How to Write a Prize-Winning Abstract (That Will Get You Accepted as a Speaker!)

1. How to Write a Prize-Winning Abstract (That Will Get You Accepted as a Speaker!)

2. Workshop outline • Introduction to IAS • How to write a good abstract • Submitting abstracts to a conference • The abstract mentor programme • IAS 2009 • JIAS www.jiasociety.org

3. Introduction to IAS www.jiasociety.org

4. International AIDS Society (IAS) • World’s leading independent association of HIV/AIDS professionals for 20 years • Over 10,000 members from 171 countries Our Vision: A worldwide force of professionals working together to prevent, control and treat HIV/AIDS • We connect. We promote. We mobilize. www.jiasociety.org

5. How to Write a Good Abstract www.jiasociety.org

6. Preparing to start your abstract • What is an abstract? For a conference an abstract is a stand-alone statement that briefly explains, in a non-repetitive style, the essential information of a study www.jiasociety.org

7. Preparing to start your abstract • Is your idea interesting enough? • Answer the questions: Is what I have to say… new enough, interesting enough, or important enough to present at a conference? • Who does it concern? www.jiasociety.org

8. Design and implementation of research Analysis of the data Study design Everything should revolve around your hypothesis www.jiasociety.org

9. From idea to writing • Keep your audience in mind • Conferences- conference delegates • Be clear and concise—select only what you need to make a point www.jiasociety.org

10. Structure of an abstract (for IAS) Option 1 Abstracts presented under the first option should contain concise statements of: Background: the study objectives, the hypothesis to be tested, or a description of the problem Methods: method (s) used or approach taken Results: specific results in summarized form (with appropriate statistical analysis) Conclusions: description of the main outcome of the study www.jiasociety.org

11. Structure of an abstract (for IAS) Option 2 These are community-based activities, work in the area of HIV prevention, care and social services, human rights programmes and policy development.Abstracts presented under the second option should contain concise statements of: Issues:a summary of the issue(s) addressed by the abstract Description: a description of the research, project, experience, service and/or advocacy Lessons learned: conclusions and implications of the research or project Next steps:possible next steps for implementation or further research www.jiasociety.org

12. The issue or background statement Background (option 1): the study objectives, the hypothesis to be tested, or a description of the problem Issues (option 2):a summary of the issue(s) addressed by the abstract • Answering the questions: • Why do we do our work? • What is/are the specific problem(s) that motivated us? www.jiasociety.org

13. Examples of a fuzzy or clear background or issue statement • Fuzzy: Combating AIDS means facing many challenges, social, political, cultural and epidemiological. HIV prevalence is extremely high among intravenous drug users. IDU’s face many obstacles, including discrimination based on drug use, and laws making intravenous drug use illegal. One of the greatest obstacles to evaluate and monitor prevention interventions in IDUs is the difficulty in approaching them. This is because of the drug's use is illegal and clandestine, and IDUs mistrust researchers. Researchers have tried many strategies without success, working with community-based organizations, etc. It is still difficult to establish an adequate sample size that could be repeated for a behaviour analysis study. (102 words) • Too much information. Too many problems brought into it. Long-winded sentences. • Where is this study? • Doesn’t cut to the heart of the problem. • Uses up almost 1/3 of permitted words! www.jiasociety.org

14. Examples of a fuzzy or clear background or issue statement • Clear: In Mexico, researchers face great difficulty in gaining access to a sample size of IDUs large enough for a comparative behaviour analysis study. Laws forcing IDUs to be clandestine and mistrustful have thwarted several outreach efforts. (36 words) www.jiasociety.org

15. The methods or description statement Methods (option 1): method (s) used or approach taken Description (option 2): a description of the research, project, experience, service and/or advocacy • Answering in brief statements the questions: • What, when, with how many, where? • How did we do it? • What was our methodology? • How did we solve the problem (or try to solve it)? • Be sure to give the necessary details, but… how much detail is too much? • Readers should understand the general methods but do not need to know every detailed step • Sometimes appropriate to cite known methods www.jiasociety.org

