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

2 AIMS Some must do’s General principles Improve a poor abstract

3 Imperatives Read the instructions Follow them! Submit on timeLate submission is easiest way to reject

4 AND Essential Have something worth saying How to make point? AdvisablePrepare early Revise, revise and revise!

5 Revision Correct spelling and typos that give a bad impression80-cell embryos; 15M PrOH Remove waffle and refine sentences to pack in information Check data

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

7 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

8 Title –Examples In vitro maturation in oocytes collected from stimulated cycles. Is it worth it?

9 Title Early embryo development is an indicator of implantation potential

10 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

11 Title The effect of blastomere removal on development to the blastocyst stage

12 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

13 Authors Obey instructions How many? Max number list in full FormatEveryone who contributed Hangers on? Unit policy?

14 Body of Abstract Use format given None given? Information – no wafflePrevious abstracts Continuous text Create format Information – no waffle

15 Introduction Brief and to the point Why did I do this work? BackgroundAim

16 Methods Points vital to your study eg Retrospective/prospectiveRandomised (how?) Controls Age/cause infertility No embryos transferred Definitions Statistical test

17 Methods HFEA/Ethics committee approvalRoom for manoeuvre when everything else is written!

18 Results MOST important section Evidence for conclusions NEVER SAY eg“Results will be discussed” “Data will be presented”

19 Results Be factual eg sample size (no. replicates) correct unitsmeans need ± SE statistical test used (in methods?) P value

20 Results Include important results Descriptive data - quantifyEg Surveys who/how? (methods) proportion responded (representative data?) quantify outcome

21 Conclusions Be specific – no waffle Include critical appraisaleg “The results of this retrospective comparison suggest …… A prospective randomised trial is required to confirm our findings.

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

23 Acknowledgements Funding body usually acknowledgedSpecified in instructions?

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