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An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a manuscript or typescript, acting as the point-of-entry for any given academic paper or patent application. Abstracting and indexing services for various academic disciplines are aimed at compiling a body of literature for that particular subject. The terms prcis or synopsis are used in some publications to refer to the same thing that other publications might call an "abstract". In management reports, an executive summary usually contains more information (and often more sensitive information) than the abstract does.
It may also contain brief references, although some publications' standard style omits references from the abstract, reserving them for the article body (which, by definition, treats the same topics but in more depth). Abstract length varies by discipline and publisher requirements. Typical length ranges from 100 to 500 [4] words, but very rarely more than a page and occasionally just a few words. An abstract may or may not have the section title of "abstract" explicitly listed as an antecedent to content. Abstracts are typically sectioned logically as an overview of what appears in the paper, with any of the following subheadings: [citation needed] Background, Introduction, Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions . Abstracts in which these subheadings are explicitly given are often calledstructured abstracts by publishers. In articles that follow the IMRAD pattern (especially original research, but sometimes other article types), structured abstract [citation needed] style is the norm . (The "A" of abstract may be added to "IMRAD" yielding "AIMRAD".) Abstracts that comprise one paragraph (no explicit subheadings) are often called unstructured abstracts by publishers. They are often appropriate for review articles that don't follow the IMRAD pattern [citation needed] within their bodies . [edit]Example Example taken from the Journal of Biology, Volume 3, Issue 2. : The hydrodynamics of dolphin drafting by Daniel Weihs, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel. Abstract: Background Drafting in cetaceans is defined as the transfer of forces between individuals without actual physical contact between them. This behavior has long been surmised to explain how young dolphin calves keep up with their rapidly moving mothers. It has recently been observed that a significant number of calves become permanently separated from their mothers during chases by tuna vessels. A study of the hydrodynamics of drafting, initiated inmechanisms causing the separation of mothers and calves during fishing-related activities, is reported here. Results Quantitative results are shown for the forces and moments around a pair of unequally sized dolphin-like slender bodies. These include two major effects. First, the so-called Bernoulli suction, which stems from the fact that the local pressure drops in areas of high speed, results in an attractive force between mother and calf. Second is the displacement effect, in which the motion of the mother causes the water in front to move forwards and radially outwards, and water behind the body to move forwards to replace the animal's mass. Thus, the calf can gain a 'free ride' in the forward-moving areas. Utilizing these effects, the neonate can gain up to 90% of the thrust needed to move alongside the mother at speeds of up to 2.4 m/s. A comparison with observations of eastern spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) is
[5]
presented, showing savings of up to 60% in the thrust that calves require if they are to keep up with their mothers. Conclusions A theoretical analysis, backed by observations of free-swimming dolphin schools, indicates that hydrodynamic interactions with mothers play an important role in enabling dolphin calves to keep up with rapidly moving adult school members. 2004 Weihs; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL [edit]Graphical
abstracts
During the late 2000s, due to the influence of computer storage and retrieval systems such as [which?] the Internet, many scientific publications started including graphical abstracts alongside the text abstracts. The graphic is intended to summarize or be an exemplar for the main thrust of the article. It is not intended to be as exhaustive a summary as the text abstract, rather it is supposed to indicate the type, scope, and technical coverage of the article at a glance. [edit]Abstract
quality assessment
Various methods can be used to evaluate abstract quality, e.g. rating by readers, checklists (not [6] necessary in structured abstracts), and readability measures (such as Flesch Reading Ease).
Chapter III - Methodology Chapter IV - Results Chapter V - Conclusions and Recommendations References Appendix
Each of the chapters are divided into subtitles or contents. Students know how to write the introduction part, but may find it difficult to explain their methodology of research. This is the most important part of your research paper as you will be giving an insight to your readers about how you conducted the research and came up with the conclusion. In a research methodology chapter, you have to provide the reader with a quick overview of the way you were able to gather information as well as material for your paper. This chapter is where you need to include the techniques undertaken to collect data. This means explain the surveys, data mining, interviews and experiments you may have conducted to propose your conclusion. Also, include the procedures for data analysis like an analysis formula. You should also be able to justify your methods as to give it more credibility. This is true, especially for students who are writing a scientific research paper. A methodology is the most crucial point and should be presented thoroughly and in a concise way. How Do You Write a Methodology If you want to make your research appear more credible there is no option but to understand in detail, how to write a methodology. A research methodology will help you showcase your knowledge of using alternative methods that help in presenting your research topic more valid. The best way to demonstrate your research is by using a qualitative or quantitative research process. The following are the general guidelines that you should follow depending on the type of dissertation or research paper you are writing. Tips on Writing a Methodology for a Research Paper When you are writing a methodology, keep in mind you are supposed to explain your basic research plan. You need to begin with a few introductory lines that restate your purpose for research. It is alright to use the basic phrases and statements you used for the Introduction chapter. Then you need to begin writing the following information for your methodology chapter: Participants This is the part where you explain your basic research conducted using population or samples considered. You need to define the population or sample you have taken into consideration. Then you need to explain how many participants or samples were included in the study and the way you selected them. For example: The population considered for this study is defined is the number of OPD patients who have made a purchase from the hospital pharmacy during the time frame of this sampling. You can explain the population considered using just one statement or short explanation. However, when it comes to the procedure of sampling you need to explain in detail. You will also have to detail how you selected the sample, the place, time, specific names (if possible or needed), number of participants or samples considered, etc. Do not miss out on any detail as it very important to explain the representation of your population to the reader. Instrumentation
