Run every line before you submit. Most abstracts fail on three or four of these.
- [ ] Under the word limit, counted (not estimated).
- [ ] The research question is stated explicitly, not implied.
- [ ] Sample size appears.
- [ ] At least one quantitative result appears, with units.
- [ ] Statistical result includes the test and the p-value or interval.
- [ ] No citations (abstracts almost never take them).
- [ ] No abbreviations that are not defined at first use.
- [ ] No results that do not appear elsewhere in the project.
- [ ] Claims match the evidence — no "proves", no "revolutionary".
- [ ] Past tense for what you did; present for what is generally true.
- [ ] No sentence over about 30 words.
- [ ] The first sentence would make sense to a judge from a different field.
- [ ] The last sentence says why anyone should care.
- [ ] Read aloud, all the way through, without stumbling.
- [ ] Someone outside your field has read it and can state your finding back to you.