Writing the Abstract

The primary purpose of an abstract is to guide readers.

An abstract is a summary of a body of information in a paragraph—100-350 words for a descriptive abstract, 100-250 words an informative abstract. An abstract expresses the main claim and argument of a paper. In most disciplines, it never includes bibliographic citations. An abstract concisely highlights or reviews the major points covered along with the content and scope of the writing.

An abstract can also be a useful tool for writers to check that they have a clear grasp of their thesis and argument. If the writer can state the thesis and argument clearly in a few sentences—and in such a way that someone who doesn't know the subject will still be able to understand the main idea—then the writer knows she has a good grasp of the ideas she is trying to express. An abstract says everything of central importance in a way that gives the reader a clear overview of what is contained in the essay.
 

Key Words in Abstracts:

The practice of using key words in an abstract is vital. Titles and abstracts are filed electronically, and key words are put in electronic storage. Thus, an abstract must contain key words about what is essential in an article, paper, or report so that someone else can retrieve information from it.

Other Uses for Abstracts:

If the reader decides to read the entire article, the abstract functions as a map of the writer's argument or discussion. You can also give an abstract (or an outline) to readers whose opinions you would like to have, but who don't have time to read through an entire draft of your paper. By looking at a well-written abstract, your professor or a friend will quickly be able to get the gist of your paper. Since abstracts are brief, you can reasonably ask a reader to look at a number of drafts as your thinking and writing progress.

Abstracts as Introductions

With a little revision, an abstract can often make a good first paragraph, or a summary paragraph, in an introduction.
 

When are abstracts used?

• Ordinarily part of a research article in a journal
• For chapters in a book, especially if each chapter has a different author
• Library reference tools, such as Biological Abstracts
• For presentations at scientific meetings (often the "published abstract" is the only written record of such a presentation)
• Dissertations, some papers in the sciences and social sciences require abstracts

Two Types of Abstracts

1.Descriptive Abstracts

• Tell readers what information the report, article, or paper contains
• Include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper
• Do not provide results, conclusions, or recommendations.
• Are always very short, usually under 100 words.
• Introduce the subject to readers, who must then read the report, article, or paper to find out the author's results, conclusions, or recommendations

Descriptive Abstracts are very short—usually a brief one- or two-sentence paragraph (sometimes appear on the title page of a journal article).
The descriptive abstract does not say something like this-- Problem: Based on an exhaustive review of currently available products, this report concludes that none of the available grammar-checking software products provides any useful function to writers. (This is the style of summarizing you find in the informative abstract.)
Instead, the descriptive abstract says something like this-- Revision: This report provides conclusions and recommendations on the grammar-checking software that is currently available.

2.Informative Abstracts

• Communicate specific information from the report, article, or paper.
• Include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper.
• Provide the report, article, or paper's results, conclusions, and recommendations.
• Are short -- from a paragraph to a page or two, depending upon the length of the original work being abstracted. Usually informative abstracts are 10% or less of the length of the original piece.
• Allow readers to decide whether they want to read the report, article, or paper.

Informative Abstracts provide information from every major section in the body of the report.

• Usually about 10 percent of the length of the full report but no more than 3 to 4 pages.
• Summarizes the key information from each of the main sections of the report, and proportionately so a 3-page section of a 10-page report ought to take up about 30 percent of the informative abstract
• Phrases information in a very dense, compact way
• Sentences are longer than normal and are crammed with information
• Includes key statistical detail

Informative Abstracts Omit…

• Introductory explanation (unless that is the focus of the main body of the report)
• Definitions and other background information (if they are not the major focus of the report)
• Citations for source borrowings
• Descriptive-abstract phrasing such as: "This report presents conclusions and recommendations from a survey done on grammar-checking software."
• Instead, the informative abstract presents the details of those conclusions and recommendations.
   

The informative abstract is not an introduction to the subject matter of the report—and it is not an introduction.

Essential elements of the abstract are:

• Background: A simple opening sentence or two placing the work in context.
• Aims: One or two sentences giving the purpose of the work.
• Method(s): One or two sentences explaining what was done. (Described at length only if it is unusual)
• Results: One or two sentences indicating the main findings. (Absolutely essential)
• Conclusions: One sentence giving the most important consequence of the work. (Telling what the results mean).

