Academic Writing

Writing an Abstract

Several Names for Abstracts

What is an abstract? Brief Accurate, and Comprehensive summary of the contents of the article

without added interpretation or criticism. It allows readers to survey the contents of the

article which follows quickly.

What is an abstract? Uses short and simple sentences

covering with just one topic each and excluding irrelevant information.

Should be informative Presenting the quantitative and/or qualitative

information contained in the document.

Functions of an Abstract Informing the reader

Helps readers to know the brief content of the article, thus saving them time to read through the whole paper.

Usually first thing reader will review to decide whether or not to read the full text

Assist those searching for research Abstracts can be used by abstracting and

information services to index and retrieve articles.

Functions of an Abstract Key attributes to fulfil these functions:

Should be well organized, concise, and self-contained.

Should be accurate. Should include key words which link your work to

your research area to ensure that researchers in the area can find it easily

Abstract Summarizes, in one paragraph (usually), the

major aspects of the entire paper in the following prescribed sequence: the question(s) you investigated (or purpose of

paper), with scope and limitations (from Introduction) Very clearly in the first or second sentence.

how this investigation was completed, (from Main Body - Methodology) Design or approach. If you employed a specific

methodology name it There is no need to include a lot of detail since that will

be covered later

Abstract the major findings  (from Main Body- Results)

What did you actually find out ? Or achieve? In relation to the body of knowledge ?

a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions. (from Main Body- Discussion and Conclusions) State the implications of the answers your results gave

you.

How to Construct YOUR Abstract "Why did you start?" – Introduction or

background You should summarise, preferably in one sentence,

the current knowledge, or state-of-the-art, specifically in relation to the work you are presenting.

"What did you try to do?" – Aims and objectives You should state the aim of the study, and any

objectives you needed to meet to achieve this aim "What did you do?" – Methods

Short and to the point. Aim is to give the reader an idea of how you went about things so that they can judge what was achieved in the right context.

How to construct YOUR Abstract "What did you find?" – Results

Give the main results of the study, not just in subjective terms ("We found device X to be superior to device Y") but also in the form of some real data.

Need to choose your findings carefully. Do not include a table or figure in your abstract.

"What does it mean?" – Conclusions Usually a single sentence of why you think your findings

are important, and their potential implications. Keep your conclusions reasonable and supportable by

the findings of your study. Remember any scope or limitations you had – this

impacts your conclusions

Two Major Types

Characteristics of a GOOD Abstract Accurate:

Reflect correctly the objectives and contents of the article.

Do not include information that does not appear in the body of the article in the abstract.

Self-contained: Define all unique terms,

abbreviations (except units of measurement), and acronyms in the abstract.

If the article does not have a separate Keywords section, embed them in the abstract as this will enhance the readers’ ability to find them; this will also help in indexing.

Characteristics of a GOOD Abstract Concise and specific:

Each sentence should

be as informative as possible, especially the lead sentence.

Make it brief. In one paragraph if

possible.

Coherent and readable: Write clearly. Use verbs rather than

the noun equivalents. Use the active rather

than the passive voice, but without personal pronouns (I or we).

Use the past tense to describe specific variables manipulated or tests applied.

Use the third rather than the first person.

How to write an abstract Write it after you have written the paper,

document, thesis, dissertation etc

Hints Re-read and note salient (important) points

E.g. the nature of the problems, objectives, methods, results, conclusions and suggestions for further investigation.

Do not put anything which was not present in the text, or repeat the title.

Do not just repeat sentences from your paper.

Hints The objectives and methods, or the nature of

the study should be briefly presented. Scope and limitations should be included. Combine them into a first draft abstract

without looking back at your paper Do not cite any references, figures, or tables

in the abstract.

Hints (cont’d) Revise your rough draft to correct weaknesses

in organization and coherence, Leave out anything that does not inform the

reader or outline the context important for the reader

add important information originally left out, eliminate wordiness, and correct errors in grammar and mechanics.

Proof read your final abstract Would it entice you to read the paper ? Does it accurately reflect the contents? Does it make clear any constraints you worked

under?

What is an Abstract in brief? Short summary of your work Short, self-contained capsule description of your

work Enticement to read the whole thing Things to think about

Meet the word count limitation. Any major restrictions or limitations on the results should

be stated, if only by using "weasel-words" such as "might", "could", "may", and "seem".

Think of a half-dozen search phrases and keywords that people looking for your work might use and include these.

Make sure that the keywords you pick actually appear in the text

How is it different to the Introduction?

Abstract Introduction

Capsule summary of the paper

Covers Background Purpose and focus Methods Results Conclusions Recommendations

Summarises the entire paper including conclusions

Introduces the paper (contents and structure)

Covers Background Purpose Proposition Outline of key issues Scope and limitations Paper structure

Introduces paper topic, puts it in context and highlights key issues to be discussed

Templates to help write an abstract

General Abstract TemplateThis research topic is a very important problem in the domain of Computer Science.Though numerous attempts have been made to accomplish this research goal, theseapproaches have assumptions that restrict their extension to more general cases.

In this dissertation, the key factor in a generic and robust system is identified and asystem is then developed using this idea. Preliminary results are provided to supportthe validity of the approach and demonstrate its capability to do this research underdifferent testing criteria.

Further improvements in performance are achieved through the development ofadditional techniques. The speed and efficiency of the algorithm is further improvedusing techniques to reduce the search space. Finally, the results of testing the systemunder a wide range of conditions are reviewed, demonstrating its capability androbustness.

Fill in the blanks___________ is a very important problem in the domain of __________. Thoughnumerous attempts have been made to accomplish this ____________, theseapproaches have assumptions that restrict their extension to more general cases.

In this dissertation, the key factor in a generic and robust system is identified as being____________ and a system is then developed using this idea. Preliminary results areprovided to support the validity of the approach and demonstrate its capability to do____________ under different testing criteria.

Further improvements in performance are achieved through_____________________. The speed and efficiency of the algorithm is furtherimproved ________________. Finally, the results of testing the system under a widerange of conditions __________________ are reviewed, demonstrating its capabilityand robustness.

Template Questions to get started What is the area of study? 2. What is the problem being tackled? 3. What does the literature say? 4. How did you tackle the problem? 5. How did you implement the solution? 6. What results have you gotten?

Sample Answers to previous questions “This research investigates the area of knowledge capture in the domain of knowledge management.” 2. “By introducing a new technology into workplace X

communications the staff will be able to record their ideas for the purpose of communication and sharing.”

3. “Existing research indicates that their may be benefits to capturing the organisational knowledge.” 4. “In this work a Wiki server was introduced into the Workplace and access provided to all staff.” 5. “The Wiki has a range of templates to support the range

of approaches to ideas generation.” 6. “Results suggest that the use of this Wiki has aided in capturing key organisational knowledge.”

Merge into an abstractThis research investigates the area of knowledge capturein the domain of knowledge management. By introducing anew technology into workplace X staff will be able torecord their ideas for the purpose of communication and sharing. Existing research indicates that theirmay be benefits to capturing the organizational knowledge.In this work a Wiki server was be introduced into theworkplace, and access provided to all staff. The Wiki has arange of templates to support the range of approaches toideas generation. Results suggest that the use of this Wikihas aided in capturing key organisational knowledge.