Thread by @ButlerKaycie

Your abstract has to do a lot of heavy lifting to convey the importance of your work in limited words.

Here’s how to make sure the IMPORTANCE is never missing in your ABSTRACT.

A🧵
#scicomm #scientificwriting #PersuasiveScientificPapers
@openacademics

What you will learn in this thread:

1. 6 Key parts of an abstract
2. Coloring technique
3. Diagnose your own abstract
4. How to do it in your grant proposal
5. More info

Let’s dig in 👇🏼

2/ Key parts of an abstract

I use colors to highlight and visualize the key parts of a research paper

Colors:
Greens: intro-like content
Orange: results-like content
Purple: discussion-like content

3/Look at this great sample abstract that I’ve colored so you can see what is where.

Note that there is text stating the gap in yellow.

This sentence is a CLEAR, DIRECT statement of where there is a gap in the field that needs to be filled.

4/Stating gaps DIRECTLY in your paper/grant means no required interpretation for the readers.

It ensures they will see exactly why your work is necessary!

5/Try this on your own work - use my coloring technique to show the gap.

Make sure you have one sentence you can color in yellow that directly states what GAP your work seeks to fill.

Not sure how to do it yourself – check out this free YouTube video: bit.ly/3xxNehS

6/
Diagnose it

Good news: abstracts are shorter so a missing gap is easier to find.

Check out what an abstract would look like if the gap was missing.

Do you see how much it negatively affects this abstract to have the GAP missing?

7/
CLEARLY articulating that gap is

HOW

the reader is able to judge how big or important of a step your work is!

8/ Grant proposals:

Luckily you can use the same coloring techniques in grants to find direct statements of the gap in EACH paragraph of the introduction and one sentence in the abstract.

Ta da!

9/
Detailed materials

If you’re unsure if you’ve sufficiently covered the GAP in your introduction, check out this thread to make sure it is not overlooked:

https://twitter.com/ButlerKaycie/status/1560640268730187776

10/
You can also check out my FREE abstract writing course: bit.ly/3HRUx9f

OR

Twitter goldmine thread about writing your scientific paper (including abstracts!): bit.ly/3F7xFiT

11/
The End

Hopefully this chunk of information helped you to include the importance in your Abstract!

If you’ve enjoyed this thread, please like and RT.

Follow me for more free #scicomm tips about reducing stress in your scientific writing!

Questions? - Comment below!