English for TC07: Writing an abstract

1st advice:

Steps for Writing Effective Abstracts

To write an effective abstract, follow these steps:

1.Reread the article, paper, or report with the goal of abstracting in mind.

-Look specifically for these main parts of the article, paper, or report: purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendation.

-Use the headings, outline heads, and table of contents as a guide to writing your abstract.

-If you're writing an abstract about another person's article, paper, or report, the introduction and the summary are good places to begin. These areas generally cover what the article emphasizes.

2.After you've finished rereading the article, paper, or report, write a rough draft without looking back at what you're abstracting.

-Don't merely copy key sentences from the article, paper, or report: you'll put in too much or too little information.

-Don't rely on the way material was phrased in the article, paper, or report: summarize information in a new way.

3.Revise your rough draft to

-correct weaknesses in organization.

-improve transitions from point to point.

-drop unnecessary information.

-add important information you left out.

-eliminate wordiness.

-fix errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

4.Print your final copy and read it again to catch any glitches that you find.

The following suggestions for generating the list of key words are offered to authors:

--list key words in alphabetic order;
--include the obvious;
--search the title and abstract for possible entries;
--list the research areas, general type of study, or general class of processes examined;
--identify the specific problem studied and the method used;
--indicate the type of results reported; and
--use synonyms freely or suggest cross references.

Remember that the potential reader may not be an expert in thefield.

2nd advice:

Abstracts are short statements that briefly summarize an article or scholarly document. Abstracts are like the blurbs on the back covers of novels. They entice someone to read further. With an abstract, you have to prove why reading your work is worthwhile. On the Internet, an abstract is the first stage in getting someone to read a longer piece of writing. A magazine abstract is a concise summary of a longer article and entices readers to enjoy an entire magazine. Abstracts should be informative and brief, covering the basics and provide an opinion of the article to the reader. Creating a magazine abstract for the Internet is a simple and effective way of streamlining content.

Instructions

Step 1

Review your original article. Outline its main themes and highlights to use for your abstract.
Step 2

Write a rough draft. Summarize the article using new words. Don't copy and paste from the original! This rough draft should be longer than your finished product so you can delete unnecessary words. Let yourself brainstorm while you edit.
Step 3

Re-read your original article and try to pinpoint any concepts you could use as keywords for an Internet search. Headings, titles or table of contents are usually good sources of keywords.
Step 4

Write an introductory sentence. This will be a statement of purpose for your article. It should introduce your central concept.
Step 5

Write the body. This will be a brief description of the subject matter, roughly one or two paragraphs. Embed keywords into the first 20 words of the body. Make them inconspicuous so they don’t break the reader’s concentration.
Step 6

Write a one or two sentence conclusion. This should entice someone to read more.
Step 7

Edit and revise your abstract as needed. It is best to let a day pass before you return to it with fresh eyes. Edit unnecessary words. Be sure you clearly present your main points.

3rd advice

What is an abstract?

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 summarise 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.

In both cases, you will be given specific guidelines as to how to write the abstract including a maximum word count from either the relevant publisher or the organiser of the conference; those for Emerald are set out below. Conference papers are usually selected on the basis of abstracts: see tips below.

How to go about the writing process

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.
Summarise 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.
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 use 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.
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.
If possible, get a colleague to read through your abstract as a form of 'peer review'.
Submit!

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

Using keywords

Using keywords are 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 'buzz words'.

Instructions for writing a structured abstract for Emerald

Emerald is introducing a new format for article abstracts intended to help researchers by consistently providing the most useful information. Each abstract is made up of a number of set elements. An example is provided at the foot of this page.

1. Choose a category for the paper

Pick the category which most closely describes your paper. We understand that some papers can fit into more than one category but it is necessary to assign your paper to one of the categories – these are listed and will be searchable within the database:

