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HOW TO WRITE AN
ABSTRACT

OUTLINES

WHAT IS AN ABSTRACT

WHO WRITES IT

FOR WHAT PURPOSES

WHO READS IT

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABSTRACT

WHAT TO INCLUDE

WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE

EXAMPLES

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WHAT IS AN ABSTRACT?

A short, self-contained, powerful

summary of an article, paper or thesis;

Length: between 150 and 250 words;

Layout: usually one single paragraph;
font size is different from the main text;

Position: usually at the beginning of the
paper (but it can appear elsewhere, e.g.
in book of abstracts or on-line);

WHAT IS AN ABSTRACT?
(continued)

An abstract is an original document, not
a collection of quotations taken from the
text it summarizes, i.e. it must be able to
stand alone.

It does not contain vague statements
which force the reader to refer to the
main text.

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An abstract answers the following questions:

 Why did you do this study or project?
 What did you do, and how?
 What did you find?
 What do your findings mean?

Well-written abstracts:
 use paragraphs that are concise and able to stand alone.
 use an introduction/body/conclusion structure that
presents the background, aims, methods, results, and
conclusions (in that order).
 strictly follow the chronology of the content.
 provide logical connections between information
included.
 add no new information; simply summarize the report.
 is understandable to a wide audience.
 oftentimes use passive verbs to downplay the author and
emphasize the information.

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WHO WRITES IT?

Usually the author of the paper, because

they have a first hand knowledge their
piece of research;

Sometimes professional writers, who
abstract books and articles for a wide
audience.

FOR WHAT PURPOSES?

TO PERSUADE THE READER TO SEE THE
FULL TEXT

TO HELP READERS DECIDE IF THE
ARTICLE IS RELEVANT FOR THEIR
PURPOSES

TO ANSWER A CALL OF PAPER IN A
CONFERENCE

TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR YOUR PIECE
OF RESEARCH TO APPEAR IN ON-LINE
PUBLICATION DATABASES (indexing)

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WHO READS IT?

Same-field professionals (e.g. linguists,

psychologists, biologists) looking for
further information;

Teachers having to evaluate future
specialists’ achievements;

Students charting research in a given
area.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF
ABSTRACT

Abstracts are genre-sensitive (i.e. components
vary according to discipline)

an abstract of a social science or scientific
work may contain the scope, purpose, results,
and contents of the work.

an abstract of a humanities work may contain
the thesis, background, and conclusion of the
larger work.
An abstract is not a review, nor does it
evaluate the work being abstracted.

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF
ABSTRACT (continued)

Abstracts are usually divided into two
main categories:

DESCRIPTIVE AND INFORMATIVE

Descriptive abstracts describe (for
proposal):

What the text is about

The issues or problems explored

The purpose and methodology of the

research

DIFFERENT TYPES OF
ABSTRACT (continued)

Informative abstracts describe:

What the text is about

The issues or problems explored

The purpose and methodology of the

research

The results

The conclusion and recommendations

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF
ABSTRACT (continued)

Descriptive abstracts are often written before a
project is completed;

Emphasis is placed on the problem and
method;

They may be required for conference paper
proposals or for progress reports;

Informative abstracts are written after a project
has been completed;

Emphasis is placed on the results and
conclusion of the project.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF
ABSTRACT (continued)

The format of your abstract will depend
on the work being abstracted;

An abstract of a scientific research paper
will contain elements not found in an
abstract of a literature article, and vice
versa;

However, all abstracts share several
mandatory components.

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WHAT TO INCLUDE

Reason for writing:

What is the importance of the research?
Why would a reader be interested in the
larger work?

Problem:
What problem does this work attempt to
solve? What is the scope of the project?
What is the main argument/thesis/claim?

WHAT TO INCLUDE (continued)

Methodology:
An abstract of a scientific work may
include specific models or approaches
used in the larger study, methods,
sampling/populations or participants,
instrumentation. Other abstracts may
describe the types of evidence used in
the research (e.g. qualitative interviews,
book reviews, etc.)

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WHAT TO INCLUDE (continued)

Results:
Again, an abstract of a scientific work may
include specific data that indicates the results
of the project. Other abstracts may discuss the
findings in a more general way.

Implications:
What changes should be implemented as a
result of the findings of the work? How does
this work add to the body of knowledge on the
topic?

Model of Abstract

Introductory statement (optional)

Purpose (problem)

Methodology

Findings/results

Significance/generalization/recommenda
tions/implications

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Each main element contains one or two

sentences for each of the following:
 Background: places work in context
 Aims/purpose: gives purpose of work
 Method(s): explains what was done
 Results: indicates main findings (absolutely
essential)
 Conclusions: gives most important
consequence of work (telling what results
mean)

WHAT TO INCLUDE (continued)

To put it simple:

What the author did;

How the author did it;

What the author found;

What the author concluded.

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1.What was done?

2.Why was it done?
3.How was it done?
4.What was found?
5.What is the significance of the
findings?

WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE

Information not contained in the original work;

References to other work;

Quotations from the original work or from other
works;

Lengthy explanations of words and concepts;

Unexplained acronyms or abbreviations;

Tables and maps.

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EXAMPLE OF DESCRIPTIVE
ABSTRACT

Machine-Intelligent Gust Front (fronte delle
raffiche) Detection
Doppler weather radar imagery is being used to
detect gust fronts as part of a program at
Lincoln Laboratory to anticipate hazardous
weather conditions. The project goal, under
contract with the Federal Aviation
Administration, is to develop a Machine-
Intelligent Gust Front Algorithm (MIGFA) as
part of a suite of hazardous-weather detection.

EXAMPLE OF INFORMATIVE
ABSTRACT

Machine-Intelligent Gust Front Detection
Techniques of low-level machine intelligence,
originally developed at Lincoln Laboratory to
recognize ground vehicles obscured by
camouflage and foliage, are being used to
detect gust fronts in Doppler weather radar
imagery. A machine-intelligent gust front
algorithm (MIGFA) has been developed as
part of a suite of hazardous-weather detection
functions being prepared under contract with
the Federal Aviation Administration.

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Initially developed for use with the latest

generation Airport Surveillance Radar
equipped with a wind shear processor (ASR-9
WSP), MIGFA was deployed for operational
testing in Orlando, Florida during the summer
of 1992. MIGFA has demonstrated levels of
detection performance that have not only
markedly exceeded the capabilities of existing
gust front algorithms, but are also competing
well with human interpreters.

EXAMPLE OF INFORMATIVE
ABSTRACT
"Their War": The Perspective of the South Vietnamese
Military in Their Own Words Author: Julie Pham

Despite the vast research by Americans on the Vietnam

War, little is known about the perspective of South
Vietnamese military, officially called the Republic of
Vietnam Armed Forces (RVNAF). The overall image
that emerges from the literature is negative: lazy,
corrupt, unpatriotic, apathetic soldiers with poor
fighting spirits. This study recovers some of the South
Vietnamese military perspective for an American
audience through qualitative interviews with 40
RVNAF veterans now living in San José, Sacramento,
and Seattle, home to three of the top five largest
Vietnamese American communities in the nation.

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An analysis of these interviews yields the veterans' own

explanations that complicate and sometimes even
challenge three widely held assumptions about the
South Vietnamese military: 1) the RVNAF was rife with
corruption at the top ranks, hurting the morale of the
lower ranks; 2) racial relations between the South
Vietnamese military and the Americans were tense
and hostile; and 3) the RVNAF was apathetic in
defending South Vietnam from communism. The
stories add nuance to our understanding of who the
South Vietnamese were in the Vietnam War. This
study is part of a growing body of research on non-
American perspectives of the war. In using a largely
untapped source of Vietnamese history - oral histories
with Vietnamese immigrants - this project will
contribute to future research on similar topics

ANALYSIS OF AN INFORMATIVE
ABSTRACT
This paper sets out to examine two findings
reported in literature: one, that during the one-
word stage a child’s word productions are
highly phonetically variable, and two, that the
one-word stage is qualitatively distinct from
subsequent phonological development.
1. Introducing purpose of paper – this part of the
abstract gives a precise indication of the
author’s intention or thesis.

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ANALYSIS (continued)

The complete set of word forms produced

by a child at the one-word stage were
collected and analysed both cross-
sectionally (month by month) and
longitudinally (looking for changes over
time).
2. Describing methodology – in this part of
the abstract the author gives information
on data, procedures or methods used

ANALYSIS (continued)

It was found that the data showed very

little variability, and that phonological
development during the period studied
was qualitatively continuous with
subsequent development.
3. Summarizing results – in this part of the
abstract the author mentions his
observations , and findings. He can also
suggest solutions if any.

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ANALYSIS (continued)

It is suggested that the phonologically

principled development of this child’s first
words related to his late onset of speech.
(French, 1989.69-90.)
4. Presenting conclusions –in this part of
the abstract the author interprets results
and includes implications and/or
applications of the present findings.

EXAMPLE OF AN INFORMATIVE
ABSTRACT

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The language of Abstracts - guidelines

Use the past tense to refer to what was done

and what was found at each stage of the
research.

Use the present tense to comment on the
significance of your research/findings.

Use active verbs whenever possible, e.g. ‘the
study tested’ instead of ‘it was tested by the
study’.

Use non-evaluative language - report not
comment on what you have done.

TO KNOW MORE …

www.unc.edu/depts/web/handouts/abstracts.html
(the writing centre page of the University of North Carolina, USA)

http://research.berkeley.edu/ucday/abstract.html
(advice on how to write an abstract created by Berkeley
university, California, USA)

www.mestierediscrivere.com/file/brevi_deagostini.pdf
(a pdf page in Italian on what an abstract is and on how to create
a successful one)

Bondi, Marina (1999) English Across Genres, Modena: Edizioni il
Fiorino

Bhatia, Vijav, K (1993) Analysing Genre: Language Use in
Professional Settings, London and New York: Longman

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END

THANK YOU FOR YOUR

ATTENTION

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