WRITING A WINNING ABSTRACT (AND STAYING WITHIN THE WORD LIMIT)

 

                                        



An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement covering the main points of a piece of writing. In contrast to executive summaries written for non-specialist audiences, abstracts use the same level of technical language and expertise as the article itself. And unlike general summaries, which can be adapted in many ways to meet the needs of different readers and writers, the abstracts are typically 150–250 words and have a fairly standard format.

An abstract may be written for a variety of reasons, but the two most important ones are: Selection – to help readers (including journals) decide if they want to read your article and Indexing – for quick recovery and cross-reference. Many abstracts are published in abstract journals or in online databases without a complete paper. The abstract could therefore serve as the only means by which a researcher can determine what information the paper contains.

Thus, although limited in word count, the abstract has to do almost as much work as the multi-page paper that follows it. This means that, in most cases, it should include the following components: motivation, problem statement, approach, results, and conclusions. Each component is usually a single sentence or is sometimes spread over two sentences. Abstracts must also contain keywords and phrases that make it easy to search.

 

Tip1: How to write a winning abstract

Think of a half-dozen search phrases and keywords that people working in your field might use. Be sure that those exact phrases appear in your abstract, so that they will appear at the top of a search result listing.

Tip 2: How to Meet the Word Limit

One of the most critical points to consider while writing an abstract is observing the word limit. Ignoring the limit often leads to the abstract being returned with a request to make it shorter. Reviewers say so easily, however, when abstracting your own work, it may be difficult to condense a piece of writing that you agonized over for weeks (or months or even years) into a 150- to 250-word statement. Described in this article are 2 simple steps to writing an abstract within a word limit:

 Step 1: Write the “Best” First Draft

One way of writing an effective abstract is to start with a draft of the complete paper and apply the following treatment. At this stage, don’t be overly concerned about the length. Just make sure you include all the key information.

ü  Highlight the objectives and conclusion that are in the paper’s Introduction and Discussion.

ü  Bracket information in the Methods section of the paper that contains relevant keyword information.

ü  Highlight the results from the Discussion or Results section of the paper.

ü  Combine the above highlighted and bracketed information into a single paragraph. One way of doing this is to begin the first sentence with the general topic.

ü  Condense the bracketed information into keywords and phrases that identify but do not explain the methods used.

ü  Delete extra words and phrases.

ü  Delete any irrelevant background information.

ü  Rephrase the first sentence so that it starts off with the new information contained in the paper, rather than with the phrase “this paper” or “this study.”

ü  Revise the paragraph so that the abstract conveys only essential information.

Step 2: Apply the “Avoid” Checklist

After completing the first draft, we need to ensure that no unnecessary content has been included in the abstract:

ü  Do not add information not contained in the original work.

ü  Avoid abbreviations or acronyms. Only define an abbreviation if the term appears multiple times in the abstract.

ü  Omit background information, literature review, and detailed description of methods.

ü  Avoid reference to other works.

ü  Omit bibliography or citations.

ü  Omit references, tables, and graphs.

 

Adapted from: Enago Academy

 

 

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