Sample Abstract (From the Intel ISEF website)

Sample Abstract

See the explanations of each of the four sections in the sample abstract:

Blue (Purpose of the Experiment or Engineering Objective)
Green (Procedures used)
Red (Observations/Data/Results)
Pink (Conclusions)

Note: Colors are just to illustrate the content of abstract. Paste yours into the form using black font.

Effects of Marine Engine Exhaust Water on Algae

Mary E. Jones
Hometown High School, Hometown, CT

This project in its present form is the result of bioassay experimentation on the effects of two-cycle marine engine exhaust water on certain green algae. The initial idea was to determine the toxicity of outboard engine lubricant. Some success with lubricants eventually led to the formulation of "synthetic" exhaust water which, in turn, led to the use of actual two-cycle engine exhaust water as the test substance.

Toxicity was determined by means of the standard bottle or "batch" bioassay technique. Scenedesmus quadricauda and Ankistrodesmus sp. were used as the test organisms. Toxicity was measured in terms of a decrease in the maximum standing crop. The effective concentration - 50% (EC 50) for Scenedesmus quadricauda was found to be 3.75% exhaust water; for Ankistrodesmus sp. 3.1% exhaust water using the bottle technique.

Anomalies in growth curves raised the suspicion that evaporation was affecting the results; therefore, a flow-through system was improvised utilizing the characteristics of a device called a Biomonitor. Use of the Biomonitor lessened the influence of evaporation, and the EC 50 was found to be 1.4% exhaust water using Ankistrodesmus sp. as the test organism. Mixed populations of various algae gave an EC 50 of 1.28% exhaust water.

The contributions of this project are twofold. First, the toxicity of two-cycle marine engine exhaust was found to be considerably greater than reported in the literature (1.4% vs. 4.2%). Secondly, the benefits of a flow-through bioassay technique utilizing the Biomonitor was demonstrated.

Purpose of the Experiment

• An introductory statement of the reason for investigating the topic of the project.
  
• A statement of the problem or hypothesis being studied.

Procedures Used

• A summarization of the key points and an overview of how the investigation was conducted.
  
• An abstract does not give details about the materials used unless it greatly influenced the procedure or had to be developed to do the investigation.
  
• An abstract should only include procedures done by the student. Work done by a mentor (such as surgical procedures) or work done prior to student involvement must not be included.

Observation/Data/Results

• This section should provide key results that lead directly to the conclusions you have drawn.
  
• It should not give too many details about the results nor include tables or graphs.

Conclusions

• Conclusions from the investigation should be described briefly.
  
• The summary paragraph should reflect on the process and possibly state some applications and extensions of the investigation.