“I've been doing
a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. No brush, no paint, no
canvas, I just think about it.” -- Stephen Wright (American Actor and
Writer, b.1955)
A good abstract can help you advertise your research talent beyond the
community of experts that share your interest.
At the end of this post is a before and after abstract writing
exercise. You might also want to check
out a couple of the following sources for helpful abstract writing hints.
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University of North Carolina College of
Arts & Sciences
How to write abstracts
Source: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/abstracts/
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Philip Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University
"Now that the use of on-line publication databases is prevalent, writing a
really good abstract
has become even more important than it was a decade ago. Abstracts have always served the
function of "selling" your work. But now, instead of merely
convincing the reader to keep reading the rest of the attached paper, an abstract
must convince the reader" to purchase a copy of the article
"Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but will repay you with
increased impact on the world by enticing people to read your
publications"
Source: http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html
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Emerald Insight
How to... write an abstract
Source: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/write/abstracts.htm?part=1#2
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ABSTRACT WRITING EXERCISE
Here is an interesting article I found on the Web. The original abstract, reproduced below, is
OK, but not great.
Microchim Acta (2012) 179:123–130
Synthesis of
magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer particles for selective adsorption and
separation of dibenzothiophene
H. Li :W. Xu (*) : X. Ma : B. Jiang : L. Liu :W. Huang
Department of Environment, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People’s
Republic of China
xwz09@ujs.edu.cn
N. Wang
Entry-exit inspection quarantine bureau, Zhenjiang 212000, People’s Republic of
China
D. Niu :W. Yang : Z. Zhou
Department of Material science & engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang
212013, People’s Republic of China
Free Full Text Source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/m35318n3l0627774/
Original
abstract:
We report on the synthesis of
magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (m-MIPs) for the selective adsorption
and separation of dibenzothiophene (DBT) from oil solution. The m-MIPs were
characterized by Fourier transform infrared analysis, transmission electron
microscopy, surface area and porosity analysis, and vibrating sample
magnetometry. Batch mode adsorption studies were carried out to investigate the
adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms and selective recognition. The adsorption
kinetics were modeled with the pseudofirst- order and pseudo-second-order
kinetics, and the adsorption isotherms were fitted with Langmuir and Freundlich
models. The m-MIPs can selectively recognize DBT over similar compounds. Static
adsorption experiments showed that the m-MIPs display excellent recognition
capacity, selective affinity for DBT, and superparamagnetism in presence of an
external magnetic field.
I think I can do better.
New and, in my
opinion, improved, abstract
Organic sulfur compounds in
fuel oil cause air pollution and acid rain, resulting in serious diseases of
human respiratory system. In response, governments
around the world have restricted the amount of acceptable sulfur content
present in fuels to very low limits. The
conventional method of sulfur removal is hydrodesulfurization. This process, however, is unable to remove
refractory sulfur compounds such as dibenzothiophene (DBT) and its derivatives
to the ultra low levels required by new environmental regulations. Molecular imprinting provides a new choice
for adsorption and separation of dibenzothiophene. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) possess the
advantages of easy and cheap preparation, low cost, mechanical and chemical
stability. Recent attempts have been
made to coat the thin MIP shells at the nanoparticle level, providing easy
template removal, high adsorption capacity, low mass transportation resistance,
and fast adsorption kinetics. The
mag-MIPs are prepared by encapsulating inorganic magnetic particles with
organic polymer, combining the advantages of high recognition properties of MIP
and the handling convenience of magnetic separation. Magnetic separation can be performed directly
in crude samples. Consequently, prepared
mag-MIPs are promising multifunctional candidates for the adsorption and
separation process. We have developed a
relatively rapid and convenient method to adsorb and separate dibenzothiophene
in oil solution. Fe3O4
nanoparticles were employed as magnetic materials and synthesized by the
coprecipitation method. Silica particles
with stable chemical properties, firm physical structure and high mechanical
strength were selected as protective molecules to effectively stabilize the
iron oxides. Fe3O4
nanoparticles were embedded in the silica particles, and then coated with a
thin MIPs film, which was obtained using dibenzothiophene as a template, 4-
vinylpyridine as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a
cross-linker, and azodiisobutyronitrile as the initiator. The resultant
magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers were systematically characterized by
Fourier transform infrared analysis, transmission electron microscopy, surface
area and porosity analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometer. In addition, adsorption properties such as
equilibrium, kinetics, thermodynamics and selective recognition were
demonstrated by batch mode adsorption experiments.
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The second version includes sufficient technical information to let an expert
know whether or not he or she wants to read the whole article. At the same time, it has enough non-technical
information to inform both the interested layman and the researcher whose
expertise lies elsewhere.
Suppose the technology described in the paper were to be featured on a program
like National Public Radio’s Science Friday (www.npr.org)
program, for example. Which of the above
abstracts do you think would be more helpful to the NPR staffer assigned to
research the topic?
Showing posts with label NPR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NPR. Show all posts
Friday, December 7, 2012
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Blog Alert: Retraction Watch
"All Along the Watchtower" (a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan)
NPR – National Public Radio (http://www.npr.org/) – has done it again. My main source of news I can trust, NPR recently highlighted a blog that follows retractions published by scientific journals. It is called Retraction Watch (http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com).
