the RVNAF was apathetic in defending South Vietnam from communism. The stories add nuance to our understanding of who the South Vietnamese were in the Vietnam War. This study is part of a growing body of research on non-American perspectives of the war. In using a largely untapped source of Vietnamese history; oral histories with Vietnamese immigrants; this project will contribute to future research on similar topics.   Biological Sciences: "The Listeria monocytogenes p60 Protein is not Essential for Viability in vitro, but Promotes Virulence in vivo" Author: Sina Mohammedi, 2002 UC Day nominee and runner-up Intracellular pathogens (agents which infect host cells), such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes, cause very high mortality rates in the United States. Therefore, deciphering the mechanisms through which the pathogens cause disease is of great interest. Listeria infection of mice is a well-developed model system for studying the fundamentals of host-pathogen interactions. In vitro assays in animal cell cultures have helped show that Listeria causes illness by secreting molecules, called virulence factors, to the outside of the bacterial cell in order to affect the host organism. My work involves one such secreted protein, called p60. P60 is an antigen (an agent seen by the host immune system) implicated in regulated bacterial cell wall breakdown. The objective of this study was to examine two questions: first, is p60 essential to the viability of Listeria, as previously published? and second, is p60 a virulence factor in Listeria? To examine these questions, I contructed a Listeria strain lacking p60 (p60-). This new strain displayed no defect in viability. In fact, most standard in vitro pathogenicity assays were normal for p60-. However, when p60- was tested in a mouse (in vivo), a 1000-fold reduction in virulence was observed. This discovery suggests that p60 is indeed a key factor in the disease-causing ability of Listeria, but not essential for viability. Future studies will focus on the precise role of p60 in Listeria pathogenesis. This work increases our understanding of such diseases as tuberculoses, various food poisonings, and meningitis.

What Resulted

The results of your research are usually best stated simply. The challenge is to report results without interpretation, so most results are expressed in a simple sentence, either in the present or past tense. Examples below are shown in green. Notice the difference between the social science example and the biological science example. Be careful to keep your own interpretation out of your statement of results.

History/social science: "Their War": The Perspective of the South Vietnamese Military in Their Own Words Author: Julie Pham (UCB participant in UC Day 2001) Despite the vast research by Americans on the Vietnam War, little is known about the perspective of South Vietnamese military, officially called the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF). The overall image that emerges from the literature is negative: lazy, corrupt, unpatriotic, apathetic soldiers with poor fighting spirits. This study recovers some of the South Vietnamese military perspective for an American audience through qualititative interviews with 40 RVNAF veterans now living in San José, Sacramento, and Seattle, home to three of the top five largest Vietnamese American communities in the nation. An analysis of these interviews yields the veterans' own explanations that complicate and sometimes even challenge three widely held assumptions about the South Vietnamese military: 1) the RVNAF was rife with corruption at the top ranks, hurting the morale of the lower ranks; 2) racial relations between the South Vietnamese military and the Americans were tense and hostile; and 3) the RVNAF was apathetic in defending South Vietnam from communism. The stories add nuance to our understanding of who the South Vietnamese were in the Vietnam War. This study is part of a growing body of research on non-American perspectives of the war. In using a largely untapped source of Vietnamese history; oral histories with Vietnamese immigrants; this project will contribute to future research on similar topics.   Biological Sciences: "The Listeria monocytogenes p60 Protein is not Essential for Viability in vitro, but Promotes Virulence in vivo" Author: Sina Mohammedi, 2002 UC Day nominee and runner-up Intracellular pathogens (agents which infect host cells), such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes, cause very high mortality rates in the United States. Therefore, deciphering the mechanisms through which the pathogens cause disease is of great interest. Listeria infection of mice is a well-developed model system for studying the fundamentals of host-pathogen interactions. In vitro assays in animal cell cultures have helped show that Listeria causes illness by secreting molecules, called virulence factors, to the outside of the bacterial cell in order to affect the host organism. My work involves one such secreted protein, called p60. P60 is an antigen (an agent seen by the host immune system) implicated in regulated bacterial cell wall breakdown. The objective of this study was to examine two questions: first, is p60 essential to the viability of Listeria, as previously published? and second, is p60 a virulence factor in Listeria? To examine these questions, I contructed a Listeria strain lacking p60 (p60-). This new strain displayed no defect in viability. In fact, most standard in vitro pathogenicity assays were normal for p60-. However, when p60- was tested in a mouse (in vivo), a 1000-fold reduction in virulence was observed. This discovery suggests that p60 is indeed a key factor in the disease-causing ability of Listeria, but not essential for viability. Future studies will focus on the precise role of p60 in Listeria pathogenesis. This work increases our understanding of such diseases as tuberculoses, various food poisonings, and meningitis.

