- Accurate
- Nonevaluative
- Coherent and readable
- Concise
According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed., an abstract is a "brief, comprehensive summary fo the contents of the paper" (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 73). Including an abstract allows a reader to quickly assess whether the article will be of interest or fulfill a particular information need.
See the Quick Lesson on Abstracts in APA Academic Writer for more information.
Generally, it is one paragraph ranging from 150 to 250 words . A well written abstract should be:
Q. I need to write an abstract. What is that? How do I do it? Where do I put it in my paper?
An abstract begins on its own page and is placed immediately after the cover page and before the text of the paper.
This is the abstract, or summary, of your entire paper. It is usually no longer than 250 words in length. You should choose your words carefully so that the abstract does not get too long. Notice that there is no indentation in the abstract. It is one paragraph and the left margin is flush and the right margin is ragged (not justified). The abstract is written in the past tense and should include general overview of the paper you wrote. It also should include any major hypotheses and your method(s), if applicable. Be sure to write your results in a general style, without using numbers. The abstract should end with a very brief concluding statement.
Learn how to write an abstract and how to select keywords, including how to achieve the appropriate length, content, and format.
- state clearly the objectives of the study
Abstracts are important references for scientists or students working on their research proposal
The abstract should be written in the past tense because the investigation has transpired. However, statement of facts in, say, the results and discussion and the conclusion, must be in the present tense.
Specifically, you should write the abstract to meet its intended purpose. The abstract should:
Four Elements of a Good Abstract
Generally, an informational abstract should give a brief summary of the main sections of the research paper, i.e., the introduction, the materials and/or methods used, the findings, discussion, conclusions, and recommendations.
The information provided in the abstract must be sufficient to help the researcher decide whether the work is relevant to his interest or not. It should be brief but not lacking in important elements necessary for understanding of the research conducted. The abstract will also help the researcher decide whether to read the research paper in its entirety or not.
So how should the abstract of a research paper be written so that maximum benefit is derived from it?
- has a length that can vary, depending on the topic—but cannot be longer than 300 words
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- First, you can read through the entire article and have all the information fresh in your mind. Then you will be well able to condense the information into the abstract without forgetting important points.
- Second, you can design the abstract to fit around your results — to demonstrate that you have achieved what you hoped to.
An informative abstract usually follows a certain format. First, the author includes identifying information, supported by citations and other identifications of the documents. Next, all the main points are restated to ensure a better understanding of the research. This section is followed by the methodology and all the key findings of the study. Lastly, a conclusion presents the final findings of the research and concludes the informative abstract.
Briefly, an informative abstract:Purpose and Motivation
Identifying purpose and motivation is one of the most difficult, yet important parts of your abstract. Let’s assume that your paper is about the importance of recycling plastic. Your primary job is to explain to readers why they should care about the contamination of plastics on land and in the ocean. You need to provide some solid arguments to keep your reader interested in continuing to read. It is crucial to answer these questions:
- just summarizes the job, but some researchers consider it to be more of an outline
There are two main types of abstracts that are commonly used – they are descriptive and informative:
A descriptive abstract presents readers with an outline of the points the author made throughout their research. This gives readers an opportunity to decide if they should read on, depending on how much they are interested in the subject. A descriptive abstract is similar to the table of contents in a book, although the format of an abstract uses full sentences combined within a paragraph. Unfortunately, a descriptive abstract cannot be a substitution for reading a paper, as it is merely an overview, which deprives the audience of having a full picture. Nor can it fill in the gaps that a reader might have after reading this type of abstract, as it lacks the important details needed for an evaluation of the paper. To conclude, a descriptive abstract:
Spend suitable time editing your text, and if necessary, completely re-writing it. Show the abstract to others and ask them to explain what they understand about your research – are they able to explain back to you each of the 6 structure points, including why your project was needed, the research questions and results, and the impact it had on your research field? It’s important that you’re able to convey what new knowledge you contributed to your field but be mindful when writing your abstract that you don’t inadvertently overstate the conclusions, impact and significance of your work.
A final point to note is the use of the EBM acronym, which stands for Electron Beam Melting in the context of 3D printing
Following this ‘formulaic’ approach to writing the abstract should hopefully make it a little easier to write but you can already see here that there’s a lot of information to convey in a very limited number of words.
Some people may still skip to and read specific sections throughout your thesis such as the methodology, but the fact is that the abstract will be all that most read and will therefore be the section they base their opinions about your research on. In short, make sure you write a good, well-structured abstract.
Keep It Factual
Hopefully you’ll have spotted some of the reasons this would be considered a poor abstract, not least because the author used up valuable words by repeating the lengthy title of the project in the abstract.
If you’re a PhD student, having written your 100,000-word thesis, the abstract will be the 300 word summary included at the start of the thesis that succinctly explains the motivation for your study (i.e. why this research was needed), the main work you did (i.e. the focus of each chapter), what you found (the results) and concluding with how your research study contributed to new knowledge within your field.
Some people prefer to write their overarching aim whilst others set out their research questions as they correspond to the structure of their thesis chapters
Having seen an example of a bad thesis abstract, now lets look at an example of a good PhD thesis abstract written about the same (fictional) project:
Since it is a summary of the paper, it is the last step of the writing process. A good abstract follows a specific format and a defined word count of 150-250 words.
If yes, then you must have come across the different elements that come together to make a research paper — title page, abstract, introduction, literature review, methods, results section, discussion, references.
Abstracts are further divided into two different types – descriptive and informative. Both of them have different aims and serve a unique purpose. Since their components vary too, it is best that you ask your professor and confirm the type of abstract you are supposed to write. Or you can also review sample research papers from the similar field and see what the abstract you studied includes.
Next, you need to inform the reader about the methods used to carry out the research. Discuss the following things here:
Descriptive Abstracts
It is important that you understand the requirements specified by the professor, as they can vary for every paper. It'll help you make sure that your paper is up to the mark with no room for mistakes.
Don't confuse it with a review of the research, or an evaluation of the work. It is an original piece of work, written after you are done writing the rest of the paper. It highlights the key points of your paper
When writing an abstract for a paper be it, a research paper, lab report, research proposal, or any other scientific paper, the steps remain the same.
- has a length that can vary, depending on the topic—but cannot be longer than 300 words