How to write the best paper abstracts
Writing a succinct yet sufficiently informative abstract is something most of us never get any training in (it's one of those things you're just supposed to 'pick up' as you go along).
However, when it comes to paper abstracts, there are some clear formulas that work pretty well.
Specifically, I have found the attached guide pretty helpful (it's an annotated example in the guidelines for authors from Nature (2005) 435:114-118).