Throughout my lectures I tried to stress the accuracy and utility of nebular abundances and to show some sense of their wide range of applicability. As stellar astronomers explore the nearby galaxies, I believe nebular abundances will serve as a great aid in these endeavors. I have also tried to promote the notion that while a detailed understanding of the chemical evolution of galaxies remains a long term goal, there is much to be gained from trying to acquire observations which provide simple clues and constraints.
Only the nearest galaxies will allow us the observations necessary to resolve the details which will lead to a deeper understanding of how galaxies evolve.
The work of my Minnesota colleagues Don Garnett, Chip Kobulnicky, and Robbie Dohm-Palmer has been highlighted in this chapter and I wish to thank them for very enjoyable collaborations (and for helpful editing of this chapter). I would also like to thank Kim Venn for giving me many valuable comments on this chapter. I wish to thank collaborators and friends B. Benjamin, R. Clegg, S. Côté, R. Dufour, J. Gallagher, P. Hodge, J. Hoessel, R. Kennicutt, N. Langer, M. Mateo, B. Miller, B. Pagel, M. Peimbert, M. Rosa, J.-R. Roy, A. Saha, G. Shields, J. Shields, E. Terlevich, R. Terlevich, E. Tolstoy, S. Torres-Peimbert, J. Walsh, and D. Zaritsky for helping to make this so much fun. Partial support from a NASA LTSARP grant No. NAGW-3189 and from the graduate school of the University of Minnesota is gratefully acknowledged. I would especially like to thank the organizers for their invitation to this winter school and for all of their efforts in making it such a great experience.