Imagine buying an expensive book you just came across, but after reading it, you realize it was a massive waste of your time and money.
It would certainly have helped if you could have known the content of the book beforehand, which is the work of an abstract.
Abstracts are meant to avoid such frustrations by giving you a peek into what the subject of a particular book or paper is, it's scope, and any important keywords needed to make it searchable in the case of online publications.
Writing a proper abstract is an important skill for any researcher and scholar. However, developing the skill takes time and experience, with lots of writing and rewriting to perfect it.
Luckily, an abstract is a very short piece of writing, between 150 and 250 words and a maximum of 500 words in the rare case of critical abstracts.
We at Help for Assessments are here to help you write outstanding abstracts to give your research paper the exposure it deserves. We know that a good abstract, apart from getting you top grades, serves to market your paper by drawing attention to itself. This step by step guide will transform you into a top-shelf abstract paper writer.
Of course, you may not have the time or opportunity to through the arduous process of writing an abstract. In that case, let us write it for you. Help for Assessment consists of highly experienced academic experts who are skilled at writing abstracts for all kinds of research papers, essays, dissertations, theses, and other academic assignments. If that sounds like what you're looking for, go ahead and order our abstract writing service here.
If you're here just to learn all there is about writing an abstract, we welcome you to read on. We will explore what exactly an abstract is, what makes a good abstract, the format of an abstract, and finish with a sample abstract to help you get started.
What is an Abstract
An abstract is a concise summary of the gist of a research paper, thesis, or other scholarly papers. It consists of one block paragraph of between 150-250 words and highlights the key content areas in the paper, it's relevance, and the main outcomes. Given that an abstract is used in indexing, it should also feature all the keywords used in your paper that you feel best describe what it is about.
However, the exact content of an abstract will vary depending on what kind of paper for which you’re writing the abstract. What remains the same is the basic format, the key points to include, and the process of writing a good one. If you would like to learn more about how to write these other academic papers, check out our blog for detailed guides like this one.
Think of abstracts this way - if you're online doing research, you will come across hundreds, possibly thousands, of hits for your keyword search. Most of these will either be locked behind a paywall or otherwise too large to skim across quickly. Having a summary abstract allows both you and the search engine to make a quick decision on whether the paper is suitable to your needs quickly and effectively.
Abstracts can either be informative or descriptive.
Descriptive abstract - It offers a brief description of the work in a few words to help the user decide if it's worth a read or not. It may contain information such as the purpose, methods, and scope of the paper, but makes no judgment of it. It also leaves out the exact outcomes or conclusions arrived at, but will contain keywords and sometimes, exact quotes from the content.
Informative abstract - also called an indicative abstract, it touches on all parts of the paper including a brief background, the purpose, scope, methods used, findings, and conclusions drawn. As such, it serves to inform the user of what the paper managed to achieve so that they can make decisions based on that. It is used for strictly structured papers and projects such as an experiment, investigation, or survey.
There are also other types of abstract, albeit less common.
Critical abstract - In addition to describing what is in the paper, a critical abstract also comments on its validity, reliability, and completeness. These are usually longer due to the added commentary, reaching up to 400-500 words in length.
Highlight abstract - a highlight abstract is designed to interest the reader in reading the paper without regard to accuracy or conciseness. It is essentially a marketing technique, but it has little academic value and is rarely used except in some online sources.
In either case, an abstract should help the reader learn what the paper in question is about in simple, brief, and convincing language. Every good abstract reflects a few qualities that we shall now explore.
Qualities of a Good Abstract
A good abstract will have several features, called the ABCs of an abstract. These are:
Accuracy - it reflects only what is in the paper without embellishment or leaving anything out. It also gives the focus and level of “usefulness” that the user is likely to derive.
Brevity - Conciseness is essential to keep the abstract within the recommended word count. It should have no sentence or words that do not contribute directly to the overall message which includes definitions, mentions of the author(s), or storytelling.
