HOW TO WRITE AN ABSTRACT

READS IT
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABSTRACT
WHAT TO INCLUDE
WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE
SOME

EXAMPLES

article, paper or thesis;
Length: between 150 and 250 words;
Layout: usually

one single paragraph; font size is different from the main text;
Position: usually at the beginning of the paper (but it can appear elsewhere, e.g. in book of abstracts or on-line);

not a collection of quotations taken from the text it

summarizes, i.e. it must be able to stand alone.
It does not contain vague statements which force the reader to refer to the main text.

have a first hand knowledge their piece of research;
Sometimes professional

writers, who abstract books and articles for a wide audience.

text
To help readers decide if the article is relevant for

their purposes
To answer a call of paper in a conference
To make it possible for your piece of research to appear in on-line publication databases (indexing)

further information;
Teachers having to evaluate future specialists’ achievements;
Students charting research

in a given area.

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.

main categories:
DESCRIPTIVE AND INFORMATIVE
Descriptive abstracts describe:
What the text

is about
The issues or problems explored
The purpose and methodology of the research

about
The issues or problems explored
The purpose and methodology of the

research
The results
The conclusion and recommendations

a project is completed;
Emphasis is placed on the problem and

method;
They may be required for conference paper proposals or for progress reports;
Informative abstracts are written after a project has been completed;
Emphasis is placed on the results and conclusion of the project.

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.

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?

include specific models or approaches used in the larger study.

Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the research (e.g. qualitative interviews, book reviews, etc.)

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?

the author did it;
What the author found;
What the author concluded.

to other work;
Quotations from the original work or from other

works;
Lengthy explanations of words and concepts;
Unexplained acronyms or abbreviations;
Tables and maps.

two findings reported in literature: one, that during the one-word

stage a child’s word productions are highly phonetically variable, and two, that the one-word stage is qualitatively distinct from subsequent phonological development.
1. Introducing purpose of paper – this part of the abstract gives a precise indication of the author’s intention or thesis.

child at the one-word stage were collected and analysed both

cross-sectionally (month by month) and longitudinally (looking for changes over time).
2. Describing methodology – in this part of the abstract the author gives information on data, procedures or methods used

variability, and that phonological development during the period studied was

qualitatively continuous with subsequent development.
3. Summarizing results – in this part of the abstract the author mentions his observations , and findings. He can also suggest solutions if any.

this child’s first words related to his late onset of

speech. (French, 1989.69-90.)
4. Presenting conclusions –in this part of the abstract the author interprets results and includes implications and/or applications of the present findings.