The goal of the two blog owners … Adam Marcus, managing editor of Anesthesiology News and Ivan Oransky, the executive editor of Reuters Health, is to make it easy to find retractions pertaining to scientific articles. They describe their mission in their first post, an excerpt of which appears below …
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So why write a blog on retractions?
First, science takes justifiable pride in the fact that it is self-correcting — most of the time. Usually, that just means more or better data, not fraud or mistakes that would require a retraction. But when a retraction is necessary, how long does that self-correction take? The Wakefield retraction, for example, was issued 12 years after the original study, and six years after serious questions had been raised publicly by journalist Andrew Brian Deer. (Thanks to commenter Tutak for letting us know about this error.) Retractions are therefore a window into the scientific process.
Second, retractions are not often well-publicized. Sure, there are the high-profile cases such as Reuben’s and Wakefield’s. But most retractions live in obscurity in Medline and other databases. That means those who funded the retracted research — often taxpayers — aren’t particularly likely to find out about them. Nor are investors always likely to hear about retractions on basic science papers whose findings may have formed the basis for companies into which they pour dollars. So we hope this blog will form an informal repository for the retractions we find, and might even spur the creation of a retraction database such as the one called for here by K.M Korpela.
Third, they’re often the clues to great stories about fraud or other malfeasance, as Adam learned when he chased down the Reuben story. The reverse can also be true. The Cancer Letter’s expose of Potti and his fake Rhodes Scholarship is what led his co-authors to remind The Lancet Oncology of their concerns, and then the editors to issue their expression of concern. And they can even lead to lawsuits for damaged reputations. If highlighting retractions will give journalists more tools to uncover fraud and misuse of funds, we’re happy to help. And if those stories are appropriate for our respective news outlets, you’ll only read about them on Retraction Watch once we’ve covered them there.
Finally, we’re interested in whether journals are consistent. How long do they wait before printing a retraction? What requires one? How much of a public announcement, if any, do they make? Does a journal with a low rate of retractions have a better peer review and editing process, or is it just sweeping more mistakes under the rug?
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I recommend a bookmark for this blog, maybe even a “follow.” Why? Because you never know. When your research depends, in part, on published work in your field, it makes sense to be sure none of the articles, or some of the data presented in them, has been retracted.
Just for a quick example, search the blog using key word: "oil." Result …
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Did a NOAA scientist “retract” an overoptimistic oil spill report?
Yesterday, on a story about a Congressional hearing on the progress of oil spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico, the Guardian ran the following headline:
BP oil spill: US scientist retracts assurances over success of cleanup
NOAA’s Bill Lehr says three-quarters of the oil that gushed from the Deepwater Horizon rig is still in the Gulf environment while scientists identify 22-mile plume in ocean depths
The story, as do those in the Los Angeles Times, The Hill, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, among others, point out that Lehr’s testimony seemed at odds with the almost celebratory atmosphere surrounding the release of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report two weeks ago, “BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Budget: What Happened To the Oil?”
The coverage yesterday also noted that other scientists have criticized the report, and that a study in Science this week suggests there’s still an underwater plume of oil in the Gulf.
But did Lehr actually “retract” assurances over the cleanup’s success, or the report itself?
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The blog enables searching posts by author, country, journal, subject, and type
Add it to your “due diligence” list.
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A feed of the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) makes an excellent addition to your organization’s Web. And the price is right … it’s free!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
ResearchGATE … social network for the serious scientist
“Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?” -- Bill Watterson (American Author of the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, b.1958)
NPR-National Public Radio (www.npr.org) is my preferred source for general news. A couple of days ago it surprised me … it featured a piece on ResearchGATE (www.researchgate.com) – a social network aimed specifically at research scientists.
To quote from the NPR piece …
“A few years ago, while he was doing research at Harvard, Ijad Madisch could not figure out why his experiment wasn't working. His adviser didn't know what was wrong, nobody in his lab worked on the same stuff, and none of his researcher friends could help … That's when Madisch got the idea for a scientist network: ResearchGate — a sort of Facebook for scientists. Instead of sharing favorite photos and videos, researchers could use the Web platform to connect with each other and share information that doesn't get published”
Lest you think, “Oh, God, not ANOTHER way to waste my time,” Google® this …
Researchgate desulfurization
One interesting result, from ConocoPhillips, is …
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Unraveling heavy oil desulfurization chemistry: targeting clean fuels
ConocoPhillips Company, Bartlesville Technology Center, Bartlesville, Oklahoma 74004, USA.
Environmental science & technology. 04/2008; 42(6):1944-7.
Abstract
The sulfur removal chemistry of heavy oils has been unraveled by systematically investigating several heavy oils with an extremely wide range of properties. The heavy oil feed and product properties have been characterized by advanced analytical methods, and these properties have been related to the sulfur conversion data observed in pilot hydrotreating units. These studies coupled with kinetic treatment of the data have revealed that the desulfurization chemistry of heavy oils is essentially controlled by the strongly inhibiting three and larger ring aromatic hydrocarbon content and surprisingly not by the content of the "hard-to-remove" sulfur compounds. Such enhanced understanding of the heavy oil sulfur removal is expected to open new avenues for catalyst/process optimization for heavy oil desulfurization and thereby assist the efficent production of clean transporation fuels.
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Today’s tip to serious desulfurization researchers: Join ResearchGATE.
Another tip: add the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) as a feed to your homepage.
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