The instrumentation part is where you explain the calculations, techniques, procedures, calibration plots and equipment used, whichever is applicable for your paper. If you have conducted a survey, explain how, when, why you conducted it and if you are using a survey conducted by someone else, make sure you state the source. You should include the original copy of the survey in the appendix and state in your methodology that the survey is included in the appendix. Time Period and Procedure Another important aspect of methodology is to explain when you began conducting your research and the time it ended or will end. You should also explain any of the procedures you followed while conducting the research such as filling consent forms by the participants, instructions handed out to the participants, etc. Analysis Now comes the most significant part of writing a methodology. You need to analyze the data you acquired in detail. You need to answer each of the research questions you have to address. Perform statistical tests specifically that helps identify the dependent and independent variables in the data (if present). You can even explain the computer software that was used to help you come to the conclusion. Assessment In case of the instruments you have used for your research, for example, a survey, you need to prove its validity as well as reliability. Validity is the accuracy of your measurement. You need to include the face validity of your survey, content validity that covers the topic and construct validity that refers to the theories you have used to explore the survey. Reliability is the stability of your research over time. If your survey consists of a measurement that can undergo random error, your survey loses its reliability. Assumptions Obviously as you are writing a research paper, you will need to propose assumptions. You will need to specifically state the different assumptions made to support your research questions. Limitation and Scope Limitation and scope is the part and parcel of every research study. Scope is the extent to which the research can be expanded and limitations include the time constraints, loss of participants, etc. The quality of the research takes a downfall with the increasing number of limitations. When writing a methodology, always use past tense. Provide detailed information for your research, so that another researcher can use it for his/her experiments. Do not include any unnecessary information or outcomes that do not hold enough relevancy. Make sure you proofread your research paper as many times you can, to minimize the number of errors, typos and grammatical mistakes. Hope the above information has helped answer your question how to write a research methodology in detail.
Results Section
The results section is where you tell the reader the basic descriptive information about the scales you used (report the mean and standard deviation for each scale). If you have more than 3 or 4 variables in your paper, you might want to put this descriptive information in a table to keep the text from being too choppy and bogged down (see the APA manual for ideas on creating good tables). In the results section, you also tell the reader what statistics you conducted to test your hypothesis (-ses) and what the results indicated. In this paper, you conducted bivariate correlation(s) to test your hypothesis. Include in Results (include the following in this order in your results section): Give the descriptive statistics for the relevant variables (mean, standard deviation). Provide a brief rephrasing of your hypothesis(es) (avoid exact restatement). Then tell the reader what statistical test you used to test your hypothesis and what you found. Explain which correlations were in the predicted direction, and which were not (if any). Were differences statistically significant (i.e., p < .05 or below)? Don't merely give the statistics without any explanation. Whenever you make a claim that there is (or is not) a significant correlation between X and Y, the reader has to be able to verify it by looking at the appropriate test statistic. For example do not report The correlation between private self-consciousness and college adjustment was r = - .26, p < .01. In general, you should not use numbers as part of a sentence in this way. Instead, interpret important data for the reader and use words throughout your sentences: The negative correlation between private self-consciousness and college adjustment indicated that the more participants felt self-conscious, the worse their adjustment to college, r = - .26, p < .01 However, don't try to interpret why you got the results you did. Leave that to the Discussion. Note: Be sure to underline all abbreviations of test statistics (e.g., M for mean and SD for standard deviation). See pages 112-118 of the APA manual for more on reporting statistics in text.
Some specifics: For each correlation, you need to report the following information either in the text of your paper or in a table: correlation coefficient, significance level (p value). If you are reporting a single correlation for the whole results section, report it in the text of the paper as follows: r =.26, p < .01 or r = -.11, n.s.
Note: Use n.s. if not significant; or use whichever of the following is most accurate: p < .05; p < .01; p < .001 If your correlation was non significant, but p < .10 you can still talk about it. You might put the following text in your paper: While the correlation was not significant relative to the standard alpha level of .05, the p-value was less than .10. Then provide a rationale for why you should still be able to discuss this non-significant correlation (see your hypothesis testing lecture notes). You may then cautiously interpret such a correlation. Don make t grand conclusions or use strong language based on the existence of a marginally significant finding. Also, you should indicate that a marginal correlation is non-significant in a table; only refer to the correlation as approaching significance in the text of the paper.
