Lab Reports and Projects in Sport and Exercise Science

A Guide for Students

Mike Price

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000513561
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación física

Most science degrees will have a practical or laboratory-based component which will require some sort of final report, whether this be a conventional laboratory report or a final-year dissertation. All of these formats require students to be able to analyse their data in an appropriate way and subsequently convey their key thoughts and information to a third party. Therefore, writing laboratory reports is an essential part any science degree.

This new revised edition sees the expansion of statistical examples including initial data checks and assumptions, increased awareness of critical appraisal tools and resources, project planning and a range of 'Challenge yourself' activities to supplement understanding and provides a comprehensive overview of what should be contained within each section of a scientific report, and clearly explains how it should be presented. Written in a friendly and engaging style, it guides the reader through abstracts, literature reviews, methodology, reporting discussions and referencing and contains a wealth of examples and practical advice on how to improve and refine your own writing. From writing a first lab report to preparing a final-year dissertation or postgraduate thesis, sports and exercise science students at all levels will find this book a valuable resource in developing both skill and confidence in scientific communication. Key features include:

• The layout of the book is designed to reflect that of a typical scientific report to help students plan their own projects.
• Each chapter includes numerous examples, exercises and activities to engage students and develop skills in each aspect of report writing.
• The book includes discussion of critical appraisal techniques to help students refine their research questions.
• All data sets and illustrations used are drawn from the key disciplines in sport and exercise science, including physiology, psychology and biomechanics.

1

Abstracts

DOI: 10.4324/9781003112426-2

In this chapter you will:

• learn what an abstract is

(Section 1.1)

• be aware of different types of abstracts

(Section 1.2)

• get used to using abstracts from literature searches

(Section 1.3)

• practise writing an abstract

(Section 1.4)

• critique an abstract and identify common errors

(Section 1.5)

1.1 What is an abstract?

When you are first asked to search for or write an abstract as an undergraduate student, you may well not know what your tutor is asking for. Within the context of writing, the word ‘Abstract’ means ‘a summary’ or ‘an abridgement’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2000). Therefore, an abstract is a short summary of your work. In the context of a journal article an abstract is the first section of an article that you will see. With this in mind an abstract should provide the reader with a good idea of the key aims, general methods undertaken, the key findings and the most important take-home message. Abstracts are therefore a helpful tool in informing readers about the work that has been undertaken.

As well as abstracts being the first section of any journal article you may read they are also most likely the first part of a journal article that you will come into contact with when undertaking a literature search. This is especially true as a result of the range of internet-based search engines with links to electronic journals that are available to today’s students. When reading an abstract, you should be able to obtain enough information to determine whether the study is related to your own research area and whether it is of use to you. The abstract may alternatively provide you with enough information to decide that the study is not appropriate for your needs or that it is not what you thought it would be about based on the title alone. Conversely, when writing an abstract, it is essential to be able to clearly communicate the key points of the study to the reader.

Following the abstract you will notice that there will usually be between three to ten key words (Peh and Ng, 2008), which are used to aid search engines in their searching patterns and are not usually contained within the title. Ideally, your key words should be standard terms contained within Index Medicus (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors; ICMJE, 2019), which is a comprehensive index of journal titles and conventional or accepted search terms for accessing information. As key words are used to aid search engines in their searching patterns, they should also reflect those used by potential readers (Green, 2018). If writing a journal article, these key words are important as they help potential readers find your work and subsequently cite it. In recent years, search engine optimisation – initially developed for web sites – has become a common procedure and an important marketing tool (Cushman, 2018; Bhandari and Bansal, 2018). Indeed, academic search engine optimisation has become a research area in its own right (Beel et al., 2010) and may also be used to aid researchers in becoming more discoverable (Taylor and Francis, 09/01/2021).

1.2 Types of abstracts

When searching and reading the literature during your studies, you will come across a range of abstract types. The format of each type will depend upon whether you are writing a dissertation, a journal article or submitting your work for a conference. For undergraduate laboratory reports an abstract is not usually required whereas for final-year projects this is an important component of the dissertation. The following sections provide an overview of the types of abstracts you are most likely to read or be asked to write.

