ABSTRACT

This is perhaps the most important section of the paper and the most difficult to write. It is a concise summary of your entire experimental process. Although it is usually read first, it should be written last to insure that it accurately reflects the contents of your paper. It is usually about 4-6% of the length of the paper, but no longer than 200 words. Try to keep your abstract to one paragraph. Begin the abstract four or five lines below the title. Center the abstract on the page with the right- and left-hand margins several spaces wider than the rest of the manuscript.

It should be informative, summarizing the principal facts and conclusions about your paper. A person should not have to read your paper in order to understand the abstract. In fact just the opposite, a person should be able to read your abstract and know the purpose of your study, have a good idea how you did it, know the overall results and what you concluded from the study. The key to a good abstract is to keep it short and concise. You should summarize your findings, remembering that it is better to say, "The solar constant was found to be 100 J/m", than, "The solar constant was measured". DO NOT include tables, illustrations, preliminaries, descriptive details, number equations, and footnotes. Refer to copies of the Transactions or other journals for examples of abstracts.

EXAMPLE OF ABSTRACT PAGE

THE SYNERGISTIC EFFECT OF PARAFON FORTE
ON MUSCLE CONTRACTION
by
David P. Castor
Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Shawnee Mission, Kansas

ABSTRACT

Parafon Forte's effectiveness as a muscle spasm reliever was compared to the effectiveness of its components acetaminophen and chlorozoxazone. Twenty eight Rana pipiens were divided into four groups for study. For a period of two weeks, daily dosages consisting of specified amounts of the drugs in 1.4% isopropanol solutions were administered orally in 0.50 mL quantities to three groups of frogs while the fourth group was given a placebo of the 1.4% isopropanol solution. At the end of this time the frogs were sacrificed and the gastrocnemius muscles were removed for study. Muscular contractions were measured when repeated 55 volt electrical stimuli of 0.1 ms duration were applied over a period of ten minutes. The contraction measurements were analyzed during standard non-parametric statistical analysis tests. The results suggests that Parafon Forte is a more effective muscle spasm reliever than acetaminophen or chlorozoxazone.