1. Preparing an Abstract
An abstract is a summary or synopsis of an article in a journal or magazine. The
purpose of preparing an abstract is to acquaint you with scientific literature and to
expose you to current topics in biology. It usually highlights the main question(s) the
authors investigated, provides the key results of their experiments, and gives an
overview of the authors' conclusions.
Special Instructions:
• Articles to be abstracted must be at least two pages (text) in length.
• Work cited must be included at the top of the abstract page.
• Triple space between the citation & the start of your paper
• Abstracts must be handwritten and at least two and a half pages in length.
• Write your name and period at the top of the abstract in the upper right corner.
• A list of specific journals to use are found below:
o Scientific American
o Science
o Discover
o News Week
o Times
o Smithsonian
Abstracts are due the twice a Quarter one before progress reports and
one before the End of the Quarter. See dates below:
September 28th
November 2nd
December 7th
January 18th
February 22nd (before winter break)
March 29th
May 10th
June 3rd (Monday)