Abstracts

Abstract A brief overview of the report’s contents Most read section of a report Offers readers a “first impression” of your work Readers determine the report’s usefulness to them Written last (usually)

Two Basic Types of Abstracts Descriptive abstract Informative abstract

Descriptive Abstracts Provides the specialist with enough information to decide if she would benefit from reading the report Gives an accurate indication of the subject matter and scope May use technical language and jargon

Informative Abstracts Provides administrator or executive with an overview of the project and the results it shows Summarizes the results and conclusions in context by adding a bit of background Contains terms understood by a general audience

Guidelines Include enough specific information to satisfy the needs of a busy reader Topic Method Budget Results Other??

Guidelines (con’t) Must be a self-contained unit The abstract must accurately portray the report’s contents in order to be effective “Report-in-miniature” (or a snapshot of the report’s contents)

Guidelines (con’t) Must be short Depends on the length of the paper Rule of thumb 100-150 words Longer reports will require longer abstracts

Guidelines (con’t) Must be easy-to-read Grammatically correct Each sentence must be purposeful Be able to identify the function of each sentence If you can’t identify a sentence’s purpose, consider revising No tables or illustrations

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