1.2.1 Abstracts in journal articles

Within the journals you are most likely to consult there are a range of abstract formats. These formats differ depending on the journal’s specific requirements. Some journals require a brief abstract of 100–150 words (e.g. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology) or up to 200 words (e.g. Journal of Sports Sciences) whereas others allow slightly longer abstracts of up to 250 (e.g. Journal of Biomechanics) or 275 words (e.g. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research). Some journals require what is termed a ‘structured abstract’ with specific headings within them relating to the ‘Introduction’, Methods’, Results’ and Conclusions’ sections of a study (e.g. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise). There may also be more specific aspects that are required such as ‘Purpose’, ‘Study Design’ (e.g. the British Journal of Sports Medicine) or ‘Outcome Measures’. Theoretically, the structured abstract approach ensures certain aspects of the study design and main outcomes are clearly and consistently reported, thus aiding literature reviews and extraction of information (Squires, 1990).

The required type of abstract usually depends upon the choice of journal you plan to submit your work to or any specific guidelines provided for your project. Either way, a well-written abstract should provide all the information you need to appreciate what was done and the key findings as well as to determine whether you should read the rest of the article. Both structured and non-structured abstracts should therefore contain similar types of information. As noted earlier, abstracts usually follow the general structure of a scientific report itself, that is, Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion, often termed the ‘IMRaD’ principle (Alexandrov and Hennerici, 2007; Pamir, 2002, Hartley, 2000). However, no one type of abstract is better than another if they provide the key points of the work done. Structured abstracts simply provide more specific prompts for content and, when reading them, they may be easier to glean key information from.

1.2.2 Abstracts in dissertations

Abstracts for dissertations are essentially the same as those for journal articles in that they too inform the reader of what was done and the key findings. As noted earlier, abstracts are not usually presented within laboratory reports; however, you should consult your coursework guidelines as to what your tutor expects. Just as abstracts will differ between journals, the requirements of universities and colleges for dissertation abstracts also differ. In general, abstracts for dissertations either will have a specific word length (e.g. 500 words) or should fit comfortably onto one page (approximately 300 words for Times Roman script, font size 12 and double-spaced text).

1.2.3 Abstracts for conferences

A further form of abstract is that of abstracts submitted to conferences. The majority of researchers will endeavour to present their research findings at a conference or other scientific meetings to disseminate their work. Such presentations provide a whole range of networking and feedback opportunities and is often one of the initial goals for postgraduate students prior to submitting their work as a journal article for publication. For a researcher’s work to be accepted for presentation at a conference, whether as an oral presentation or as a scientific poster, authors will have to submit an abstract. As for journal articles the submitted abstract undergoes a peer review process. Peer review involves a number of reviewers assessing the content of the abstract and, if it is of the desired standard and relevant to the theme of the conference, it may be accepted for presentation.

As with journal articles there are a range of abstract formats specific to each conference with guidelines usually provided through the conference website. This is an important point of reference for all potential presenters regarding abstract format, length and specific requirements. In addition to requiring some form of abstract, conferences may also provide the opportunity for extended abstracts or short articles to be submitted. These are usually published separately within special issues or supplements of appropriate journals. Either way, presenting an abstract is usually a precursor to the authors writing the full journal article after having gained valuable feedback from the conference delegates.

1.3 Using abstracts

As alluded to at the start of this chapter, many first-year university students are unlikely to have come into contact with abstracts prior to their degree studies. Indeed, Hartley (2004) notes that undergraduate students simply do not have the same experience of reading journal articles that researchers, academics and postgraduate students have acquired. Therefore, it will likely take much longer to appreciate key information presented within an abstract whether reading or writing one. Consequently, before getting to grips with writing abstracts, it is important to become accustomed to both searching for and reading abstracts and assessing the information contained within them. This approach will hopefully get you accustomed to the level of information presented in an abstract...