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Guidelines For Writing A Good Abstract

The document provides guidelines for writing abstracts for dissertations. It should be between 350-400 words and summarize the aims, methods, results, and conclusions without needing to reference the full paper. The abstract has four components - introduction, methods, findings, and conclusions. It also provides tips for writing an effective abstract such as using key words and active verbs while staying concise and readable.

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22 views3 pages

Guidelines For Writing A Good Abstract

The document provides guidelines for writing abstracts for dissertations. It should be between 350-400 words and summarize the aims, methods, results, and conclusions without needing to reference the full paper. The abstract has four components - introduction, methods, findings, and conclusions. It also provides tips for writing an effective abstract such as using key words and active verbs while staying concise and readable.

Uploaded by

tino
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Guidelines for abstracts

Introduction
Abstracts for dissertation should not be more than 500 words, a good guide is 350-400 words.
Abstracts should briefly specify the aims of the work, the methods used, the main results
obtained, and the conclusions drawn, in a way that does not require reference to the body of the
paper. Writing a good abstract is one of the most difficult things for any researcher to do,
because it is an entirely different skill from writing the original paper. An abstract must be clear
and concise, and it must convey the whole of your paper in just a few words.

As you are writing your abstract, there are several factors to keep in mind:
1. the purpose and audience of the abstract,
2. the basic components of a paper abstract,
3. the elements that make a good abstract, and
4. tips for writing a good abstract.

The purpose and audience of the abstract


The audience you are trying to impress are the members examiners’ panel, who will be reading
dozens of abstracts and trying to decide which papers are well presented. The wording of the
abstract should be very direct. Do not leave your audience guessing at what you mean; tell them.
In addition to being clear and brief, your abstract must also be interesting. It must grab your
audience and say “look at me.” Your abstract is your first, and maybe your only, opportunity to
persuade them that your paper deserves.The people who will come to the conference are a
secondary audience for your abstract.

The basic components of a paper abstract


An abstract must condense your entire paper/poster into just a few short sentences in one or two
paragraphs. The four components of an abstract are:
a. The introduction: Start with one or two sentences which clearly expresses the purpose
of your study or presentation: why is this important? What was your research problem
and objectives?
b. Your methods: Briefly review the methodology you used to do your research. This part
should explain the methodology used for your work/study (including study design and
experimental methods. What did you do, and how did you do it?
c. Your findings: Concisely but adequately summarise the achievements of the work and/or
all the major findings of the study. What did you discover in your research?
d. Your conclusions: Outline what is significant or useful in your research. What do your
findings mean? You should summarise the overall findings, the possible improvements of
the methodology and if/how this work is part of an overall strategy /research.

In other words, an abstract should tell the reader WHY you conducted the research, WHAT you
did, HOW you did it, WHAT you found and WHAT it means. For each of these components
you are walking the fine line between giving enough information to be clear and informative and
staying below the word limit for the entire abstract.
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The elements that make a good abstract


A good abstract is:
a. Complete: it covers the main part of your research/work.
b. Clear: your abstract should be easily read, well organised and without too many jargon
words (a reader does not want to wade through complicated terms in the abstract).
c. Cohesive: the different parts of your abstract should be properly linked.
d. Concise: each sentence of your abstract must work toward your purpose of impressing
the review committee with the academic merit of your presentation. The abstract should
not contain any excess words or unnecessary information. A good tip to be concise is to
write down a first draft and to delete as many unnecessary words and sentences as
possible.
e. Self-contained: except for standard abbreviations (e.g. vs. for versus), define all
abbreviations and acronyms. Do not expect the readers to be specialists in all fields.
Define any unique terms or usages.
f. Accurate: clearly present the content and purpose of your paper and only describe
information that actually appears in your paper. If you are doing a study, state whether
your research extends or replicates previous investigations.
g. Non-evaluative: do not add personal opinions about the value of your work.
h. Readable: dozens of abstracts may be in a sitting; if your abstract has stilted sentences,
misspellings, faulty grammar, poor transitions,it will not be viewed favourably.

Take care to edit your abstract before you send it in; remember you are trying to say “Pick
me! Pick me!”

Tips for writing a good abstract


The following suggestions may help you as you work on writing your abstract:
a. The theme of your paper should be clearly stated in the first sentence (and no later than
the second sentence). It should not be vague, unclear or buried in the middle of the
abstract.
b. An abstract is nearly always read along with the title, do not repeat or rephrase your title.
In fact, do not ever present the same information twice in your abstract.
c. Use key words from your paper. Many readers will look for the keywords to quickly
understand what a paper is about. If they do not find the keywords they are looking for in
the abstract they may not read your paper or attend your presentation.
d. Write in clear and dynamic prose. Use the past tense when describing what was done, but
where appropriate use active rather than passive verbs.
e. Provide logical connections/transitions between the information in your abstract. Your
reader should not have to guess where you stopped presenting your introduction and
began your methods section.
f. Use complete short sentences. Do not omit articles or other small words in order to save
space.
g. Vary your sentence structure to avoid choppiness. A boring, repetitious abstract suggests
that the presentation will be the same.
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h. Avoid sentences that contain no real information. If a sentence does not move the reader
toward your purpose, leave it out.
i. Use simple words and avoid jargon and acronyms which would take up valuable word
space to explain.
j. Unless a number begins a sentence, use digits for numbers.
k. Be concrete, but do not let your abstract be too speculative. Your abstract should be close
to the limit, but not over it. If your abstract is much shorter than the word limit, you have
probably left something out of it.
l. Ensure that all listed co-authors have reviewed the abstract, taken responsibility of its
contents and accepted to be co-author.

Conclusion
Finally, do not just knock out an abstract and send it in. Write a rough draft, edit it for
weaknesses in organisation, drop unnecessary information and wordiness, add important
information that is missing, strengthen your transitions, read your abstract out loud, and check
and double check the grammar, spelling and punctuation. An abstract is not just a bit of busy
work that has to be done to get into a conference, but an integral part of your presentation.
Remember your abstract is going to be published in the symposium volume of abstracts. You
only have one chance to do it right.

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