How to write an abstract of a paper or a report to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry.

Although the General Papers Program (held on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday afternoons at the Annual Meeting of the Academy) has expanded to a format in which 20-minute papers and 10-minute reports are presented simultaneously in 4 or 5 rooms the committee continues to receive abstracts for approximately 25 percent more papers and reports than the program can accommodate. The committee's task of selecting papers and reports is complicated by the failure of many writers of abstracts to include sufficient and pertinent information in their abstracts. This presentation lists the essential elements of an acceptable abstract, and tabulates the reasons for non-acceptance of abstracts.