Objective, purpose, style, format, types, design, components and Do's and Don'ts of writing abstract

2. Abstract
Definition,
purpose and
function of
abstract
Qualities,types
and
components
Writing style; Dos,
Don’ts, Voice and
style
Examples

3. What is
abstract?

4. Abstract is…
• A concise summary of the entire paper.
• Usually about a paragraph (6-7 sentences, 150-
250 words) long.
• Provides readers with a quick overview of your
essay or report and its organization.
• A short summary of a longer work (such as
a dissertation or research paper).
• Concisely reports the aims and outcomes of your
research
• Expresses your thesis (or central idea) and your
key points.

5. When do people write abstracts?
• when submitting articles to journals,
especially online journals
• when applying for research grants
• when writing a book proposal
• when completing the Ph.D. dissertation or
B.Tech., M.Tech. thesis
• when writing a proposal for a conference
paper
• when writing a proposal for a book chapter

6. Components…
• The function of an abstract is to describe, not
to evaluate or defend, the paper.
• An abstract lets readers get the gist or essence
of your paper or article quickly
• Your research problem and objectives
• Your methods
• Your key results or arguments
• Your conclusion
• Keywords

7. Aim-Reason for
writing
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Keywords

8. Design…
• Avoid beginning your sentences with phrases
like, “This essay will examine...” or “In this
research paper I will attempt to prove...”
• things you need to include:
• In a dissertation or thesis, include the abstract
on a separate page, after the title
page and acknowledgements but before
the table of contents.

9. Types

10. • Descriptive abstracts
• Indicates the type of information found in the work.
• Makes no judgments about the work, results or
conclusions
• It does incorporate key words, the purpose, methods,
and scope of the research.
• Describes the work being abstracted.
• An outline of the work, rather than a summary.
• Descriptive abstracts are usually very short—100 words
or less.
• Used for humanities and social science papers or
psychology essays.

11. • Informative abstracts
• The majority of abstracts are informative.
• Do not critique or evaluate a work, they do more than
describe it.
• A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work
itself.
• Explains all the main arguments and the important results
and evidence
• An informative abstract includes purpose, methods, scope,
results, conclusions and recommendations of the author.
• The length more than 10% of the length of the entire work.
• used for science, engineering or psychology reports.
• You can also make a guess based on the length allowed;
i.e., 100-120 words = descriptive; 250+ words = informative.

12. Descriptive abstract
• Describes the major points
of the project to the
reader.
• Includes the background,
purpose and focus of the
paper or article but never
the methods, results and
conclusions, if it is a
research paper.
• Is most likely used for
humanities and social
science papers or
psychology essays.
Informative abstract
• Informs the audience of all
essential points of the
paper.
• Briefly summarizes the
background, purpose, focus,
methods, results, findings
and conclusions of the full-
length paper.
• Is concise, usually 10% of
the original paper length,
often just one paragraph.
• Is most likely used for
sciences, engineering or
psychology reports.

13. Writing Abstract; Dos and Don’ts
• Writing style
• Use the active voice when possible
• always use the past tense
• Formatting
• a single paragraph in a block format and with no paragraph
indentations.
• immediately follows the title page.
• Do not number the page.
• center the word "Abstract" at the top of the page with
double spacing from heading
• The final sentences summarize study’s conclusions,
implications, or applications to practice
• And also scope of further research sprung from results

14. • The abstract SHOULD NOT contain:
• Lengthy background or contextual information,
• Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and
adjectives, and repetitive information;
• Acronyms or abbreviations,
• References to other literature [say something like,
"current research shows that..." or "studies have
indicated..."],
• Using elliptical [i.e., ending with "..."] or incomplete
sentences,
• Jargon or terms that may be confusing to the reader,
• Citations to other works
• Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or
references to them.

15. • The abstract SHOULD contain:
• uses one well-developed paragraph that is
coherent, concise and clear and is able to stand
alone as a unit of information
• contains no information not included in the paper
• is written in plain English and is understandable to
a wider audience as well as to your discipline-
specific audience
• focusing on the issues rather than people
• uses the language of the original paper – often in a
more simplified form for the more general reader
• usually does not include any referencing
• in publications (such as journals) is at the beginning
of the text but in academic assignments is placed
on a separate preliminary page.

17. Sources
• https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/writing-an-
abstract
• https://www.scribbr.com/dissertation/abstract/
• https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/
writing-an-abstract-for-your-research-paper/
• https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-
tools/abstracts/
• https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/abstract
• https://www.wikihow.com/Write-an-Abstract
• https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abs
tract.html