What You Learned

In the final section of your abstract you should draw conclusions from your analysis and tell the reader what those conclusions mean. In the abstract you will not have room to express all of your conclusions, so choose the most significant ones. Examples below are shown in purple.

History/social science: "Their War": The Perspective of the South Vietnamese Military in Their Own Words Author: Julie Pham (UCB participant in UC Day 2001) Despite the vast research by Americans on the Vietnam War, little is known about the perspective of South Vietnamese military, officially called the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF). The overall image that emerges from the literature is negative: lazy, corrupt, unpatriotic, apathetic soldiers with poor fighting spirits. This study recovers some of the South Vietnamese military perspective for an American audience through qualititative interviews with 40 RVNAF veterans now living in San José, Sacramento, and Seattle, home to three of the top five largest Vietnamese American communities in the nation. An analysis of these interviews yields the veterans' own explanations that complicate and sometimes even challenge three widely held assumptions about the South Vietnamese military: 1) the RVNAF was rife with corruption at the top ranks, hurting the morale of the lower ranks; 2) racial relations between the South Vietnamese military and the Americans were tense and hostile; and 3) the RVNAF was apathetic in defending South Vietnam from communism. The stories add nuance to our understanding of who the South Vietnamese were in the Vietnam War. This study is part of a growing body of research on non-American perspectives of the war. In using a largely untapped source of Vietnamese history; oral histories with Vietnamese immigrants; this project will contribute to future research on similar topics.   Biological Sciences: "The Listeria monocytogenes p60 Protein is not Essential for Viability in vitro, but Promotes Virulence in vivo" Author: Sina Mohammedi, 2002 UC Day nominee and runner-up Intracellular pathogens (agents which infect host cells), such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Listeria monocytogenes, cause very high mortality rates in the United States. Therefore, deciphering the mechanisms through which the pathogens cause disease is of great interest. Listeria infection of mice is a well-developed model system for studying the fundamentals of host-pathogen interactions. In vitro assays in animal cell cultures have helped show that Listeria causes illness by secreting molecules, called virulence factors, to the outside of the bacterial cell in order to affect the host organism. My work involves one such secreted protein, called p60. P60 is an antigen (an agent seen by the host immune system) implicated in regulated bacterial cell wall breakdown. The objective of this study was to examine two questions: first, is p60 essential to the viability of Listeria, as previously published? and second, is p60 a virulence factor in Listeria? To examine these questions, I contructed a Listeria strain lacking p60 (p60-). This new strain displayed no defect in viability. In fact, most standard in vitro pathogenicity assays were normal for p60-. However, when p60- was tested in a mouse (in vivo), a 1000-fold reduction in virulence was observed. This discovery suggests that p60 is indeed a key factor in the disease-causing ability of Listeria, but not essential for viability. Future studies will focus on the precise role of p60 in Listeria pathogenesis. This work increases our understanding of such diseases as tuberculoses, various food poisonings, and meningitis.

 

 

 

 

Discussion and Conclusions

Although the Discussion section of the paper presents the crucial analysis of the data, that analysis is usually too lengthy and detailed to be represented in the abstract. The conclusions reached, however, are represented, usually in single statements written in the past or present tense.

Examples

Attempts to determine the identity of phosphate minerals from solubility product measurements were inconclusive.

In broad terms, the results favor some form of an open model of the magneto tail and are inconsistent with diffusive entry of protons across a closed magneto tail field with a time constant to substantially greater than a few minutes.