Abstracts & Manuscript Writing

Conference Abstracts

Sometimes before you submit your full paper, you might want to submit a conference abstract to test the waters, or perhaps report on one aspect of your overall research. 

Here are some resources:

• Reporting systematic reviews in journal and conference abstracts

Manuscript Writing

So you've crunched the numbers and and found some interesting things. Its time to write it up!

1. Choose a Journal

It may sound backwards, but choosing a journal where you would like to publish is important because each journal has specific requirements (eg word count, format, article types etc). So use the following tools to work out which journal(s) would be suitable for your manuscript and then be guided by their 'author guide'. Another rule of thumb, is that journals that feature heavily in your references are a good place to start as well. 

Resources

1. JANE (Journal/Author Name Estimator) - paste your abstract for a list of journal suggestions

2. JOT (Journal Targeter) - title, abstract and reference list inspired journal suggestions

2. Format/Writing

The EQUATOR network has reporting guidelines that should be followed. They offer the structure in which your manuscript should be layed out. 

The EQUATOR Network (reporting guidelines)

• CONSORT (randomised studies)

• STROBE (observational studies)

• CARE (case reports)

• SAMPL (statistical reporting)

• PRISMA (systematic reviews)

Help with writing resources

Academic Phrasebank

3. Results Section

Data Visualisation Tools

DVTs help convey the data outside of traditional graphs. Here's a few handy ones to look at:

1. UpSet (free)

2. Tableau (free)

4. Discussion

• How to write a "Discussion"