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How To Write A Research Abstract: of Abstracts. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2009

The document provides guidelines for writing an effective abstract in 3 sentences or less: 1) An abstract should summarize the overall purpose, research problems investigated, basic study design, major findings, and interpretations/conclusions of the entire paper in about 300 words. 2) It allows readers to understand the key aspects of the paper and decide if they want to read more by including enough important results, observations, trends, etc. 3) An abstract should not include lengthy background, redundant phrases, acronyms, references, incomplete sentences, jargon, citations, or images.

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48 views2 pages

How To Write A Research Abstract: of Abstracts. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2009

The document provides guidelines for writing an effective abstract in 3 sentences or less: 1) An abstract should summarize the overall purpose, research problems investigated, basic study design, major findings, and interpretations/conclusions of the entire paper in about 300 words. 2) It allows readers to understand the key aspects of the paper and decide if they want to read more by including enough important results, observations, trends, etc. 3) An abstract should not include lengthy background, redundant phrases, acronyms, references, incomplete sentences, jargon, citations, or images.

Uploaded by

Aryan Ahmed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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An abstract summarizes, usually in one paragraph of 300 words or less, the major

aspects of the entire paper in a prescribed sequence that includes: 1) the overall
purpose of the study and the research problem(s) you investigated; 2) the basic
design of the study; 3) major findings or trends found as a result of your analysis;
and, 4) a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions.

Importance of a Good Abstract

Sometimes your professor will ask you to include an abstract, or general summary
of your work, with your research paper. The abstract allows you to elaborate
upon each major aspect of the paper and helps readers decide whether they
want to read the rest of the paper. Therefore, enough key information [e.g.,
summary results, observations, trends, etc.] must be included to make the abstract
useful to someone who may want to examine your work.

How do you know when you have enough information in your abstract? A
simple rule-of-thumb is to imagine that you are another researcher doing a similar
study. Then ask yourself: if your abstract was the only part of the paper you could
access, would you be happy with the amount of information presented there? Does
it tell the whole story about your study? If the answer is "no" then the abstract
likely needs to be revised.

How to Write a Research Abstract. Office of Undergraduate Research. University


of Kentucky; Staiger, David L. “What Today’s Students Need to Know about
Writing Abstracts.” International Journal of Business Communication January 3
(1966): 29-33; Swales, John M. and Christine B. Feak. Abstracts and the Writing
of Abstracts. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2009.

Structure and Writing Style

The abstract SHOULD NOT contain:

 Lengthy background or contextual information,


 Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and repetitive
information;
 Acronyms or abbreviations,
 References to other literature [say something like, "current research shows
that..." or "studies have indicated..."],
 Using ellipticals [i.e., ending with "..."] or incomplete sentences,
 Jargon or terms that may be confusing to the reader,
 Citations to other works, and
 Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or references

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