Questions an Abstract Answers

Why did you do this study or project?
What did you do, and how?
What did you find?
What do your findings mean?
If the paper is about a new method or apparatus the last two questions might be changed to
What are the advantages (of the method or apparatus)?
How well does it work?

An abstract should include the few things you would like your reader to
remember long after the details of your paper may be forgotten.
 

Qualities of a Good Abstract

• Well developed paragraphs are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone
• Uses an introduction/body/conclusion structure which presents the article, paper, or report's purpose, results, conclusions, and recommendations in that order
• Follows strictly the chronology of the article, paper, or report
• Provides logical connections (or transitions) between the information included
• Adds no new information, but simply summarizes the report
• Is understandable to a wide audience
• Oftentimes uses passive verbs to downplay the author and emphasize the information

Steps to Writing Effective Abstracts

Reread the article, paper, or report with the goal of abstracting in mind. Look specifically for these main parts of the article, paper, or report: purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendation. If you're writing an abstract about another person's article, paper, or report, the introduction and the summary are good places to begin. These areas generally cover what the article emphasizes. After you've finished rereading the article, paper, or report, write a rough draft without looking back at what you're abstracting. Don't merely copy key sentences from the article, paper, or report: you'll put in too much or too little information. Don't rely on the way material was phrased in the article, paper, or report: summarize information in a new way.

Long Papers

Often when you force yourself to say in a few words what your plan of argument is, it turns out to be different from what you've been writing. It is easy to lose track of a complex argument. You can use multiple abstracts to see where you need to refine your ideas or reorganize your argument. As you work on your essay, make a habit of regularly composing abstracts and comparing them to your drafts. Sometimes the abstract version is better because it represents the essence of your ideas and their logical structure, which may be lost in the paper itself. If that's the case, go back and revise the paper.

Revising

If you notice differences between the latest version of your abstract and your latest draft, but are not sure how to reconcile the two, review your material with your professor or a consultant at the Writing Center. When you are working on a big writing project, it is also a good idea to produce a final abstract before you submit your paper. If you have a clear and coherent abstract, and if the paper actually corresponds to it, then you can be confident that your essay is probably clear and coherent as well.

Revise your rough draft to

• Correct weaknesses in organization.
• Improve transitions from point to point.
• Drop unnecessary information.
• Add important information you left out.
• Eliminate wordiness.
• Fix errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Voice

Scientists have grappled for years over the appropriate way to talk about discoveries: should it be

"We measured ion concentration in the blood"

Or

"Ion concentration in the blood was measured"?

Modern scientific style prefers the active voice. Abstracts are often an exception, but only if the passive voice reduces the total number of letters and words.
 

Don’ts

• Do not commence with "this paper…”, "this report…" or similar. It is better to write about the research than about the paper.
• Do not explain the sections or parts of the paper.
• Avoid sentences that end in "…is described", "…is reported", "…is analyzed" or similar.
• Do not begin sentences with "it is suggested that…” "it is believed that…", "it is felt that…"or similar. In every case, the four words can be omitted without damaging the essential message.
• Do not repeat or rephrase the title.
• Do not refer in the abstract to information that is not in the document.
• If possible, avoid trade names, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. You would need to explain them, and that takes too much room.
  
  The abstract should be about the research, not about the act of writing.

Spoof of an Abstract

This paper discusses research which was undertaken in the author's country. A theoretical framework is developed from a literature search and this is used by the authors as the basis of an analytical model. The researchers collected data within this framework and analyzed it according to the precepts laid down by earlier researchers in the field. The data is used to demonstrate that our understanding can be significantly increased and this is discussed in the light of previous work. Conclusions are drawn and it is shown that these may be useful for practitioners.

Where to find examples of abstracts:

• The best source of example abstracts is journal articles. Go to the library and look at biology journals, or look at electronic journals on the web.
•  Read the abstract; read the article. Pick the best ones, the examples where the abstract makes the article easier to read, and figure out how they do it.
• Not everyone writes good abstracts, even in refereed journals, but the more abstracts you read, the easier it is to spot the good ones.

Also See

• Graduate  Workshop Schedule
• Graduate Writing Consultation
• Writing Consultation Policies
• Writing a Review of Literature
• Need a Verb?
• Writing the Abstract
• Proof Reading Tips
• Academic Proposal Writing