Appalachian Student Research Forum

                                Centre at Millennium Park  •  Johnson City, TN

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Abstract Preparation

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All applicants must submit an abstract along with their registration info.  An abstract is a paper used in academic research to summarize a completed study or other project.  If done well, it makes the reader want to learn more about your research.

Start drafting your abstract now using a word processor, such as MS Word, so that as soon as you've submitted your registration information, you can paste your abstract text into the body of an e-mail message and send it to research@etsu.edu . Do NOT wait until you register to compose your abstract!

Please follow the rules outlined here when developing your abstract.  You may refer to the Sample Abstract at the bottom of this page as a good example.   

• In general, your abstract should be informative about the entire project.  Judges will look for  relevance of the study to the discipline, and also for whether it is written such that persons outside the discipline can understand it.
   

• TITLE:  The title of your abstract should be in ALL CAPS, and should indicate the overall subject matter of your project.
   

• AUTHORS' SECTION:  The author(s) section should consist of a list of all authors' name(s) followed by their affiliations (department, university, city, and state). The first author listed must be the student presenter.   If the authors are from different departments, please list all authors first, then all departments, in the respective order.
   

• TEXT:  The abstract text should be written in one paragraph and the length of that paragraph should be no more than 3000 characters (including spaces).  Your abstract paragraph should have three (3) distinct parts:
  
  1) an introduction which specifically identifies the project’s objective(s) and briefly states the question and hypothesis.  Your question and hypothesis statement should answer the questions:  "Why do we care about the problem? What practical, scientific, theoretical or artistic gap is your research filling?";
  
  2) a thorough description of the methods and processes used.  This is a very important section, as it should include details of what you actually did to get your results; and,
  
  3) a summary of the results and conclusions.   You should NOT say "The results will be discussed".  Instead, you should answer the question "As a result of completing the above procedure, what did you learn/invent/create?"  Any conclusions drawn should explain the larger implications of your findings, especially for the problem/gap identified in the introduction.  Judges will look to see if your conclusions tie back to the question.
   

• Limit your abstract text to approx. 500 words (3000 characters including spaces).  Microsoft Word has a Word Count feature -- please use it.
   

 

• For some tips on what NOT to do, visit our Abstract Tips page.
   

• Before pasting your abstract into an e-mail message, ensure that it is complete, accurate and error-free, as no changes will be allowed after the deadline date has passed.  Once you've pasted it, make sure that it is complete and appears how you want it to appear in the Program Book.
   

• Submit your registration and abstract before the deadline date, as no late submissions will be accepted, no exceptions.

For oral presentations, the submission deadline for registration and abstract submission  is February 26, 2010.
For poster presentations, the deadline is  March 17, 2010.

After you've completed drafting your abstract, you may register for the Forum:

 Go to the Registration Page
 

Sample Abstract:

QUANTITATIVE PCR ANALYSIS OF MOUSE TOLL-LIKE RECEPTORS

The immune system is a complex and varied defense mechanism used to fight disease and infection.  One way the body recognizes infection is through recognition of Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs).  Two known PAMPs, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and glucan, are microbial products that can activate the immune system. However, the intracellular signaling pathways of the immune system are not clearly defined.  It has recently been found that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are involved in this signaling process.  Stimulation of these receptors by PAMPs can initiate a signaling cascade, resulting in activation of genes needed to illicit an immune response.  We therefore investigated the quantitative regulation of TLR2 and TLR4 in the presence of LPS and glucan.  Using a mouse macrophage cell line (J774a.1 cells), LPS and glucan were added (1 ug/ml) to the cells or equal volume of carrier was added as a control. RNA was isolated at 1,4, and 24 hour time intervals.  The RNA as reversed transcribed using a oligo dT primer and that cDNA was quantified using Quantitative PCR.  Primer sets specific for TLR2 and TLR4 were designed and the reactions were run in a BioRad iCylcer real-time PCR machine.  In the presence of LPS, TLR2 and TLR4 decreased during the early time intervals and dramatically increased at the 24-hour interval.  In the presence of glucan, there was no significant change in TLR2 and TLR4 mRNA over time.  Results of this work identified an early down regulation as well as late up regulation of TLR2 and TLR4 mRNA in the presence of LPS.  This work will be a useful tool in understanding the roles of TLR2 and TLR4 in the immune response.  Understanding the role of these TLRs during immune response can lead to the development of novel drugs to treat disease and infection.