Introduction
Abstracts
are brief and autonomous summaries of a more extensive paper, report or
presentation. They are supposed to be a summary of an entire piece of academic
work in its entirety, including the goals of the research, methods used,
findings and the overall significance of the project. Abstracts have the sole
purpose of making sure that one is able to get the point of the paper as
quickly as possible before deciding whether he or she needs to read the entire
paper. Moreover, search engines and academic databases make use of the
abstracts in identifying the keywords in order to index the paper for the ease
of finding it by other scholars. However, it is important to note that the
abstract is not an introduction, but just a summary of the whole paper. This means
that abstract does not provide the context of the study, but summarizes the
entire paper.
Why
are abstracts important?
Abstracts
are very significant in the sense that they become the entry point into your
research. Even though they are quite short in nature, abstracts are very
crucial in research and academia.
1. They Are the Best Time-Savers and
Screening Device
The
abstract is normally the most commonly read section in any scholarly writing.
Due to the availability of countless researches and articles, the researcher
does not have time to read all the papers. Abstract provides him/her with a
snapshot of your project's scope, objectives, and results. It enables the
reader to quickly grasp the "gist" of your paper and decide if it
worth his/her time to continue reading.
2. Abstracts Facilitate the Process of
Finding Your Article
With
everything going digital today, you need to make sure that your article becomes
easily accessible to people. The search engine needs abstract, the title, and
keywords in order to find out the main ideas in your paper and index it for
future purposes.
3.
They Decide Between Accepting and Rejecting
Writing
an effective abstract is extremely important, since it may become the only
criteria upon which your work will be evaluated. At the stage of submission of
your paper to some academic journal or poster presentation at some scientific
conference, decision makers rely only on the abstract to determine whether they
should accept, reject, or evaluate the submitted material any further.
4.
They Become Crucial for Your Career and Funding Possibilities
Importance
of having an abstract does not end with submission of journal papers only. It
will be necessary to provide clear abstracts when you apply for funding of your
project, submit book chapter proposals, write a master’s thesis or
dissertation. In case of application for some funds, "lay abstracts"
are often read by committee members who are not necessarily specialists in your
field of study.
5.
They Improve Reader Understanding and Memory
In
case there is an audience interested in reading your paper from cover to cover,
the abstract will work like a map to guide them through. It will prepare your
audience for what you did in your study and what kind of analysis you made by
presenting the conclusions upfront. After finishing reading, the abstract will
be handy as a reminder of the content.
how
many words should an abstract be?
The
length of an abstract may differ a bit depending on the requirements of your
field, but generally, most abstracts will be anywhere between 100 and 250 words
long. Some institutional requirements even specify that an abstract should be
between 100 and 200 words. An abstract should not exceed 400 words. For
example, structured scientific abstracts with sections for Introduction,
Methods, Results, and Discussion can be between 200 and 300 words long.
Accordingly, the conference guidelines will stipulate the required word count for the abstract as follows.
8
types of abstracts
There
are different 8 kinds of abstracts, which are basically classified depending on
the degree of detail they contain, academic field, or the structure.
Descriptive
Abstracts
This
is actually an outline or table of contents in the form of a paragraph, giving
an account of the content of the paper. These are meant to highlight what the
paper contains such as purpose, methods and scope but not the results,
conclusions or recommendation. Since descriptive abstracts do not evaluate the
work, they are very short (no more than 100 words).
Informative
Abstracts
This
is actually an independent summary, acting as an alternative to the actual
paper. Besides including the purpose and methods, it highlights the arguments,
results, evidence, and conclusions of the paper. Informative abstracts are the
most common type of abstracts and are usually 200 words long.
Abstracts
for Humanities
This
type of abstract is specifically designed for humanities papers. It gives a
short overview of the content, which resembles the structure of the paper. This
kind of abstract is written in the third person and present tense. A typical
abstract in humanities should include the general topic, thesis statement and
points in order of occurrence in the paper.
Scientific
Abstracts
Highly
concerned with the methodology and purpose of the experiment, scientific
abstracts are always written in the past tense and passive voice. An effective
scientific abstract should be able to provide the answers to five questions:
what was done and why, how was it done, what did the raw data show, what does
the data mean, and why is it important for the reader.
Structured
Abstracts
Used
extensively in the medical and scientific literature, structured abstracts are
specifically divided into certain sections with distinct headings such as
Introduction/Background, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusion. Highly
organized, they usually have certain word limits.
Author
Abstracts
These
are the usual abstracts that are written and prepared by the author of the
original document.
Automatic
Abstracts
These
are the abstracts that are prepared using certain software or searching
processes rather than being manually prepared.
