A definition

An abstract is a succinct summary of a longer piece of work, usually academic in nature, which is published in isolation from the main text and should therefore stand on its own and be understandable without reference to the longer piece. It should report the latter's essential facts, and should not exaggerate or contain material that is not there.
Its purpose is to act as a reference tool (for example in a library abstracting service), enabling the reader to decide whether or not to read the full text.

Two common reasons for writing an abstract are

• to summarize a longer piece of work published as a journal article, thesis, book or web page, an existing article for the purposes of a journal,
• or to submit an application to write a paper for a conference.

How to go about the writing process

    1. Start by writing a statement of the paper's purpose, which should be as succinct as possible. If you include background keep this to a minimum and only include such information as to provide a context.

    2. Summarize the paper, reporting its main facts. Remember the following points:

•  Follow the chronology of the paper and use its headings as guidelines.
•  Do not include unnecessary detail, as in the first example in "How not to write an abstract".
•  You are writing for an audience "in the know" – you can use the technical language of your discipline or profession, providing you communicate your meaning clearly, and bear in mind that you are writing to an international audience.
• Make sure that what you write "flows" properly, that there are "connecting words" (e.g. consequently, moreover, for example, the benefits of this study, as a result, etc.) and/or the points you make are not disjointed but follow on from one another.
• Use the active rather than the passive voice, e.g. "The study tested" rather than "It was tested in this study".
• The style of writing should be dense, and sentences will probably be longer than usual.

    3. You should by now have a draft, which will probably be too long. Here are some points to remember in cutting:

• cut out any unnecessary words that do not add to the meaning, but
• make sure that the abstract is not so "cut" as to be unreadable; use full sentences, direct and indirect articles, connecting works, etc. An abstract should use continuous prose, not notes.

     4. Read through your draft, making sure that it covers the main points listed above, and that there are no grammatical, spelling or typographical errors, also that it "flows" properly.

     5. If possible, get a colleague to read through your abstract as a form of "peer review".

     6. Submit!

If you have difficulty with the general purpose statement or with summarizsing your article, it may be because the article's general concept is not that clear, or perhaps your research design or approach needs revisiting.

 

Instructions for writing a structured abstract

 

Abstracts should contain no more than 250 words. Write concisely and clearly. The abstract should reflect only what appears in the original paper. 

 

Purpose

What are the reason(s) for writing the paper or the aims of the research?

 

Design/methodology/approach

How are the objectives achieved? Include the main method(s) used for the research. What is the approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or subject scope of the paper?

 

Findings

What was found in the course of the work? This will refer to analysis, discussion, or results.

 

Research limitations/implications (if applicable)

If research is reported on in the paper this section must be completed and should include suggestions for future research and any identified limitations in the research process.

 

Practical implications (if applicable) 

What outcomes and implications for practice, applications and consequences are identified? How will the research impact upon the business or enterprise? What changes to practice should be made as a result of this research? What is the commercial or economic impact? Not all papers will have practical implications.

 

Social implications (if applicable) 

What will be the impact on society of this research? How will it influence public attitudes? How will it influence (corporate) social responsibility or environmental issues? How could it inform public or industry policy? How might it affect quality of life? Not all papers will have social implications.

 

Originality/value

What is new in the paper? State the value of the paper and to whom.

 

Using keywords

 

Using keywords is a vital part of abstract writing, because of the practice of retrieving information electronically: keywords act as the search term. Use keywords that are specific, and that reflect what is essential about the paper. Put yourself in the position of someone researching in your field: what would you look for? Consider also whether you can use any of the current "buzzwords".