What to write in an abstract of a report
How to Write an Abstract Step-by-Step (With Easy Examples)
[Music]
well pardon me but we're gonna be a
little abstract on this one here are 10
tips on how to write an abstract writing
an academic paper can take months of
hard work and a whole lot of spent
nerves once it's finally done and you're
ready to submit it to a journal take
part in a conference or complete your
master's thesis or PhD dissertation
you'll also need to create an abstract
of your paper
since this writing summarizes and
represent your work you'll want it to be
picture-perfect right well lucky for you
we put together some tips on writing the
best abstract so pay close attention now
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number one find out the requirements now
an abstract isn't an essay or some blog
post where your imagination can run wild
whether you're writing it to apply to a
conference grant journal publication or
work project find out if there are any
specific requirements regarding its
length and style in case the rubric or
guidelines you received set a word count
limit stick to it this is exactly the
case when there can be too much of a
good thing and even the most beautifully
written abstract will be either rejected
or cut down severely the typical word
limit for an abstract is 150 to 200
words but you still need to find out
your specific criteria number two pick
the right type when it comes to abstract
types you have two options to choose
from
descriptive versus informative normally
descriptive abstracts are written for
shorter papers and informative ones for
longer more technical pieces it's better
to find out which type is required for
your specific writing both types
basically serve the same purpose of
summing up your work but have different
components
so you don't want to choose the wrong
type and end up leaving out really
important points descriptive abstracts
as you can probably tell by the name
briefly describe the work done without
drawing any conclusions or mentioning
the results of your research they
briefly mention the purpose methods and
scope of the research normally in no
more than 100 words informative
abstracts are more frequently required
than descriptive ones they go further
than just describing your work they talk
about the results and conclusions you've
reached in addition to all the
components of a descriptive abstract
purpose methods and skull so it comes as
no surprise that informative abstracts
are usually longer than the other type
but still they're normally no more than
10% of the whole research project you
might also come across a third type
critical abstracts they're not that
popular but if you have to provide one
you should know it requires relating and
maybe critiquing the abstracted work to
the writers on research number three
consider your readers an important
question to ask yourself before you
start writing an abstract is who's gonna
read it fellow scholars from the same
research field will easily get the ideas
and special terminology you use while
average readers or people from another
scientific field probably won't grasp
complicated concepts consider your
audience and adapt your writing in such
a way that readers will easily be able
to get the main idea of your work a lot
of people glanced through scientific
journals looking for content that might
be useful for them to so help make that
process a little less daunting for them
number four explain the importance of
your research as you get down to
actually writing the abstract there are
four key points you want to hit when
explaining the importance of your
research to your readers why you decided
to conduct this research in the first
place why it matters to you and could
matter to others how the research went
and what results it brought and finally
why others should spend their time and
effort reading your entire work number
five
explain the problem and your methods
it's really important to define the
scope of your research does it solve
some general problem or a more specific
issue also it's imperative that your
research has a key claim or argument
which is definitely worth mentioning in
the abstract you should also talk about
the sources you've used your approach to
the research and the evidence you can
provide to support your arguments in
other words you have to explain your
research methods number six
avoid copy pasting I know you're a proud
bonafide researcher but even that
doesn't mean you can simply copy paste
whole lines from your personal project
to build an abstract it should be an
independent piece of writing and not a
collage of disconnected paraphrase
sentences make it beautiful and
intriguing write it from scratch in such
a way that it'll grab the reader's
attention and make them want to read
your entire paper using new vocabulary
and phrase structure will help you avoid
redundancy don't get carried away though
and don't quote other works or studies
that aren't mentioned in your paper this
is not the situation where you can hook
the reader by misleading them also don't
give any explanations or definitions in
the abstract you don't want to be too
detailed with your overview number seven
keep it well structured and logical no
matter how short it has to be your
abstract should be built according to
usual essay model and have an
introduction body and conclusion
remember it's not just about what you
write but also the order you put it in
keep it logical and concise say exactly
what you want to say without any
ambiguity or double entendres don't use
any acronyms or abbreviations your word
cut limit probably won't allow you to
explain them anyway tables graphs
sources and long quotes don't belong in
your abstract for the same reason brief
yet informative is what you're aiming
for number eight include key phrases and
words you're probably well aware of how
an internet search works you type in
whatever you're looking for and the
smart system finds millions of results
for you if you want your prospective
readers to be able to find your work
among millions of publications adding
five to ten important keywords or
phrases to your abstract will certainly
help try to guess what people could be
looking for so that your work pops out
at the top of the search results also
keywords can determine how review
committees or editors judge your work
it's in your own interest to make that
choice obvious so that experts in the
right field will peer-review your
writing and consider you among their
rank 9 sum it up depending on the type
of your abstract it either will or won't
contain a description of your
conclusions an informative abstract
should explain what answers the research
help you find and if it supported your
original argument in any case even if
your abstract is descriptive it does
need summarizing it should explain the
general meaning and the importance of
your research
number tab editing and proofreading if
you think you can't possibly make any
mistakes in just 200 words that think
again check your abstracts several times
for grammar and spelling and don't
forget to format it the right way
another pair of eyes won't hurt either
we sometimes can't see our own mistakes
while others can spot them a mile away
also ask your friend or whoever is
proofreading for you to tell you if the
writing makes sense to them or is too
complicated or vague
if you have a chance ask your professor
or a professional in the field of your
research to do the proofreading for you
an expert opinion is definitely
important to make sure everything is all
right with your work so which of the
abstract writing tips were new to you
tell us in the comments below don't
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