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Writing An Abstract

This document provides guidance on summarizing research through abstracts. It outlines the key components of a good abstract, including clearly stating the problem, importance, technical contribution, evaluation method and results, and implications. Students are instructed to analyze sample abstracts based on these criteria and rewrite one to improve it. They are also asked to write an abstract for their own project to define the research problem and approach, even if the project is not yet complete. The goal is for students to learn how to effectively summarize and map out their research.

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Michael Brian Torres
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32 views1 page

Writing An Abstract

This document provides guidance on summarizing research through abstracts. It outlines the key components of a good abstract, including clearly stating the problem, importance, technical contribution, evaluation method and results, and implications. Students are instructed to analyze sample abstracts based on these criteria and rewrite one to improve it. They are also asked to write an abstract for their own project to define the research problem and approach, even if the project is not yet complete. The goal is for students to learn how to effectively summarize and map out their research.

Uploaded by

Michael Brian Torres
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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“Reading, writing and revising an abstract” Exercises

Learning Objectives: Students learn how to summarize research and identify


problems, contributions, evidence, and meaning of their own and other research.
These activities can be performed before the students start their project, so that they
learn what a road map for research is, or in the middle or towards the end a project.

A good abstract generally contains: (1) a clear problem statement, (2) why the problem
is important, (3) the technical contribution of the work, (4) what the evaluation is and
what it indicates (e.g., a proof, experiments, data collection), and (5) meaning, e.g.,
what the consequences of (3) and (4) are. Another key aspect of a good abstract is
that it will include concrete and specific technical details that motivate readers to find
out more.

Activity 1: Find three or four well-written abstracts and one or two poorly written
abstracts from the biography exercise or some papers they have read as part of their
project. It is important that they have actually read most of the papers, especially the
poorly written abstract papers.

1. Ask the student(s) to diagram each abstract into the 5 parts above and bring
them to a meeting.
2. Discuss how each abstract meets or does not meet the above criteria. Some
good abstracts may not perfectly match the criteria. Discuss how they could
be improved or why their choice is appropriate to the work and/or results in
this paper.
3. Choose an abstract to improve and work together on a computer or on paper
to rewrite it. The students and perhaps you will have read this paper so that
they can insert specifics that make the abstract correct and engaging and
specific!

Activity 2: Ask the student(s) to write an abstract for their project, regardless of the
status of the project. They should diagram the abstract and bring it to a meeting.
Even if the project is only half way through, the student can write an optimistic
abstract in which all the experiments or proofs turn out perfectly. Be prepared to help
students identify what the problem is that they are solving and why it is important,
and to interview the student on specifics and novelty of the technical approach, and
to help them predict the meaning.

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