Standard
Abstracts
Abstracts
that are prepared using certain standards concerning a certain subject or
format.
How do you write an abstract? Follow these steps.
Step 1:
Background
and Context
First
of all, you have to provide an introduction where you will introduce the topic.
In the introduction, you will tell about what is already known about the topic.
Also, you need to state the problem that needs to be solved or the gap that
needs to be filled in the knowledge base regarding the topic.
Step
2:
Aims
and Objectives
Now,
clearly present your thesis statement, hypothesis, or objectives. You have to
justify the reasons for conducting this research and its importance regarding
solving the particular issue. For a humanities abstract, this is the part where
you present the main argument of your work.
Step
3:
Methods
and Approaches
Explain
the procedures that were followed during your data collection and analysis, or
the procedure of the experiment.
• For scientific abstracts, specify
your experimental design, participants and outcomes of interest.
• Be brief: Provide a general
description of the procedure without going into great detail about standard
procedures.
Step
4:
Results
and Findings
This
is where you need to provide maximum information about your paper and the
things it covers. You have to share the major findings, key arguments, and the
end results of your work. In case you write a scientific abstract, you will
also have to provide numbers, standard deviation, size of an effect, and also
share negative results. In case of a humanities abstract, you have to share all
the major points supporting your thesis.
Step
5:
Conclusions
and Implications
Wrap
up your paper by stating the meaning of your findings and the significance that
they hold for the reader. The reader should understand the importance of your
findings in the field of study, as well as the contributions that these
findings make towards the existing knowledge in this field. It is important to
avoid overstating the significance of your findings.
Step
6:
Keywords
Keywords
are another key part of your abstract and have to be stated right at the very
end of it. Keywords are particular words that help understand what your paper
is all about. This is important because search engines use keywords for
indexing your paper. In most cases, there should be 4 to 6 keywords, but this
number may depend on the requirements set by the conference.
Structure
of an Abstract
Never
do these things !
When
writing an abstract, you must omit unnecessary details to ensure it remains a
concise, standalone summary. Here is what you should ignore or leave out:
Lengthy
Background Information
Avoid
going into any unnecessary background information or using phrases that state
the obvious, such as "an important issue in society." Do not define
terms generally.
New
Information
Don’t
provide any raw data, interpretation, or information which is not provided in
the body of your research report.
Methodological
Nitty-Gritty
Don’t
provide a procedure-wise description of methodological aspects.,. Do not
discuss the methodology used for analysis of data or tests unless your research
study is focused on it.
Extensive
Citations
Do
not include references to other literature or extensive citations, as readers
can read the full paper for those details.
Overstatements
and Hyperbole
Avoid
using hyperbole, rhetoric, or overstatements that exaggerate your outcomes or
the implications of your research.
Minor
Details and Wordiness
Ignore
minor details of your arguments and avoid using passive voice or unnecessarily
wordy phrases.
Conclusion
Overall, writing an effective
abstract entails producing a concise and complete summary of a more
comprehensive academic article or presentation in order for readers to be able
to get acquainted with the broad range of the scope, goals, methodology, findings,
and importance of the project in general. The abstract should provide
information independently without any necessity for readers to read the entire
piece of work, having a size of 100 to 300 words long and not including
irrelevant background information, data, excessive references, and exaggerated
language. Since it is one of the most read parts of the report and plays an
essential role in academic indexing, its key function consists in helping
people understand whether they should proceed to reading the whole work.
Consequently, in order to do so, you should always write an abstract after you
have written everything else and make sure every word is useful in that regard.
References
- Georgia State University Writing Studio. (2023). Academic abstract. https://writingstudio.gsu.edu/files/2024/10/Academic-Abstract-Handout-.pdf
- Germanna Academic Center for Excellence. (n.d.). How to write an abstract. https://germanna.edu/sites/default/files/2022-03/How%20to%20Write%20an%20Abstract.pdf
- Stringer, H. (n.d.). How to… write an abstract. Newcastle University. https://research.ncl.ac.uk/nesltresearch/researchresources/HowtoWriteanAbstract.pdf
- Student Learning Support Service. (2022). Writing an abstract. Flinders University. https://students.flinders.edu.au/content/dam/student/slss/academic-writing/writing-abstracts.pdf
- University of Mary Washington Speaking and Writing Center. (n.d.). How to write an abstract.
- University of Wisconsin–Madison The Writing Center. (n.d.). Writing an abstract for your research paper. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/writing-an-abstract-for-your-research-paper/
- · Premadasa, M. (n.d.). An analysis of abstracts related to Library and Information Science.
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