How to get your abstract accepted Maureen Wood Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology University o

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How to get your abstract acceptedMaureen
WoodDepartment of Obstetrics and
GynaecologyUniversity of Aberdeen
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AIMS

• Some must dos
• General principles
• Improve a poor abstract

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Imperatives

• Read the instructions
• Follow them!
• Submit on time
• Late submission is easiest way to reject

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AND

• Essential
• Have something worth saying
• How to make point?
• Advisable
• Prepare early
• Revise, revise and revise!

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Revision

• Correct spelling and typos that give a bad
  impression
• 80-cell embryos 15M PrOH
• Remove waffle and refine sentences to pack in
  information
• Check data

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Title

• Length?
• Limited number of characters?
• Not too long
• Amusing/serious?
• Must be informative
• Key points

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Title Examples

• Pregnancy following transfer of vitrified porcine
  embryos produced in vitro
• Prospective randomised study of human oocyte
  cryopreservation by slow-rate freezing or
  vitrification
• Sperm morphology and selection of cases for in
  vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm
  injection

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Title Examples

• In vitro maturation in oocytes collected from
  stimulated cycles. Is it worth it?

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Title

• Early embryo development is an indicator of
  implantation potential

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Title

• Early embryo development is an indicator of
  implantation potential
• Early human embryo development is an indicator of
  implantation potential
• OR
• Early embryo development is an indicator of
  implantation potential in human

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Title

• The effect of blastomere removal on development
  to the blastocyst stage

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Title

• The effect of blastomere removal on development
  to the blastocyst stage
• The effect of blastomere removal from human Day-3
  embryos on development to the blastocyst stage

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Authors

• Obey instructions
• Max number list in full
• Format
• How many?
• Everyone who contributed
• Hangers on?
• Unit policy?

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Body of Abstract

• Use format given
• None given?
• Previous abstracts
• Continuous text
• Create format
• Information no waffle

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Introduction

• Brief and to the point
• Why did I do this work?
• Background
• Aim

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Methods

• Points vital to your study eg
• Retrospective/prospective
• Randomised (how?)
• Controls
• Age/cause infertility
• No embryos transferred
• Definitions
• Statistical test

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Methods

• HFEA/Ethics committee approval
• Room for manoeuvre when everything else is
  written!

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Results

• MOST important section
• Evidence for conclusions
• NEVER SAY eg
• Results will be discussed
• Data will be presented

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Results

• Be factual eg
• sample size (no. replicates)
• correct units
• means need SE
• statistical test used (in methods?)
• P value

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Results

• Include important results
• Descriptive data - quantify
• Eg Surveys
• who/how? (methods)
• proportion responded (representative data?)
• quantify outcome

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Conclusions

• Be specific no waffle
• Include critical appraisal
• eg The results of this retrospective comparison
  suggest A prospective randomised trial is
  required to confirm our findings.

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References

• Unnecessary in abstract
• If you must then keep simple
• First author surname et al (date)
• Plus initial, journal, vol no. and 1st page no.
  after conclusion

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Acknowledgements

• Funding body usually acknowledged
• Specified in instructions?

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Tips

• First author take responsibility
• Write a draft
• Get everyone involved in revision
• Edit/prune/add
• REVISE and REVISE
• First author final proof, circulate for approval
  and submit on time