WRITING AN

ABSTRACT
REPORTERS:
ANGELINE MEIM
MARK ANDREW SALINGA
12-JUNG
What is an abstract?
 An abstract is a brief summary of a
research article, thesis, review,
conference proceeding, or any in-depth
analysis of a particular subject or
discipline.
 An abstract summarizes, usually in one
paragraph of 300 word or less
 It is used to help the reader quickly
ascertain the paper’s purpose.
What does a good abstract
do?
 Sparks interest in your project
 Provides a concise description of your
research project
 States in a clear and a simple way the
main points of your project
 Stands alone
 Targets your specific audience!
Components of an Abstract
 Title
 Authors
 Objective
 Methods
 Results
 Conclusions
TITLE
 Describe your most important result/the
major thing you found or did
 Keep it relatively short
 Avoid all abbreviations and technical
jargon
Authors
 Your name should go first if you are
presenting
 Your mentor should generally be an
author (usually last author)
 Additional people who have worked the
project may be authors – be sure to talk
to your mentor!
Objective
 Motivation – why do we care about the
problem?
 What practical, artistical or scientific gap
is your project filling?
 Why were you drawn to this project?
 You will generally need a little
background/intro to explain the object
Methods
 Procedure approach to the project.
 How did you go about finding your
results?
 What steps were taken to carry out the
project?
 Don’t go into too much!
Results
A description of your data and
observations – enough detail to make it
clear
 Still try to avoid jargon
 As a result of your procedure, what was
found or cheated?
 NEVER predict your results!!!
Conclusions
 What are the larger implications of your
work?
 Also known as the “RESULTS”
Things to Avoid
 Avoid unnecessary phrases including “It is
suggested that…” or “It is known that …”
 Avoid rephrasing or restating the title
 If possible, do not use acronyms or
abbreviations
 Avoid jargon that will not be understood
by all readers
Two types of Abstract
1. Structured Abstract- usually follow
IMRAD pattern; original, norm, citation
needed
2. Unstructured Abstract- composed of one
paragraph with no explicit headings
often appropriate for review articles that
don’t follow the IMRAD pattern within
their bodies
DESCRIPTIVE VS. INFORMATIVE
ABSTRACT
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATIVE
 Describes major  Inform the audience
points of the project of all the essential
to the reader points of the paper
 Includes background  Briefly summarizes
purposes and focus the background,
of the paper and purpose, focus,
article but never the methods, results,
methods, result and findings and
conclusions if it is a conclusions of the full
research paper length paper
 Abstract differ from
Introduction

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

1. The essence of the whole 1. Introduce the paper

paper 2. Covers the following
2. Covers the following academic elements:
academic elements: -background
-background -purpose
-purpose and focus -proposition
-methods -also called point of view
-results/ findings or thesis statement
-conclusions/ -outline of key issues
recommendations -scope
 References
 http://research.berkeley.edu/ucday/abst
ract.html