Having a strategy and knowing some of the conventions helps when writing the abstract for a publication. Photo credit: Caitlin Regan
The abstract can be tough and time-consuming to write, but it can make or break a paper’s success. One little paragraph ends up being the most widely read portion of a study, and also its emissary to encourage others to invest time to find and read (and hopefully cite) the entire work. Many students struggle on their first abstract to understand the conventions, so to help with this, NIMBioS has developed an education module titled “Writing the Abstract” for students participating in the REU/REV program. The “Writing the Abstract” module is now available on the NIMBioS website to anyone interested in honing those abstract-writing skills, along with three other education modules that bring together math and biology.