If you computed two or more correlations (thus involving at least three variables) provide a table at the end of the paper (ordinarily tables would only be used for even more complex findings, but I'd like you to practice since you have a few correlations to work with). Create a correlation matrix like the example (see Table 1). If you include a correlation matrix table, you should, in the text of the result section, refer readers to your table instead of typing out the r and the p value for each correlation. If you are using Word as your word processor, create the table, then you can adjust the "borders and shading" for each cell/row/column to get the table formatted properly. I can show you how if you have trouble. Other word processors should have similar functions. Table 1 This Table is an Example of a Correlation Matrix among Three Variables for an Imaginary Sample of College Students (n = 129).
Variable 1 2 .56** --3 -.29* .44*
--
* p < .05;**p < .01 ========================================== =========================== You need to report the statistics in some way in your result section, but regardless of whether you use a table or type the statistics in the text, you should also interpret the correlation for the reader say exactly what that means: E.g. expected, college adjustment was positively correlated As with the amount of contact with friends and family members (see Table 1).
E.g. significant relationship was found between the No importance of one's social life and social adjustment to college, r = -.11, n.s. E.g. shown in Table 1, some of my predictions were As supported. There was a significant correlation between extroversion and life satisfaction. However, life satisfaction was not significantly related to college adjustment. See your text, APA manual, and Sample Paper ( The Title of the Paper for more information and suggestions. In general, I would ) suggest writing the words of the results section first, and then going back to insert the numbers and statistical information.
Discussion section
In your discussion section, relate the results back to your initial hypotheses. Do they support or disconfirm them? Remember: Results do not provehypotheses right or wrong, they support them or fail to provide support for them. I suggest the following information in the following order:
Provide
a very brief summary of the most important parts of the introduction and then the results sections. In doing so, you should relate the results to the theories you introduced in the Introduction. Your findings are just one piece among many -resist the tendency to make your results the final story about the phenomenon or theory of interest. Integrate the results and try to make sense of the pattern of the findings.
In
the case of a correlational project, be careful to not use causal language to discuss your results unless you did an experiment you cannot infer causality. However, it would be impossible to fully discuss the implications of your results without making reference to causality. That is fine. Just don't claim that your results themselves are demonstrating causality.
If
your findings did not support your hypotheses, speculate why that might be so. You might reconsider the logic of your hypotheses. Or, reconsider whether the variables are adequately measuring the relationship. For example, if you hypothesized a relationship between anger toward the stigmatized and narcissism and didn find it consider whether t anger is really the right variable... perhaps "disgust" would better capture the relationship. Alternatively, you might also consider whether the relationship you hypothesized might only show up in certain populations of people or under certain conditions (e.g., self-threat). Where possible, support your speculation with references.
Talk
about any qualifications important to your findings (all studies have weaknesses/qualifications). This includes alternative explanations for the results. For example, you might speculate about an unexamined third variable that was not present in you study. However, BE SPECIFIC and back up any assertions you make. For example, if you claim that 3rd variables might affect your correlations, tell me what they are and how they would affect your correlations.
Speculate
about future directions that research could take to further investigate your question. This might relate back to any weaknesses you mentioned above (or reasons why the ve results didn turn out as expected). Future directions may also t include interesting next steps in the research.
A
discussion section is about what we have learned so far ; and where we should go next Your final conclusion should ; talk briefly about the broader significance of your findings. What do they imply about human nature or some aspect of it? (Don't wildly speculate, however!) Leave the reader feeling like this is an important topic... you will likely refer back to your opening paragraph of the introduction here and have partial answers or more specific responses to the questions you posed.
Title page - Try to write a title that maximally informs the reader about the topic, without being ridiculously long. Use titles of articles you've read as examples of form. Also provide the RUNNING HEAD and an abbreviated title that appears in the header of each page along with the page number. Provide your name and institutional affiliation (Hanover College). See APA Manual and sample paper. Abstract - Write the abstract LAST. An abstract is a super-short summary and is difficult to write. Info on abstracts from APA manual: An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of an article, allowing readers to survey the contents quickly. A good abstract is:
accurate:
Ensure that your abstract correctly reflects the purpose and content of your paper. Do not include information that does not appear in the body of the paper. self-contained: Define all abbreviations and acronyms. Spell out names of tests/ questionnaires. Define unique terms. Paraphrase rather than quote. concise and specific: Make each sentence maximally informative, especially the lead sentence. Begin the abstract with the most important information (your question), but do not repeat the title. Be as brief as possible. non-evaluative: Report rather than evaluate: do not add to or comment on what is in the body of the manuscript. coherent and readable: Write in clear and vigorous prose. Use the third person rather than the first person. In less than 150 words your abstract should describe: the problem under investigation (an "introduction" type sentence)
the
specific variables investigated and the method of doing so (a "method" type sentence) the results of the study in brief (no numbers, just words) a hint about the general direction the discussion section takes References: Use APA style. See your APA manual, textbook and the sample paper for examples of how to cite and how to make a reference list. Make sure that all references mentioned in the text are also mentioned in the reference list and vice versa. Tables and/or Figures: Use APA style. Tables go at the very end of your paper. Make sure you refer to the table or figure in the text of your paper. *See APA Manual, textbook and sample paper for information on how to format each section of your paper and how to order the sections.