![]() Rules set forth in writing manual vary but, in general, you should center the word "Abstract" at the top of the page with double spacing between the heading and the abstract. In most cases, the abstract page immediately follows the title page. Get to the point quickly and always use the past tense because you are reporting on a study that has been completed.Ībstracts should be formatted as a single paragraph in a block format and with no paragraph indentations. Regardless, write your abstract using concise, but complete, sentences. Use the active voice when possible, but note that much of your abstract may require passive sentence constructions. In that a highlight abstract cannot stand independent of its associated article, it is not a true abstract and, therefore, rarely used in academic writing. No pretense is made of there being either a balanced or complete picture of the paper and, in fact, incomplete and leading remarks may be used to spark the reader’s interest. The length varies according to discipline, but an informative abstract is usually no more than 300 words in length.Ī highlight abstract is specifically written to attract the reader’s attention to the study. An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract but it also includes the results and conclusions of the research and the recommendations of the author. That is, the researcher presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the paper. A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work itself. While they still do not critique or evaluate a work, they do more than describe it. The majority of abstracts are informative. Descriptive abstracts are usually very short, 100 words or less. Some researchers consider it an outline of the work, rather than a summary. Essentially, the descriptive abstract only describes the work being summarized. It does incorporate key words found in the text and may include the purpose, methods, and scope of the research. It makes no judgments about the work, nor does it provide results or conclusions of the research. These types of abstracts are used infrequently.Ī descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work. Critical abstracts are generally 400-500 words in length due to the additional interpretive commentary. The researcher evaluates the paper and often compares it with other works on the same subject. There are four general types.Ī critical abstract provides, in addition to describing main findings and information, a judgment or comment about the study’s validity, reliability, or completeness. To begin, you need to determine which type of abstract you should include with your paper. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2009. “What Today’s Students Need to Know about Writing Abstracts.” International Journal of Business Communication January 3 (1966): 29-33 Swales, John M. Then ask yourself: if your abstract was the only part of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the amount of information presented there? Does it tell the whole story about your study? If the answer is "no" then the abstract likely needs to be revised. How do you know when you have enough information in your abstract? A simple rule-of-thumb is to imagine that you are another researcher doing a similar study. Therefore, enough key information must be included to make the abstract useful to someone who may want to examine your work. ![]() The abstract allows you to elaborate upon each major aspect of the paper and helps readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Sometimes your professor will ask you to include an abstract, or general summary of your work, with your research paper. Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea.
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