ABSTRACT

How to write an abstract?

 WHAT IS AN ABSTRACT?
• An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement
that describes a larger work. Components vary according to
discipline.

• An abstract of a social science or scientific work may contain

the scope, purpose, results, and contents of the work.

• An abstract of a humanities work may contain the thesis,

background, and conclusion of the larger work.
• An abstract is not a review, nor does it evaluate the work
being abstracted. While it contains key words found in the
larger work, the abstract is an original document rather than
an excerpted passage.
 WHY DO WE WRITE ABSTRACTS?
• The two most important are selection and
indexing.

Abstracts allow readers who may be

interested in a longer work to quickly decide
whether it is worth their time to read it.
Also, many online databases use abstracts to
index larger works.
 WHEN DO PEOPLE WRITE THEM?
• 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 M.A.
thesis.
• When writing a proposal for a conference paper.
• When writing a proposal for a book chapter.
 TYPES OF ABSTRACTS
Informative
• It Is for a strictly-structured
document like an experiment,
investigation or survey.
• It is usually no more than 300
words in length.
It is made up of four parts:
• The purpose section of an informative abstract
should state either the reason for or the primary
objectives of the experiment or investigation. The
purpose section of an informative abstract might also
contain the hypothesis of the experiment.
• The methodology section of an informative abstract
should describe the techniques used in conducting
the experiment. This section should give only as
much detail as is necessary to understand the
experiment; the abstract should not focus entirely on
research methods unless that is the primary focus of
the original document.
• The results section of an informative abstract should
relate the observations and/or data collected during
the experiment. This section should be concise and
informative, and only the most important results
need be included.
• The conclusion section of an informative abstract
should state the evaluation or analysis of the
experiment results. It should also briefly state the
implications of these results. This conclusion section
might also state whether the driving hypothesis of
the experiment was correct
 Example:
• Subjects’ car clocks were set ten minutes fast in order to
determine if deliberately setting a clock ahead will reduce
lateness. One group of subjects knew their clocks had been
set ahead, while a second group of subjects was not
informed of the change. Over a four-week period, the
subjects who were aware of the clock change regularly
arrived on time or late for their scheduled appointments.
Over the same period of time, the subjects who were
unaware of the clock change tended to arrive early or on
time for their appointments. Data suggest that intentionally
setting a clock to run fast does not reduce lateness because
one accounts for that extra time in his or her schedule.
 Indicative
• It Is for a for a less-
structured document like an
essay, editorial or book.
It is made up of three parts:
• The scope section of an indicative
abstract should state the range of the
material dealt with in the original
document as well as the starting
premise of the document.
• The arguments used section of an indicative
abstract should state the main arguments and
counterarguments employed in the original
document. These arguments should be stated in
the same progression in which they appear in the
document. Not all documents contain a
progression of arguments; in some cases this
section may outline analysis or plot progression
instead.
• The conclusions section of an indicative abstract
should state the document’s main closing
argument and its implications as suggested by the
original author. This conclusion section might also
state plot resolution when the original document
is a work of fiction.
 Example:
• Types of female power in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
are discussed. Mrs. Bennet and Charlotte Lucas represent
the lack of power possessed by married women of the
middle class. Lady Catherine and Caroline Bingley
demonstrate the power of wealthy, single women to
occasionally flaunt rules of etiquette. Lydia Bennet
represents the risks of female power when bestowed upon
too immature a woman, but Elizabeth and Jane Bennet
characterize the positive personal and social effects of
women who recognize their own power over self.
 Critical
• It provides, in addition to describing main findings and
information, a judgement or comment about the study’s
validity, reliability, or completeness.

• The researcher evaluates the paper and often compares it with

other works on the same subject.

• Critical abstracts are generally 400-500 words in length due to

the additional interpretive commentary.
 Example:
Antivirus vendors often assert they must be protected from scrutiny and criticism, claiming that
public understanding of their work would assist bad actors (1). However, it is the opinion of the
author that Kerckhoffs’s principle 1 applies to all security systems, not just cryptosystems.
Therefore, if close inspection of a security product weakens it, then the product is flawed.