16. The results or lessons learned statement Results (option 1): specific results in summarized form (with appropriate statistical analysis) • When the experiment was completed, was the hypothesis proved or disproved? • Summarize the key research results • What challenges were there in this experiment? • What were the limitations of the study? Lessons learned (option 2): conclusions and implications of the research or project • What did you do well? • What went wrong and how have you changed your approach because of it? www.jiasociety.org

17. The results or lessons learned statement • Answering the questions: • What happened? • What did we learn? • What is new about these findings? • This statement should be about what already happened, what was already done, not about the future www.jiasociety.org

18. The conclusions or recommendations statement Conclusions (option 1): description of the main outcome of the study Next steps (option 2):possible next steps for implementation or further research • Answering the question: what impact or implications does this have? • This statement should point us to the future • Who does it impact, and how? • What is transferable? • Forget about the obvious conclusions; tell us something we don’t already know or wouldn’t necessarily figure out for ourselves www.jiasociety.org

19. Choosing a title • Can I distill the exact topic into a title? • Your title should be simple and descriptive • Include the idea, the work and the context in the title • You don’t need to give away your lessons learned or recommendations in the title, but you might hint that you’re going to give them in the presentation • The title is your mini-advertisement • The title needs to help the reviewers categorize your presentation and may eventually help conference delegates find your session www.jiasociety.org

20. Not so good: “Making efforts to increase home based care in rural community.” Key message in this abstract: In a community in rural Zimbabwe, volunteers in a home-based care program couldn’t keep up with demand. Examples of titles, good and bad www.jiasociety.org

21. Examples of titles, good and bad • Good: “Monitoring and evaluating clowning and street theatre-based HIV/AIDS education in Rural Guatemala: guidelines for impact and process evaluations.” • Key message in this abstract: In an HIV prevention program in rural Guatemala, a monitoring and evaluation system was analyzed for a street theatre program. The abstracts tells us that conclusions will be given about a) how effective the program was in increasing HIV knowledge, and b) how to properly set up an evaluation of this sort of program. www.jiasociety.org

22. Activity 1: Now you try one… Please refer to the sample abstract on page 3 of the handout and fill in an appropriate title www.jiasociety.org

23. The ‘Teaser’ • Do you have a sentence in your conference abstract that entices the reader to attend your presentation? Examples: • “This presentation will elaborate on lessons learned.” • “The implications of these results on the broader research agenda will discussed.” • “This presentation will discuss the particular experimental challenges and how they were overcome.” • “Key debates and controversies will be outlined and dealt with.” www.jiasociety.org

24. Submitting Abstracts to a Conference www.jiasociety.org

25. Process for selecting abstracts • Blind, peer-review process carried out by an international reviewing committee • At least three reviews per abstract • Final selection by members of the scientific programme and track committees • Rule of two: Each presenting author may present a maximum of two abstracts at the conference • Building sessions from accepted abstracts • Notification of successful candidates www.jiasociety.org

26. How is an abstract selected? • Abstract reviewing is often based on the following considerations: • the value of the topic to the conference • the link to the theme of the conference • the quality of the work • the clarity of the abstract • the novelty of the idea or research which is being presented www.jiasociety.org

27. How is an abstract selected? • Scoring criteria • Clarity of purpose and objectives of the study • Are the objectives clear and well presented? • Appropriateness of the methodology and study design • Is the data analysis and interpretation appropriate? • Is the methodology used appropriate for the study? • Significance of the contribution • Are the conclusions clear and appropriate to the study? • Is the study innovative? Does it provide new insights? • Does the study help the advancement of the knowledge and development of the programme? www.jiasociety.org

28. How is an abstract selected? • Scoring system www.jiasociety.org

29. Activity 2: Be a peer-reviewer How would you score these abstracts? How should they be presented? • Please refer to the abstracts on pages 9-18 of the handout. Score them according to the given criteria and recommend them for a presentation type www.jiasociety.org

30. Top 5 reasons why abstracts are not accepted to a conference • Poor scientific content! • Abstracts submitted in the wrong category or track (or conference) • Abstracts poorly constructed • Data presented too preliminary • Abstracts of reasonable scientific quality but lacking novelty, already published, or not contributing to the field www.jiasociety.org

