Research paper

What is an abstract? An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement that describes your paper. It is not an introduction. An abstract is not a review, nor does it evaluate the work being abstracted. It contains key words found in the larger work Two types (informative and descriptive)

Why do we write an abstract? You may write an abstract for various reasons. The two most important are selection and indexing. – Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in a larger work to quickly decide whether it is worth their time to read it. – Also, many online databases use abstracts to find larger works. Therefore, abstracts should contain keywords and phrases that allow for easy searching.

Descriptive Abstracts tell what the report contains include purpose, methods, scope, but NOT results, conclusions, and recommendations are always very short— usually under 100 words introduce subject to readers, who must then read the report to learn study results (from Purdue OWL)

An effective abstract uses one or more well-developed paragraphs, which are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone uses an introduction-body-conclusion structure in which the parts of the report are discussed in order: purpose, findings, conclusions, recommendations follows strictly the chronology of the report provides logical connections between material included adds no new information but simply summarizes the report is intelligible to a wide audience

To write an effective report abstract, follow these four steps: Reread your report with the purpose of abstracting in mind. Look specifically for these main parts: purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendations. After you have finished rereading your report, write a rough draft WITHOUT LOOKING BACK AT YOUR REPORT. Consider the main parts of the abstract listed in step #1. Do not merely copy key sentences from your report. You will put in too much or too little information. Do not summarize information in a new way. Revise your rough draft to – correct weaknesses in organization and coherence, – drop superfluous information, – add important information originally left out, – eliminate wordiness, and – correct errors in grammar and mechanics. Carefully proofread your final copy.

3 Sample abstracts samples.html samples.html Student samples and teacher sample P. 48 APA manual

Now your turn Write this before you leave today. I will check your work.  before you start to write your abstract…

Quick & dirty review Second/indirect citation In-text citation Quotation Type of sources

In-text citation (Review: source work: p ) 1. Citing your source within the source:  In “Taking the Bungee Plunge,” Ginia Bellafonte (1992) argues tat extreme sports provide only a short-term superficial sense of satisfaction.  Bellafonte (1992) argues that genetic factors have played a role in people’s need to take risks. (subsequent citations)  Bellafonte also said…… (1992).

2. Citing your source at the end of a sentence Extreme sports provide only a short-term superficial sense of satisfaction (Bellafonte, 1992). (to emphasize the information rather than the source of info)

Citing Indirect Sources (p.55 apa manual) If you use a source that was cited in another source, – name the original source in your signal phrase. – List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses as below.  Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102). Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the original material and cite the original source.

Direct Quotations 1. Less than 40 words: “Blah Blah…” (last name, year, page number).  Sample p. 54 APA manual 2. More than 40 words: Block quotation  Sample p. 53. APA manual

Type of resources So you can use “Citation Machine” ^^ Let’s review Source work p. 125 – 128 OR ASK ME! ^0^

Goal for today 1. Check research bundle # 7 2. Write an abstract for your paper. 3. Finish reference page. (I highly recommend CITATION MACHINE)  to make your lives easier. ^^