Abstract  An abstract is a concise summary of a larger project (a thesis, research report, performance, service project, etc.) that concisely describes the content and scope of the project and identifies the project’s objective, its methodology and its findings, conclusions, or intended results.  abstract is a description of your project (what you specifically are doing) and not a description of your topic (whatever you’re doing the project on). It is easy to get these two types of description confused. Since abstracts are generally very short, it’s important that you don’t get bogged down in a summary of the entire background of your topic 1

 An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement that describes a larger work. Components vary according to discipline.  An abstract is a brief summary of the most important points in a scientific paper. Abstracts enable professionals to stay current with the huge volume of scientific literature.  The abstract is the last item that you write, but the first thing people read when they want to have a quick overview of the whole paper. We suggest you leave writing the abstract to the end, because you will have a clearer picture of all your findings and conclusions. 2

 Abstracts of research articles are usually one well-developed paragraph, although some cases require multiple paragraphs. They are characterized by their briefness, and while space restrictions vary, most abstracts range from 150 to 300 words or approximately 3 to 5% of the word count of the associated text. Most journals give clear guidelines for abstract length.  Abstracts should contain enough information to stand separate from their associated texts. To accomplish this, abstracts should address all of the major sections and elements of the text.  They should also not contain any information that is not included in the associated text. 3

When do people write abstracts?  when submitting articles to journals, especially online journals.  when applying for research grants.  when writing a book proposal.  when completing the Ph.D. dissertation or M.A. thesis.  when writing a proposal for a conference paper.  when writing a proposal for a book chapter. 4

Why we write an abstract ?  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.  The abstract allows readers to make decisions about your project.  Help reader decide whether to read the text or not.  Your sponsoring professor can use the abstract to decide if your research is proceeding smoothly.  To submit an application or to write a paper for a conference.  The conference organizer uses it to decide if your project fits the conference criteria.  The conference audience (faculty, administrators, peers, and presenters' families) uses your abstract to decide whether or not to attend your presentation. Your abstract needs to take all these readers into consideration.  Help scholars find your article. 5

What should the abstract include?  Think of your abstract as a compressed version of your whole project. By reading it, the reader should understand the nature of your research question. Although the content will vary according to field and specific project, all abstracts, whether in the sciences or the humanities, convey the following information:  The purpose of the project identifying the area of study to which it belongs.  The research problem that motivates the project.  The methods used to address this research problem, documents or evidence analyzed.  The conclusions reached or, if the research is in progress, what the preliminary results of the investigation suggest, or what the research methods demonstrate.  The significance of the research project. Why are the results useful? What is new to our understanding as the result of your inquiry? 6

Whatever kind of research you are doing, your abstract should provide the reader with answers to the following questions:  What are you asking?  Why is it important?  How will you study it?  What will you use to demonstrate your conclusions?  What are those conclusions?  What do they mean? 7

TYPES OF ABSTRACTS  There are two types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. They have different aims, so as a consequence they have different components and styles. 1) Descriptive abstracts : 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. Descriptive abstracts are generally used for humanities and social science papers or psychology essays. This type of abstract is usually very short ( words). Most descriptive abstracts have certain key parts in common they are:  Background  Purpose  Particular interest/focus of paper  Overview of contents (not always included) 8

2) Informative abstracts: The majority of abstracts are informative. While they still do not analysis or evaluate a work, they do more than describe it. A good informative abstract acts as a replacement for the work itself. That is, the writer presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the complete document. An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract (purpose, methods, scope) but also includes the results and conclusions of the research and the recommendations of the author. Informative abstracts are generally used for science, engineering or psychology reports. You must get the essence of what your report is about, usually in about words. Most informative abstracts also have key parts in common. Each of these parts might consist of 1-2 sentences. The parts include:  Background  Aim or purpose of research  Method used  Findings/results  Conclusion 9

How do I start Writing an abstract?  First re-read your paper/report for an overview. Then read each section and shrink the information in each down to 1-2 sentences.  Next read these sentences again to ensure that they cover the major points in your paper.  Ensure you have written something for each of the key points outlined above for either the descriptive or informative abstract  Check the word length and further reduce your words if necessary by cutting out unnecessary words or rewriting some of the sentences into a single, more succinct sentence.  Edit for flow and expression. 10

Before submitting your abstract  Make sure it is within words. (Over-writing is all too easy, so reserve time for cutting your abstract down to the essential information.)  Make sure the language is understandable by a non- specialist. (Avoid writing for an audience that includes only you and your professor.)  Have your sponsoring professor work with you and approve the abstract before you submit it online.  Only one abstract per person is allowed. 11