Purpose

Its purpose is to act as a reference tool (for example in a library abstracting service), enabling the reader to decide whether or not to read the full text.

Reasons

Two common reasons for writing an abstract are

- to summarize a longer piece of work published as a journal article, thesis, book or web page, an existing article for the purposes of a journal,

- to submit an application to write a paper for a conference.

II. Qualities of a Good Abstract

An effective abstract has the following qualities:

• uses one or more well developed paragraphs: these are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone.
• uses an introduction/body/conclusion structure which presents the article, paper, or purpose, results, conclusions, and recommendations in that order.
• follows strictly the chronology of the article, paper, or report.
• provides logical connections (or transitions) between the information included.
• adds no new information, but simply summarizes the report.
• is understandable to a wide audience.
• often uses passive verbs to downplay the author and emphasize the information. Check with your teacher if you're unsure whether or not to usepassive voice.

III. Two types of abstracts are typically used:

Descriptive Abstracts

· tell readers what information the report, article, or paper contains.

· include the purpose, methods, and the scope of the report, article, or paper.

· do not provide results, conclusions, or recommendations.

· are always very short, usually under 100 words.

· introduce the subject to readers, who must then read the report, article, or paper to find out the author's results, conclusions, or recommendations.

 

Proceed in the following way:

 

- Make a list of all the topics covered in the research paper that need to be talked about.

- Descriptive abstracts are short! No more than 100 words.

- Simply introduce the subject to the reader.

- Revise your abstract a few times to make sure it is clear and concise and that it reads in the same voice as the paper.