Twelve tips on writing abstracts and titles: How to get people to use and cite your work

• Published in: Medical teacher Vol. 38; no. 11; pp. 1100 - 1104
• Main Authors: Cook, David A., Bordage, Georges
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 01.11.2016; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Abstracts; Brainstorms; Citations; Guidelines; Humans; Journal Impact Factor; Periodicals as Topic - standards; Permutations; Writing; Writing - standards
• ISSN: 0142-159X; 1466-187X
• DOI: 10.1080/0142159X.2016.1181732

The authors share 12 practical tips on creating effective titles and abstracts for a journal publication or conference presentation. When crafting a title authors should: (1) start thinking of the title from the start; (2) brainstorm many key words, create permutations, and ask others for input; (3) strive for an informative and indicative title; (4) start the title with the most important words; and (5) wait to finalize the title until the very end. When writing the abstract, authors should: (6) wait until the end to write the abstract; (7) copy and paste from main text as the starting point; (8) start with a detailed structured format; (9) describe what they did; (10) describe what they found; (11) highlight what readers can do with this information; and (12) ensure that the abstract aligns with the full text and conforms to submission guidelines.