Clarity - an abstract should use as simple a language as possible without compromising the technical depth of the paper. No ambiguous statements should be used, although technical terms can and should be used where necessary. As such, no references to other literature, abbreviations, repetitive information, or jargon should be used.
A common mistake that students make is to write an abstract as if it is a proposal about what you intend to explore in a paper. An abstract should be objective and written from a third-person perspective as a highlight of what you have already written. This means that although it appears at the beginning of the paper, an abstract should be written last when you have a clear picture in your mind of what the paper is about.
How to Write an Outstanding Abstract for Your Paper
Writing abstracts is a skill that one polishes with time and experience. That being said, there are tried and tested ways using which you can craft exceptional abstract paragraphs every time. This is a step by step guide of how the writing mavens at Help for Assessment do it.
As mentioned, you should write the abstract after you have finished the rest of the paper. You should not wait too long after the completion to write it though - everything should still be fresh in your mind when you do. This allows you to mention the following important parts of an abstract.
Context - 25% of the abstract should provide the background of the paper. That is the equivalent of a very short introduction to let the reader know what you’re talking about.
Methods - 25% of the space should be about how you went about your paper. If it is a structured project such as a survey or experiment, explain what techniques you used.
Results - 35% of the abstract should give results and findings of the paper. Briefly highlight the main results or conclusions without analytical commentary unless it is a critical abstract.
Implications - the final 15% should be devoted to the impact of your findings in the real world and what implications you expect it to have.
These parts refer to an informative abstract, but you will find that a descriptive is not much different except in the approach. Before we get into the how of writing a good abstract, an abstract outline will help you structure it appropriately.
Outline of an Abstract
We should probably have mentioned before that abstracts can either be for your own work or somebody else's. This influences the method you use when writing them.
Writing an Abstract for Your Own Work: Reverse Outlining
Reverse outlining is an organizational method used to abstract your work effectively. You should do this on a different piece of paper or document when using this method to avoid being distracted. Note also that an abstract should occupy its own page on a printed document.
- List down the key areas of the paper as you understand them - background, methods, findings, conclusion, and applications. The cut and paste method is immensely helpful at this stage - simply copy phrases and statements from the paper that you feel are apt descriptions of what the paper is about.
- Identify key terms. These are the words or phrases that you feel are central to the paper and will help both search engines and readers get the gist of the content quickly and reliably. Avoid repetitive terms and instead choose the best ones for each.
- Write a draft abstract with the information available, taking care to include the key terms naturally. If you feel that there is too much information to include, that’s okay. You can even start with a paragraph for each of the parts to ensure that each is thoroughly represented.
- Condense. Rewrite each of the sections in one or several sentences depending on the space allocation indicated above for each part. If you have trouble doing this, remember: remove all words and phrases that do not contribute to the main idea. Remove all references and citations to other works or the author, repeated statements, and redundancies. Finally, remove all insignificant information.
- Refine - Refine the abstract by rewriting it several times until you're confident that it is polished, accurate, thorough, and it fits the word count. That means no more than 250 words for all but critical types of abstracts.
How to Abstract the Work of Somebody Else
- Read through the work thoroughly. This is the only way you will be able to understand the key points, identify key statements, and discover their viewpoint, scope, and depth. While reading, note down key statements and words on a notepad for future reference. You can also highlight these in a different color in the case of digital publications.
- Write down a full citation of the work in the relevant format, whether APA or MLA.
- Follow the same steps above to come up with a good abstract. Make sure to use objective, brief, and clear language.
When writing an abstract, remember not to make any claims or statements that the work cannot substantiate. You can do this using “weasel words” such as might, may, seem, among others. You should also try to think up other search terms or keywords that others might use when searching for your work to make indexing easier and more effective.
If you follow these important steps, you are sure to come up with a great abstract that hits the spot every time. We will end this guide with a sample abstract to help you see and understand what one looks like.
Abstract Sample
This abstract sample is obtained from the University of Melbourne's official website to help show you what a good abstract is.
Get Help With Writing Exceptional Abstracts
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