ABSTRACT

Often when asked to write a report or article, you will be required to include an
abstract. This is usually a very concise summary of what the report or article is
about and is usually placed before the body of your writing. The abstract can be
read to get a quick overview. It tells the reader what to expect in your work and it
should be based on all you have written.

Definitions:
The word abstract comes from the Latin abstractum, which means a condensed form of a longer
piece of writing.

What is an abstract?
An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement that describes a larger work. Components
vary according to discipline. An abstract of a social science or scientific work may contain the scope,
purpose, results, and contents of the work. An abstract of a humanities work may contain the thesis,
background, and conclusion of the larger work. An abstract is not a review, nor does it evaluate the work
being abstracted. While it contains key words found in the larger work, the abstract is an original
document rather than an excerpted passage. Abstracts present the essential elements of a longer work in a
short and powerful statement. The purpose of an abstract is to provide prospective readers the opportunity
to judge the relevance of the longer work to their projects. Abstracts also include the key terms found in
the longer work and the purpose and methods of the research. Authors abstract various longer works,
including book proposals, dissertations, and online journal articles.

Why write an abstract?

Abstracts are important parts of reports and research papers and sometimes academic
assignments. The abstract is often the last item that you write, but the first thing people read when
they want to have a quick overview of the whole paper. We suggest you leave writing the abstract to the
end, because you will have a clearer picture of all your findings and conclusions
You may write an abstract for various reasons. The two most important are selection and indexing.
Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in a longer work to quickly decide whether it is worth their
time to read it. Also, many online databases use abstracts to index larger works. Therefore, abstracts
should contain keywords and phrases that allow for easy searching.

What makes a good abstract?

A good abstract:
 uses one well-developed paragraph that is coherent and concise, and is able to stand alone
as a unit of information
 covers all the essential academic elements of the full-length paper, namely the background,
purpose, focus, methods, results and conclusions
 contains no information not included in the paper
 is written in plain English and is understandable to a wider audience, as well as to your
discipline-specific audience
 often uses passive structures in order to report on findings, focusing on the issues rather
than people
 uses the language of the original paper, often in a more simplified form for the more general
reader
 usually does not include any referencing
 in publications such as journals, it is found at the beginning of the text, while in academic assignments,
it is placed on a separate preliminary page.

When do people write abstracts?

 when submitting articles to journals, especially online journals

 when applying for research grants
 when writing a book proposal
 when completing the Ph.D. dissertation or M.A. thesis
 when writing a proposal for a book chapter

Most often, the author of the entire work (or prospective work) writes the abstract. However, there are
professional abstracting services that hire writers to draft abstracts of other people’s work. In a work with
multiple authors, the first author usually writes the abstract. Undergraduates are sometimes asked to draft
abstracts of books/articles for classmates who have not read the larger work.

Types of abstracts
There are two types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. They have different aims, so as a
consequence they have different components and styles. There is also a third type called critical. If you
are unsure which type of abstract you should write, ask your instructor (if the abstract is for a class) or
read other abstracts in your field or in the journal where you are submitting your article.

Descriptive abstracts
A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work. It makes no judgments about
the work, nor does it provide results or conclusions of the research. . Essentially, the descriptive abstract
describes the work being abstracted. Some people consider it an outline of the work, rather than a
summary.

Descriptive abstracts are generally used for humanities and social science papers or psychology
essays. This type of abstract is usually very short (50-100 words). Most descriptive abstracts have
certain key parts in common. They are:
 background
 purpose
 particular interest/focus of paper
 overview of contents (not always included)
Informative Abstract:

Informative abstracts are generally used for science, engineering or psychology reports. You must
get the essence of what your report is about, usually in about 200 words. Most informative
abstracts also have key parts in common. Each of these parts might consist of 1-2 sentences. The
parts include:
 background
 aim or purpose of research
 method used
 findings/results
The majority of abstracts are informative. While they still do not critique or evaluate a work, they do
more than describe it. A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work itself. That is, the
writer presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the
complete article/paper/book. An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a
descriptive abstract (purpose, methods, scope) but also includes the results and conclusions of the
research and the recommendations of the author. The length varies according to discipline, but an
informative abstract is rarely more than 10% of the length of the entire work. In the case of a longer work,
it may be much less.

