ABSTRACT GUIDELINES:

The abstract is a brief summary of your project.  The length is generally one to two paragraphs.  All of the information in your abstract must be found somewhere else in your paper.  So, even though this is the first section of your paper, you will probably write it last?  Like the title, the abstract should be "short and sweet."  Most abstracts must have less than 250 words so choose your words carefully.  A well-written abstract will include a sentence or two about each of the following:

• topic (what your research is about)
• purpose (what questions you hoped to answer by doing your research)
• hypothesis (your prediction about what your research would reveal)
• experimental methods (how you tested your hypothesis)
• results and conclusions (the most important ones, including whether or not your hypothesis was supported)

That’s a lot of information to put in one or two short paragraphs!  Writing a good abstract will take practice.  Find some examples of abstracts in journals or books to see how others have written them.  Ask people to read your abstract and suggest improvements.

Guidelines for Submissions to the Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Science
[from the web site]

1. Text of abstracts must be 250 words or less.
2. Abstracts must be on white good quality paper (8.5 x 11 inches). They must be single spaced throughout and have a margin of 1 inch all around.
3. Use the same font style and size (10 or 12 point) throughout; do not use bold. Italics should be used only for scientific name of organisms and other expressions that conventionally appear in italic type.
4. Do not justify the right-hand margin.
5. Use a short and specific title.
6. The address should contain the name of the author's department, the name of the author's university or company, the name of the city, the name of the state (use standard 2-letter abbreviations e.g., IN,
   OH, KY, TN) and the zip code.
7. In multi-authored abstracts, the name of the presenter of the paper should be followed by an asterisk.
8. Use standard, well-known abbreviations when the use of abbreviations is necessary. When using abbreviations for chemical compounds, spell out the name in full at the first mention and follow with the abbreviation in parenthesis; use the abbreviation thereafter. Do not abbreviate compounds in the title of the abstract.
9. Any special symbols --e.g., Greek letters-- that are not on your word processor must be carefully drawn in by hand with black ink.
10. Scientific names of organisms should be in italics (not underlined). Spell out generic names the first time they are used; afterwards these names should be abbreviated to the first letter (plus a period) when followed by a specific epithet unless confusion results with another abbreviated generic name in the abstract.
11. Your abstract must be sent with your Paper Submission Form to the Program Coordinator as indicated at the bottom of the Paper Submission Form.
12. In the upper right-hand corner of the abstract, type in CAPITALS the names of the section to which your paper belongs:
    BEHAVIORAL & SOCIAL SCIENCES
    BIOLOGICAL TOPICS
    BOTANY
    CHEMISTRY
    COMPUTER SCIENCE & MATHEMATICS
    EARTH & SPACE SCIENCE
    ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
    ENGINEERING
    MICROBIOLOGY
    PHYSICS
    ZOOLOGY

 

BELOW IS A SAMPLE ABSTRACT:

[from Transactions of the Kentucky Academy of  Science, 50(1-2),1989,p. 127, with permission]

Fecundity and spawning substrate preferences of captive Kentucky snubnose darters (Etheostoma rafinesquei), multiple spawners. GORDON K. WEDDLE, Biology Department, Campbellsville College, Campbellsville, KY  42718.
     Nine pairs of Kentucky snubnose darters were maintained in captivity in natural habitat for periods of 26-42 d in spring 1988.  Spawned ova (n=4,892) were collected from artificial spawning substrates aligned horizontally, vertically, and at a 45o inclination from vertical.  Seventy per cent of the ova were spawned on vertical substrates, 25% on inclined substrates, and 5% on horizontal substrates.  Females spawned multiple clutches of ova (mean clutch = 47.4 ova; mean interval between clutches = 3.2 d).  Water temperature was directly correlated with clutch (r = 0.47; P < 0.001) and inversely correlated with interval (r = -0.29; P < 0.001). The maximum number of ova spawned by any female was 780 contained in 13 clutches spawned over 42 d.  Fecundity (F) was estimated by calculation; F = (season length / mean clutch interval) x (mean clutch).  Fecundity estimates for 9 captive females (400-1,140) were much larger than published estimates based on counts of mature ova.  Because ripe ova were recruited throughout the season, counts of mature ova probably represented clutch rather than fecundity.  The spawning season (7-8 wk) terminated when maximum water temperature remained consistently above 21.5oC.  Many ova, including ripe ova, were resorbed at the end of the season.  Counts of ova, total or mature, did not yield valid estimates of fecundity for Kentucky snubnose darters.  Whether this is true of other darters is not known

If you have any questions, please contact:  Dr. Ruth E. Beattie, Dept. of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, rebeat1@uky.edu, 859-257-7647