Abstracts serve several purposes in academia: summarization, description, sorting, and indexing. Abstracts are designed to highlight key points and sufficient details to classify whether the information is relevant to a readers’ clinical or research interests. The focus of this training is to describe two types of abstracts in public health, abstract composition, and lean writing. It will also review the use of the 4Cs rule and the concept of critical thinking to improve abstract composition skills.

We recommend checking out the training module on "Identifying a Research Question" and "Composing a Scientific Paper" before taking this course.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the appropriate abstract type for your work.  
• Define the purpose of an abstract.
• Describe appropriate language for writing an abstract.
• Identify the appropriate content to include in an abstract

Target Audience:  Public health professionals and Students

Tier(s) and Competency Domain(s): Tier I- Analytical/ Assessment Skills, Communication Skills, Public Health Sciences Skills; Tier II- Analytical/ Assessment Skills, Communication Skills; Tier II- Analytical/ Assessment Skills, Communication Skills

Duration: 30 minutes 

Continuing Education Information:  0.5 CECH for CHES

Disclosures:  The planners, reviewers, and authors have no declared conflicts of interest

Format: Web-based Training, Self-Study

Author: Douglas Taren, Ph.D.; Professor of Public Health  

Dr. Taren Dr. Taren is Editor-in-Chief for Nutrition Reviews, who works with a team that reviews cutting edge research for its readers, including nutrition scientists, biomedical researchers, clinical and dietetic practitioners, decision-makers, and advanced students of nutrition. Dr. Taren is a retired Deputy Director of the MPH program at the University of Arizona and has served as the Associate Dean for Academy Affairs. He has received several extramural grants (R25, USAID, and HRSA) to create and evaluate training programs and to fund public health projects. One of the factors that have brought together Dr. Taren’s research and public health interests together is creating the training programs for graduate students and the public health workforce that translate science to public health practice.

Arranged by: Dipanwita Das, M.Sc., M.A., ID, OD