Writing a conference or journal article abstract, online
Research Skills
Thursday, 08 February 2024, 2pm to 4pm
Apply for this courseThis course is suitable for all MSD postgraduate research students and early career researchers who have produced enough work to be able to draft their first conference abstract. This course contains pre-work you will need to complete on Canvas before the live session.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course aims to help you develop the skills and confidence to plan and write an abstract about health research for a conference or journal article that showcases your work’s importance, methodological rigor, and results appropriately and without spin.
To get most out of the course, we suggest joining once you have produced enough work to be able to draft your first conference abstract, when you are in the process of writing an abstract, or after you have written an abstract. However, we will supply sample abstracts for those who are not yet in a position to write their own.
The course will use a blended format of pre-recorded lectures and a live interactive session, held online. It will cover:
- The purpose of an abstract
- The ingredients that make up an effective abstract
- A process for putting together those ingredients, including how to find and use reporting guidelines for abstracts
- The difference between conference and journal abstracts
- Choosing words and keywords to help readers find your abstract
- Critically appraising an abstract to suggest revisions
Before the live session, you will watch around 1 hour of pre-recorded lectures through a separate platform called Canvas and complete their associated exercises. You will be given access to the pre-recorded content once you have booked onto a live session date (please refer to 'This course contains pre-work' below). You will be prompted to draft an abstract using your own work or to revise an existing abstract. A sample abstract will be made available for those who prefer not to work on their own abstract.
We recommend completing the pre-work a week before the live session. Please allow a half-day to complete this pre-work.
The live session will not simply repeat the content from the pre-recorded lectures. Instead, the live session will be used for discussion, questions, and putting the learning into practice. For example, the tutor will demonstrate how to critically appraise and revise an abstract. You will then revise each other’s abstracts in groups.
This course is delivered by writing experts from the UK EQUATOR Centre: Dr Patricia Logullo and Dr Jennifer de Beyer.
Please make sure you read all of the sections below relating to how the course will work, pre-work and the survey and attendance certificate policy.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Plan and write an abstract that clearly and completely describes their work’s importance and rigor, with the help of reporting guidelines
- Match the abstract to a journal or conference’s audience, scope and aims
- Revise the abstract and keywords to increase visibility
PARTICIPANT NUMBERS
30
ATTENDANCE CERTIFICATE ON SURVEY COMPLETION
It is now a requirement that you complete the three short questions in the survey you receive after attending the course. Once you have submitted the survey, you will be sent an email with a link to your attendance certificate. This is to ensure we receive the feedback we need to evaluate and improve our courses. Survey results are downloaded and stored anonymously.
PLEASE NOTE
Where no cost is indicated in the shopping trolley, no deposit is required. However, two or more non-attendances or late cancellations without good reason will be logged and may mean you cannot attend any further MSD training that term. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions for further information.