For researchers new to abstract submission, we have included some brief guidelines below. For researchers new to poster submission, we have included a template as a guideline. 

We would like to thank the BVNA for their guidance in preparing our abstract submission guidelines. 

Guidance for writing your abstract 

An abstract is a succinct overview of your research/project/topic. It should be interesting and capture the attention of the reader. This information will form the basis of your poster content.  

As a guide an abstract would normally consist of the following: 

1. Title and author information: The title should convince readers that the topic is relevant, important and innovative to veterinary nursing. The names of ALL authors (including supervisors) and their institution must be listed.
2. Introduction: The introduction should provide a context for the work discussed. It may do this by providing a review of current knowledge gaps or an overview of the specific situation you are discussing. It should end by specifying the aims and objectives of the study/project.
3. Methods: This can be a large section to condense into the abstract and as a guide should be three or four sentences. You should provide enough information to judge the validity of the work and aim to include details of the number of people/animals enrolled in the study, the selection process, the method of research and the research setting. Any interventions or variables should be highlighted along with the statistical method used to analyse the collected data.
4. Results: Describe the subjects included in the research and any exclusions (if applicable). List the occurrences of the important outcome variables. If applicable present comparisons of the outcome variables between different subgroups (i.e. young vs. old, male vs. female). Tables should not be included (and will not be accepted) within the abstract, however numerical results should be discussed, include standard deviations and the level of statistical significance.
5. Conclusion: What can be concluded? The conclusion should be supported by the data you have included. What are the implications and what effects does this have to veterinary nursing or the wider profession? Please note maximum word count (excluding title) should not exceed 400 words.
6. Reference list. All references should be recent (within 10 years). Images/graphs should have titles, and referred to via in-text citations. We recommend APA 6th Ed. for reference formatting.