Which type should I use?

Your best bet in this case is to ask your instructor or refer to the instructions provided by the publisher.
You can also make a guess based on the length allowed; i.e., 100-120 words = descriptive; 250+ words =
informative.

How do I write an abstract?

The format of your abstract will depend on the work being abstracted. An abstract of a scientific research
paper will contain elements not found in an abstract of a literature article, and vice versa. However, all
abstracts share several mandatory components, and there are also some optional parts that you can decide
to include or not. When preparing to draft your abstract, keep the following key process elements in mind:

 Reason for writing: What is the importance of the research? Why would a reader be interested in
the larger work?
 Problem: What problem does this work attempt to solve? What is the scope of the project? What
is the main argument/thesis/claim?
 Methodology: An abstract of a scientific work may include specific models or approaches used
in the larger study. Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the research.
 Results: Again, an abstract of a scientific work may include specific data that indicates the
results of the project. Other abstracts may discuss the findings in a more general way.
  Implications: What changes should be implemented as a result of the findings of the work? How
does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

(This list of elements is adapted with permission from Philip Koopman

All abstracts include:

 A full citation of the source, preceding the abstract.

 The most important information first.
 The same type and style of language found in the original, including technical language.
 Key words and phrases that quickly identify the content and focus of the work.
 Clear, concise, and powerful language.

Abstracts may include:

 The thesis of the work, usually in the first sentence.

 Background information that places the work in the larger body of literature.
 The same chronological structure as the original work.

How not to write an abstract:

 Do not refer extensively to other works.

 Do not add information not contained in the original work.
 Do not define terms.

If you are abstracting your own writing

When abstracting your own work, it may be difficult to condense a piece of writing that you have
agonized over for weeks (or months, or even years) into a 250-word statement. There are some tricks that
you could use to make it easier, however.

Reverse outlining:

This technique is commonly used when you are having trouble organizing your own writing. The process
involves writing down the main idea of each paragraph on a separate piece of paper–. For the purposes of
writing an abstract, try grouping the main ideas of each section of the paper into a single sentence.
Practice grouping ideas using .or

For a scientific paper, you may have sections titled Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each one
of these sections will be longer than one paragraph, but each is grouped around a central idea. Use reverse
outlining to discover the central idea in each section and then distill these ideas into one statement.
Cut and paste:

To create a first draft of an abstract of your own work, you can read through the entire paper and cut and
paste sentences that capture key passages. This technique is useful for social science research with
findings that cannot be encapsulated by neat numbers or concrete results. A well-written humanities draft
will have a clear and direct thesis statement and informative topic sentences for paragraphs or sections.
Isolate these sentences in a separate document and work on revising them into a unified paragraph.

If you are abstracting someone else’s writing

When abstracting something you have not written, you cannot summarize key ideas just by cutting and
pasting. Instead, you must determine what a prospective reader would want to know about the work.
There are a few techniques that will help you in this process:

Identify key terms:

Search through the entire document for key terms that identify the purpose, scope, and methods of the
work. Pay close attention to the Introduction (or Purpose) and the Conclusion (or Discussion). These
sections should contain all the main ideas and key terms in the paper. When writing the abstract, be sure
to incorporate the key terms.

Highlight key phrases and sentences:

Instead of cutting and pasting the actual words, try highlighting sentences or phrases that appear to be
central to the work. Then, in a separate document, rewrite the sentences and phrases in your own words.

Don’t look back:

After reading the entire work, put it aside and write a paragraph about the work without referring to it. In
the first draft, you may not remember all the key terms or the results, but you will remember what the
main point of the work was. Remember not to include any information you did not get from the work
being abstracted.

Revise, revise, revise

No matter what type of abstract you are writing, or whether you are abstracting your own work or
someone else’s, the most important step in writing an abstract is to revise early and often. When revising,
delete all extraneous words and incorporate meaningful and powerful words. The idea is to be as clear
and complete as possible in the shortest possible amount of space. The Word Count feature of Microsoft
Word can help you keep track of how long your abstract is and help you hit your target length.