The veil of obscurity removes all incentive to improve, which can result in heavy reliance on
antiquated ideas and principles. This paper describes the results of a thorough examination of
Sophos Antivirus internals. We present a technical analysis of claims made by the vendor, and
publish the tools and reference material required to reproduce our results.

Furthermore, we examine the product from the perspective of a vulnerability researcher,

exploring the rich attack surface exposed, and demonstrating weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Disclaimer
The views expressed in this paper are mine alone and not those of my employer.

Keywords
antivirus, reverse engineering, blacklisting, enumerating badness, malware, pseudoscience.
 Descriptive
• It indicates the type of information found in the work. It makes
no judgments about the work, nor does it provide results or
conclusions of the research.
• It does incorporate key words found in the text and may
include the purpose, methods, and scope of the research.
Essentially, the descriptive abstract only describes the work
being summarized.

• Some researchers consider it an outline of the work, rather

than a summary. Descriptive abstracts are usually very short,
100 words or less.
Example:
 Highlight

• It is specifcally written to attract the reader’s attention

to the study. No excuse is made of there being either a
balanced or complete picture of the paper and, in fact,
incomplete and leading remarks may be used to spark
the reader’s interest.

• In a highlight abstract cannot stand independent of its

associated article, it is not a true abstract and,
therefore, rarely used in academic writing.
 Example:
The developmental mechanisms by which growth is coordinated among developing
organs are largely unknown and yet are essential to generate a correctly proportioned
adult. In particular, such coordinating mechanisms must be able to accommodate
perturbations in the growth of individual organs caused by environmental or
developmental stress. By autonomously slowing the growth of the developing wing
discs within Drosophila larvae, we show that growing organs are able to signal localized
growth perturbation to the others organs in the body and slow their growth also.
Growth rate is so tightly coordinated among organs that they all show approximately
the same reduction in growth rate as the developing wings, thereby maintaining their
correct size relationship relative to one another throughout development. Further, we
show that the systemic growth effects of localized growth-perturbation are mediated
by ecdysone. Application of ecdysone to larvae with growth-perturbed wing discs
rescues the growth rate of other organs in the body, indicating that ecdysone is limiting
for their growth, and disrupts the coordination of growth. Collectively our data
demonstrate the existence of a novel growth-coordinating mechanism in Drosophila
that synchronizes growth among organs in response to localized growth perturbation

Keywords
Growth coordination, imaginal discs, growth rate, robustness, ecdysone, organ growth
 WRITING STYLE OF AN ABSTRACT
• Use the active voice when possible, but note that much of your
abstract may require passive sentence constructions. Regardless,
write your abstract using concise, but complete, sentences. Get to
the point quickly and always use the past tense because you are
reporting on research that has been completed.

• Although it is the first section of your paper, the abstract, by

definition, should be written last since it will summarize the
contents of your entire paper. To begin composing your abstract,
take whole sentences or key phrases from each section and put
them in a sequence that summarizes the paper. Then revise or add
connecting phrases or words to make it cohesive and clear. Before
handing in your final paper, check to make sure that the
information in the abstract completely agrees with what your have
written in the paper.
 WRITING STYLE OF AN ABSTRACT

The abstract SHOULD NOT contain:

• Lengthy background information,

• References to other literature [say something like, "current
research shows that..." or "studies have indicated..."],
• Using ellipticals [i.e., ending with "..."] or incomplete
sentences,
• Abbreviations, jargon, or terms that may be confusing to the
reader, and
• Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or references
to them.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF AN
INTRODUCTION IN A THESIS PAPER
• The introduction typically answers the following
questions:
What is the subject of the paper?
• What is the area of interest and what have other
researchers found?
• How does the current research relate to previous
research?
• What is the research objective and what
hypothesis or research question is being tested?
WRITING AN INTRODUCTION IN FOUR
STEPS OR MOVES