Research paper. This category covers papers which report on any type of research undertaken by the author(s). The research may involve the construction or testing of a model or framework, action research, testing of data, market research or surveys, empirical, scientific or clinical research.
Viewpoint. Any paper, where content is dependent on the author's opinion and interpretation, should be included in this category; this also includes journalistic pieces.
Technical paper. Describes and evaluates technical products, processes or services.
Conceptual paper. These papers will not be based on research but will develop hypotheses. The papers are likely to be discursive and will cover philosophical discussions and comparative studies of others' work and thinking.
Case study. Case studies describe actual interventions or experiences within organizations. They may well be subjective and will not generally report on research. A description of a legal case or a hypothetical case study used as a teaching exercise would also fit into this category.
Literature review. It is expected that all types of paper cite any relevant literature so this category should only be used if the main purpose of the paper is to annotate and/or critique the literature in a particular subject area. It may be a selective bibliography providing advice on information sources or it may be comprehensive in that the paper's aim is to cover the main contributors to the development of a topic and explore their different views.
General review. This category covers those papers which provide an overview or historical examination of some concept, technique or phenomenon. The papers are likely to be more descriptive or instructional ("how to" papers) than discursive.

2. Write the abstract

To produce a structured abstract for the journal and Emerald database, please complete the following fields about your paper. There are four fields which are obligatory (Purpose, Design/methodology/approach, Findings and Originality/value); the other three (Research limitations/implications, Practical implications, and Social implications) may be omitted if they are not applicable to your paper.

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.

Tips for writing abstracts for conference papers

The difficulty here is that you will probably be writing the abstract as a preamble to the actual paper, rather than subsequent to it. Here are some points to remember:

Clarify in your own mind what is the purpose of the paper: what it is that you are going to do.
Look carefully at the themes of the conference: note those that apply and frame your paper accordingly.
Very often, the submission procedure will dictate the format and the number of words of the abstract. For example:
- Title
- Name of presenter, contact details
- Category of presentation (e.g. workshop, research paper, short paper, poster etc.)
- Conference themes addressed.
- Key words that will help people deciding whether or not to participate to understand its focus.
- Objectives/intended outcomes and activities for participants
- The abstract.
Stick closely to the length given. You will often have no choice in this matter, because if you submit electronically you will find yourself cut off in mid sentence as you reach the required limit.
When writing the abstract, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is the purpose of my paper? This should, as with any abstract, be a general definition statement about the objectives of your paper.
- What approach am I using? I.e. am I reviewing the literature, describing a case study, supporting a research hypothesis, and if the latter, what is my research design and research methodology?
- What are my findings?
- What is the import of my findings?
Choose your keywords carefully, making sure that they match the themes of the conference.

An abstract is a short summary of your completed research. If done well, it makes the reader want to learn more about your research.

These are the basic components of an abstract in any discipline:

1) Motivation/problem statement: Why do we care about the problem? What practical, scientific, theoretical or artistic gap is your research filling?
2) Methods/procedure/approach: What did you actually do to get your results? (e.g. analyzed 3 novels, completed a series of 5 oil paintings, interviewed 17 students)

3) Results/findings/product: As a result of completing the above procedure, what did you learn/invent/create?

4) Conclusion/implications: What are the larger implications of your findings, especially for the problem/gap identified in step 1?

However, it's important to note that the weight accorded to the different components can vary by discipline. For models, try to find abstracts of research that is similar to your research.

What is an abstract?

An abstract is a condensed version of a longer piece of writing that highlights the major points covered, concisely describes the content and scope of the writing, and reviews the writing's contents in abbreviated form. Two types of abstracts are typically used: Descriptive Abstracts & Informative Abstracts

Although an abstract appears as the first section of a paper, it should be written last. You need to have completed all other sections before you can select and summarize the essential information from those sections.

What goes in an abstract?

In doing any research, a researcher has an objective, uses methods, obtains results, and draws conclusions. In writing the paper to describe the research, an author might discuss background information, review relevant literature, and detail procedures and methodologies. However, an abstract of the paper should:

-describe the objective, methods, results, and conclusions;

-omit background information, a literature review, and detailed description of methods;

-avoid reference to other literatures.

Qualities of a Good Abstract

An effective abstract has the following qualities:

-uses one or more well developed paragraphs: these are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone.

-uses an introduction/body/conclusion structure which presents the article, paper, or report's purpose, results, conclusions, and recommendations in that order.

-follows strictly the chronology of the article, paper, or report.

-provides logical connections (or transitions) between the information included.

-adds no new information, but simply summarizes the report.

-is understandable to a wide audience.

-oftentimes uses passive verbs to downplay the author and emphasize the information. Check with your teacher if you're unsure whether or not to use passive voice.