31. Everyone needs feedback • Find 2 peers or mentors: • One for content • One for grammar, spelling and punctuation • And finally… Use our online Abstract Mentor Programme www.jiasociety.org

32. The Abstract Mentor Programme www.jiasociety.org

33. Abstract Mentor Programme • To provide an opportunity for young and/or less experienced abstract submitters to ask questions of more experienced abstract submitters • Will increase access for all to have a better possibility of having an abstract accepted as an oral or a poster presentation • http://www.ias2009.org/subpage.aspx?pageId=344 www.jiasociety.org

34. Before you submit www.jiasociety.org

35. To submit Self-help tools www.jiasociety.org

36. Track and category Title Abstract text www.jiasociety.org

37. IAS 2009 www.jiasociety.org

38. IAS 2009 – The facts • 5th conference in the HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention series • July 19-22, 2009, International Convention Centre (CTICC), Cape Town, South Africa • Brings together individuals and organizations from around the world to address current issues in HIV basic, clinical and prevention science www.jiasociety.org

39. IAS 2009 – Key information about abstract submission • The abstract text can not exceed 300 words (graphs and tables count) • All abstracts must be submitted in English • Abstracts can only be submitted through an online profile. Not by fax. Not by post. Not by e-mail. Not on disk. • Abstract deadline is 25 February, 2009 (except for late breakers) • For the full guidelines please visit the conference abstract webpage at http://www.ias2009.org/abstracts www.jiasociety.org

40. The conference’s abstract-driven sessions are organized into four tracks: When submitting your abstract, you should choose the category that best describes the abstract IAS 2009 – Choosing your track (for abstract submission) Track A: Basic Sciences Track B: Clinical Sciences Track C: Biomedical Prevention Track D: Operations Research www.jiasociety.org

41. Activity 3: Match the abstract to the track Which tracks should these abstracts be submitted to? Please refer to the abstracts on pages 3-5 of the handout and assign each one a track www.jiasociety.org

42. So you’ve submitted your abstract to a conference… Now how about publishing your manuscript? www.jiasociety.org

43. JIAS www.jiasociety.org

44. Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) • Online • Peer-reviewed • Open access (free of charge to view) • Free of charge to publish Strengthening research capacity in low and middle income countries by providing: • Open access journal • Workshops on scientific writing • Manuscript Mentoring www.jiasociety.org

45. JIAS - The journal • Topical areas: • Biology and pathogenesis • Clinical research, treatment and care • Epidemiology and prevention research • Social and political sciences, and policy • Operations research and health economics • Highlights from International conferences Strongly encouraging scientist from low and middle income countries Prioritizing operations research www.jiasociety.org

46. JIAS – Publish or Perish workshops To strengthen the conceptualization, manuscript development and peer-review skills of young investigators from resource-limited settings • Delivered at International and Regional Conferences – in 2008 at: • 1st Polish AIDS Conference (Warsaw, June 2008) • XVII International AIDS Conference (Mexico City, 2008) • 15th ICASA Conference (Dakar, December 2008) www.jiasociety.org

47. JIAS – Manuscript mentoring To increase the quality and volume of HIV/AIDS research from resource-limited settings accepted at conferences and in scientific journals Initiatives: • Discussions with AuthorAID about possible opportunities for collaboration • Discussions with journal editors and training institutes to find synergies www.jiasociety.org

48. Other resources IAS 2009: • http://www.ias2009.org/ • Abstract Mentor Programme • Toolkit on preparing conference abstracts, posters, and presentations (in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese) • Examples of prize-winning abstracts from the AIDS 2008 conference AuthorAid: • http://www.authoraid.info/resource-library • Resources on scientific writing • ‘Concrete Advice for Writing Abstracts’, by Tom Lang, MA http://www.tomlangcommunications.com/Abstracts_files/frame.htm www.jiasociety.org

49. Q & A Questions?? www.jiasociety.org

50. Evaluation • As your feedback is of most importance to assess the success of ICASA 2008, you will be invited shortly after the conference to complete an online survey (available in both English & French) - all data will be kept confidential • In order to participate in the evaluation process, please share your contact details in the form being circulated www.jiasociety.org