2. OBJECTIVES
• To define the Abstracting and Indexing.
• To know the uses, qualities of an abstract.
• To know who writes the abstracts, the purpose, the readers,
• To know the different types of abstracts, what to include and not to include in it
and types of indexes.
3. ABSTRACTING
• An abbreviated and accurate representation of significant substance of a
documentary unit.
• Accompanied by an adequate bibliographic description.
• Is a document surrogate.
4. USES OF ABSTRACTS
• Abstracts promote current awareness.
• Abstracts save the (reading) time of the user.
• Abstracts facilitate selection.
• Abstracts help overcome the language barrier.
• Abstracts facilitate literature searches.
• Abstracts improve indexing efficiency.
• Abstracts aid in the preparation of reviews and compilation of
bibliographies.
5. QUALITIES OF AN ABSTRACTS
• Accuracy – free of errors as far as practicable
• Brevity – shorter than the original
• Clarity – absence of ambiguities
• Self-sufficiency – complete in itself and fully understandable to the reader
without reference to the original.
6. WHO WRITES IT?
• Authors
• Professional writers
• Information professionals.
7. FOR WHAT PURPOSES?
• To persuade the reader.
• To help the readers.
• To answer a call of paper in a conference.
• To appear in online publication databases.
9. DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABSTRACT
By type of Information
• Indicative abstract – describes or indicates what the parent document is all about.
Also called the descriptive abstract.
• Informative abstract – provides both quantitative and qualitative information. It
obviates the necessity to refer to the original; intended for experimental studies.
• Critical abstract – contains critical comments on or reviews the quality of work by the
author.
• Slanted or special purpose abstract – oriented towards a specific discipline
(discipline-oriented abstract) or mission (mission-oriented abstract)
10. DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABSTRACT
By whom written:
• Author-prepared abstract
• Subject expert-prepared abstract
• Professional abstractor-prepared abstract
11. DIFFERENT TYPES OF ABSTRACT
By form:
• Statistical or tabular abstract
• Modular abstract
• Structured abstract
• Mini-abstract
• Telegraphic abstract
12. 3 MAJOR PARTS OF AN ABSTRACT
• Reference
• Body
• Signature
13. 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?
14. WHAT TO INCLUDE? (CONTINUED)
Methodology:
An abstract of a scientific work may include specific
models or approaches used in the larger study. Other
abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the
research (e.g. qualitative interviews, book reviews, etc.)
15. 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
16. 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
17. INDEXING
• A systematic arrangement of entries designed to enable
users to locate information in a document.
• The process of creating an index is called indexing, and a
person who does it is called an indexer (British indexing
standard (BS3700:1988)).
18. INDEX
• Came from the Latin word, indicare, meaning to point out.
• Is a systematic guide to the items contained in, or
concepts derived from a collection
• Does not replace the document; it only informs the user
where the document may be found.
19. TYPES OF INDEXES
By Arrangement:
• ALPHABETICAL INDEX is an index based on the orderly principle
of the alphabet.
• CLASSIFIED INDEX is an index which follows a pre-determined
scheme in which subjects are arranged in a specified system of
relationships.
20. TYPES OF INDEXES (CONTINUED)
• CONCORDANCE is an alphabetical index to all the principal words in a single text
or in a multi-volume work of a single author with a pointer at which each word
occurs.
• NUMERICAL OR SERIAL ORDER INDEX
• patent-number index
• table index
21. WHO DOES INDEXING?
• Author
• Publishers
• Freelancers
• Information Specialists
“Indexing work is not recommended to those who lack an orderly mind and a capacity
for taking pains. “
22. REFERENCES
• Rubens, R. (2004). Foundations for Library and Information Science,. Second
edition. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.
• https://paarl.wikispaces.com/file/view/INDEXING+AND+ABSTRACTING.pdf
Editor's Notes
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);
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.
Abstracts re-package the information into its condensed form thereby making the information easier and less time-consuming to read.
Abstracts are smaller in size compared with the original document but it provides as much significant information to the user.
Abstracts help the user decide whether a particular document is likely of interest to him.
Abstracts help the user find out what studies and researches have been conducted and published in language/s he cannot read.
It would be impossible to search the huge volume of literature without the indexed abstracts.
Indexing is made much more rapid and less costly without sacrificing quality than with original documents.
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.
TO PERSUADE THE READER TO SEE THE FULL TEXT
TO HELP READERS DECIDE IF THE ARTICLE IS RELEVANT FOR THEIR PURPOSES
TO ANSWERE A CALL OF PAPER IN A CONFERENCE
TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR YOUR PIECE OF RESEARCH TO APPEAR IN ON-LINE PUBLICATION DATABASES (indexing)
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.
Indicative abstract – describes or indicates what the parent document is all about. Also called the descriptive abstract.
Informative abstract – provides both quantitative and qualitative information. It obviates the necessity to refer to the original; intended for experimental studies.
Critical abstract – contains critical comments on or reviews the quality of work by the author.
Slanted or special purpose abstract – oriented towards a specific discipline (discipline-oriented abstract) or mission (mission-oriented abstract)
-a summary of data in tabular form used for specialized subjects, such as thermophysical properties, where the emphasis is exclusively tabular and statistical
– a full content description of a document which consists of five parts: citation, annotation, indicative abstract, informative abstract and critical abstract. The purpose of this type of abstract is to eliminate duplication and waste of intellectual effort involved in individual abstracting of the same documents.
– an abstract in non-narrative form wherein the abstractor lists the items in the worksheet or template as these are found in the documents.
-a highly structured abstract designed primarily for searching by a computer.
-presented in incomplete sentences like a telegram. At times, a string of terms without syntax.
Reference- contains the complete bibliographical citation of the original document.
Body - abstract proper; contains relevant data from the original document.
Signature - indicates the abstractor’s name (either full or initials may be given) and his/her affiliation.
Indexing is a system used to represent information from a document so that those conducting searches can retrieve the information easily.
“An index can be viewed as an alphabetized list of items that direct the searcher to further information.”
Advantage: The alphabetical arrangement is familiar to the users.
Disadvantage: Scattering of index terms; i.e., sub-categories of subject entries are not drawn together but are dispersed throughout the list (opposite of collocation).
Advantages: Useful for generic searches. The user is made aware of the other related concepts because the hierarchy is clearly presented. This also brings similar things together.
Disadvantage: One cannot enter it immediately as it follows the sequence of notational symbols. A secondary file (the alphabetical list) is needed to identify the right position of the item in the classified list. One has to consult a conversion table in which the entries in the natural language are translated into their notational equivalents.
In the United States, according to tradition, the index for a non-fiction book is the responsibility of the author. Most authors don't actually do it. While a few publishers have in-house indexers, most indexing is done by freelancers, often working from home, hired by authors, publishers or packagers. (A packager is an independent business which manages the production of a book by hiring freelancers to accomplish the various tasks involved, including copyediting, proofreading and indexing.) More often, the indexer is hired by the publisher, and the fee is deducted from the money due the author. If a packager hires the indexer directly, various payment arrangements can be made.