HOW TO MAKE AN

ABSTRACT
 The abstract allows you to elaborate upon each major aspect
of the paper and helps readers decide whether they want to
read the rest of the paper.
An abstract summarizes, usually in one paragraph of 300 words or
less, the major aspects of the entire paper in a prescribed sequence
that includes:

1) the overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s) you
investigated;
2) the basic design of the study;
3) major findings or trends found as a result of your analysis
4) a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions.

• Writing an Abstract. The Writing Center. Clarion University, 2009; Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper. The Writing Center,
University of Wisconsin, Madison; Koltay, Tibor. Abstracts and Abstracting: A Genre and Set of Skills for the Twenty-first Century. Oxford, UK:
Chandos Publishing, 2010;
How do you know when you have enough
information in your abstract?
-A simple rule-of-thumb is to imagine that you are another researcher
doing a similar study. Then ask yourself: if your abstract was the only part
of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the amount of
information presented there? Does it tell the whole story about your
study? If the answer is "no" then the abstract likely needs to be revised.

• Farkas, David K. “A Scheme for Understanding and Writing Summaries.” Technical Communication 67 (August 2020): 45-60; How to
Write a Research Abstract. Office of Undergraduate Research. University of Kentucky; Staiger, David L. “What Today’s Students Need to
Know about Writing Abstracts.” International Journal of Business Communication January 3 (1966): 29-33; Swales, John M. and Christine
B. Feak. Abstracts and the Writing of Abstracts. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2009.
 TYPES OF ABSTRACT

Critical Abstract
Descriptive Abstract
Informative Abstract
CRITICAL ABSTRACT
 A critical abstract provides, in addition to describing main findings and
information, a judgment or comment about the study’s validity,
reliability, or completeness.

 The researcher evaluates the paper and often compares it with other
works on the same subject.

 Critical abstracts are generally 400-500 words in length due to the

additional interpretive commentary. These types of abstracts are used
infrequently.
DESCRIPTIVE ABSTRACT
 A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the
work. It makes no judgments about the work, nor does it provide results
or conclusions of the research.

 It does incorporate key words found in the text and may include the
purpose, methods, and scope of the research.

 Essentially, the descriptive abstract only describes the work being

summarized. Some researchers consider it an outline of the work,
rather than a summary.

 Descriptive abstracts are usually very short, 100 words or less.

 INFORMATIVE ABSTRACT
 The majority of abstracts are informative. While they still do not critique or
evaluate a work, they do more than describe it.

 A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work itself. That is,
the researcher presents and explains all the main arguments and the
important results and evidence in the paper.

 An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a

descriptive abstract [purpose, methods, scope] but it also includes the results
and conclusions of the research and the recommendations of the author.

 The length varies according to discipline, but an informative abstract is

usually no more than 300 words in length.
WRITING STYLE
 Use the active voice when possible, but note that much of your
abstract may require passive sentence constructions. Regardless, write
your abstract using concise, but complete, sentences.

 Get to the point quickly and always use the past tense because you
are reporting on a study that has been completed.
 FORMATTING
 Abstracts should be formatted as a single paragraph in a block format and
with no paragraph indentations. In most cases, the abstract page
immediately follows the title page.

 Do not number the page. Rules set forth in writing manual vary but, in
general, you should center the word "Abstract" at the top of the page with
double spacing between the heading and the abstract.

 The final sentences of an abstract concisely summarize your study’s

conclusions, implications, or applications to practice and, if appropriate, can
be followed by a statement about the need for additional research revealed
from the findings.
 COMPOSING YOUR ABSTRACT
 Although it is the first section of your paper, the abstract should be written last
since it will summarize the contents of your entire paper. A good strategy to
begin composing your abstract is to take whole sentences or key phrases from
each section of the paper and put them in a sequence that summarizes the
contents.

 Then revise or add phrases or words to make the narrative flow clearly and
smoothly. A useful strategy is to avoid using conjunctions [e.g. and, but, if] that
connect long clauses or sentences and, instead, write short, concise
sentences. Note that statistical findings should be reported parenthetically [i.e.,
written in parentheses].

 Before handing in your final paper, check to make sure that the information in the
abstract completely agrees with what you have written in the paper. Think of the
 The Abstract should not contain:
• A catchy introductory phrase, provocative quote, or other device to grab the
reader's attention,

• Lengthy background or contextual information,

• Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and repetitive

information;

• Acronyms or abbreviations,

• References to other literature [say something like, "current research shows

that..." or "studies have indicated..."],
The Abstract should not contain:
• Using ellipticals [i.e., ending with "..."] or incomplete sentences,

• Jargon or terms that may be confusing to the reader,

• Citations to other works, and

• Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or references to them.

 3. The Abstract - Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper - Resea
rch Guides at University of Southern California (usc.edu)

• Abstract. Writing Center. University of Kansas; Abstract. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a
Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College; Abstracts. The Writing Center.
University of North Carolina; Borko, Harold and Seymour Chatman. "Criteria for Acceptable Abstracts: A
Survey of Abstracters' Instructions." American Documentation 14 (April 1963): 149-160; Abstracts. The
Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Hartley, James and Lucy Betts.
"Common Weaknesses in Traditional Abstracts in the Social Sciences." Journal of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology 60 (October 2009): 2010-2018; Koltay, Tibor. Abstracts and Abstracting:
A Genre and Set of Skills for the Twenty-first Century. Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2010; Procter,
Margaret. The Abstract. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Riordan, Laura. “Mastering
the Art of Abstracts.” The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 115 (January 2015 ): 41-47;
Writing Report Abstracts. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Abstracts. Writing
Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Koltay, Tibor. Abstracts
and Abstracting: A Genre and Set of Skills for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford, UK: 2010; Writing an Abstract for
Your Research Paper. The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison
ANY QUESTION?