This screencast was produced for the Inf6350 Information Resources and Information Literacy class in October 2013. This is a class in the Masters programme at Sheffield University's Information School. It describes what abstracts are and why they are useful, identifies different types of abstract, and describes a process for abstracting.

1. Abstracting
Inf6350 Information Resources and
Information Literacy
October 2013
Sheila Webber
Copyright Sheila Webber and Sheffield University Information School

2. Objectives
• Understand the nature and utility of an abstract
• Understand the difference between an
indicative, an informative and a structured
abstract
• Develop ability to evaluate abstracts
Sheila Webber, 2013

3. Abstract
A concise and accurate representation of
the contents of a document
Concise: short, clear sentences
Accurate representation: should convey what the
document is about, without misrepresenting the
author(s) and their views
Sheila Webber, 2013

4. Not the same as …
• Indexing: representing the subject of a document by
keywords/phrases
• Extract: direct lifting of one or more portions of text,
unchanged
• Paraphrase: interpretation of the ideas in a document,
in the language of the interpreter
• Annotation or review – where you will be giving your
opinion on an article’s usefulness, reliability etc.
Sheila Webber, 2013

5. Why have abstracts?
• Saves the time of the reader
• Acts as substitute for document
• May be more accessible than original (e.g.
employing less specialist jargon)
• Can use to assess relevance of original
document (is it worth going on to read the whole
thing?)
Sheila Webber, 2013

6. Why are they relevant to you?
• A number of modules require an abstract of your
essay, dissertation etc.
• In workplace: ability to identify and convey key
points of a document important: most managers
do not like long documents
• There are also still some information and library
jobs where producing abstracts is a key part of
the job
Sheila Webber, 2013

7. Where do you often find
abstracts?
• With the documents themselves e.g. at the start
of an article
• In abstracting journals/databases e.g. Library
and Information Science Abstracts
Sheila Webber, 2013

8. Problems with abstracts written by
the author him/herself
• May be badly written
• May give an unbalanced view of the paper
• May reflect what author wished he/she had
written
• May be copyright restrictions concerning how
the abstract can be used
Sheila Webber, 2013

9. Ways abstracts vary
• Audience they are aimed at (abstract may be
slanted to suit their interests)
• Nature of original document (e.g. scholarly
research article, opinion piece, lengthy report)
• Indicative or informative
• Ordinary or Structured abstract
Sheila Webber, 2013

10. Indicative
• Tells you the overall scope
and purpose of the document
• Indicates key themes,
methods, conclusions
• Enough information to tell you
what it is about, not usually
enough to substitute for
document
• Tells you the overall scope
and purpose of the document
• Informs you about key
themes, methods,
conclusions
• May substitute for document
if you only need the most
important data
• Usually takes longer to write
Informative
Sheila Webber, 2013

11. Structured abstracts
• Use headings to give the abstract a more obvious
structure (though all abstracts should have a clear
structure)
• Normally informative
• Research has shown that structured abstracts are quicker
to read and understand
• When you are writing for a journal, then you will be told
which headings to use
• We in the Information School will also normally give you a
list of headings for structured abstracts (e.g. for your
dissertation)
Sheila Webber, 2013

12. Informative & Structured – when?
• Informative and structured abstracts are most
appropriate
– when the original document is well structured e.g. an
article reporting on research results and/or
– when the audience will derive significant benefit from
having something close to a substitute for the
document (e.g. saving time or money) The audience
may have to pay extra for this benefit
• Informative and structured abstracts are less
appropriate for opinion pieces, longer items, less
formal writing
Sheila Webber, 2013

13. Which should you use?
• In this Department: your assignment briefing
should tell which is required! If it doesn’t, then
ask the module coordinator
Sheila Webber, 2013

14. Abstract
• Makes sense by itself
• Gives an overview of key
points from the whole
document and includes
aims & conclusions
• Only mentions points
made in the document
• Cites no references &
includes no quotes from
other authors
• Provides an introduction to
the work e.g. by explaining
the aims, why the topic is
interesting
• Forecasts the structure of
the work but does not give
you substance about key
points or conclusions
• May include quotes and
references
Introduction
Difference between an abstract & an introduction
Sheila Webber, 2013

15. All abstracts should have a structure
e.g. for a scholarly article, a common structure is:
Purpose and scope; Methodology; Results; Conclusions
• This structure is the same for indicative and informative
abstracts
• Informative abstracts would have more detailed content
• A Structured Abstract would differ in having headings for
each aspect, rather than being in ordinary paragraphs
• See examples on handout
Sheila Webber, 2013

16. Abstracting a document
• Use grammatically correct sentences: short and
clear, rather than long and intricate
• Make it readable (can do readability tests)
• Avoid ambiguity
• Use terminology appropriate to target audience
• Do not add your own interpretation
• The abstract should make sense on its own
Sheila Webber, 2013

17. Process
• Read the article.
– Try to avoid getting bogged down in detail at this point: you
are identifying what the article is about
– The document’s introduction, conclusions and headings will
normally give pointers to what is important
• Make notes on the key points
• If you are producing a structured abstract, use whatever
headings given
• Otherwise, use structure from the previous slide (if it is a
scholarly article) to make notes for your informative or
indicative abstract
Sheila Webber, 2013

18. Process II
• Draft a rough abstract
– Summarise essential information about the purpose of the
article in your first sentence. Do not duplicate the title.
– Do not lift sentences from the original article
• Redraft the abstract until it is in its final form.
• Unless it is a Structured Abstract, it will normally be
in one paragraph
• Read through your abstract, then read through the
article again. Is your abstract a good representation
of the article?
Sheila Webber, 2013

19. Sheila Webber
Information School, University of Sheffield, UK
s.webber@sheffield.ac.uk
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber
Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa
Sheila Webber, 2013