About
An abstract is a general synopsis of a longer work, such as a research article, research proposal, or review article.
In most academic publications, the abstract is a standard part of the article. It summarizes the entire article and is used in indexing the article for search engines and databases.
Abstracts are also used in:
- multi-author books, to describe the contents of each chapter
- library reference indexes, such as Chemical Abstracts, to make work easier to find
- theses and dissertations, to summarize the work
- reports, as executive summaries
- patents, to outline the process or device
- scientific meetings, to help people to decide whether to attend presentations
An abstract may be the only written record of a presentation given at a scientific meeting, conference, or symposium. These abstracts often represent work still in progress.
Writing Tips: Abstracts
Keep it brief.
One way to think of an abstract is as a somewhat expanded version of the Title. The Title can make only the simplest statement about the content of an article. The abstract covers each major aspect of the article without reiterating the whole paper. More help starting an abstract.
The abstract provides a very brief overview of the entire study. Some publications allow no more than 75 words; others allow abstracts of up to 350 words for very complex studies. Usually abstracts are between 150 and 250 words, or about 15 sentences. Check the publication’s guidelines. If their word limit is low, focus only on essentials. Keep to the limit, or it may be trimmed for you. For help, see Revising your abstract.
- Write for the same audience as the article, using the same level of technical language.
- Write the abstract as a single paragraph unless it is longer than 300 words.
- Be descriptive but concise; cut out any words and details you don’t truly need. The level of detail you provide depends on your audience and your goal in writing. If your readers don’t need a piece of information, leave it out, no matter how interesting it is.
- It has long been known that
- It is worth mentioning at this point
- It might be said that
- Use single words instead of phrases:
- not a number of, but several;
- not the vast majority of but most or nearly all;
- not at the present time but now;
- not based on the fact that but because;
- not has been shown to be but is.
- Omit excess words such as green in color, preliminary in nature, there are three main steps that are required.
Quick guidelines.
- When writing the abstract:
- Define abbreviations used.
- Use digits for numbers.
- Include the keywords you want used for indexing.
- Use the nomenclature of your field.
- Avoid speculation or editorial comments not in the main article.
- Omit lengthy equations or data structures.
Report on work in progress, which will be completed prior to findings presentation.
What if you must write an abstract for a study that is still underway? For example, suppose you will give a presentation at a symposium, but your abstract must be submitted for approval before you will be able to finish the work you’re reporting. The same general guidelines apply as for any other abstract, with minor changes.
- First, provide more information than usual about the background and the importance of the work. For the portions that aren’t yet complete, describe how they will be done. State their purpose. Doing so might entail some speculation: If we find x, then it might mean y.
- State clearly what research and data collection will be performed, and how. Describe techniques generally. Use the past tense for methods, as if the experiments have already been done. However, never write any Results or Discussion for work not yet completed. To do so is unethical.
- Next, report whatever data is available. You can add to those findings during your presentation. Note that submitting an abstract in this way means that you must complete the study as described in the abstract, and the study must be complete before you give your presentation. Otherwise, you’ve promised something that you can’t deliver, which is also unethical. If, after finishing your study, you write a research paper about it, revise the abstract to reflect the additional data.
Elements of an Abstract
IMRAD is an acronym for the basic standard structure of a scientific paper: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. The simplest reports may require only these sections. Because lab reports vary tremendously in length and purpose, they may include other sections as well. It depends on your scientific field and the requirements of your class or organization. Always be sure to find out which parts your instructor or supervisor wants you to include.
Title
The Title is a label that tells potential readers what is in the report. Briefly describe exactly what you studied. Use straightforward language and keywords that researchers and Internet search engines will recognize. Most lab reports have a title.
Abstract
The Abstract helps the reader judge whether to read the whole report. Abstracts are useful when reports are long or especially complicated. Condense the entire lab report into a brief summary of no more than 200 words. Summarize each major section — Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion — in one or two sentences. Use those sentences to construct the Abstract, putting them into the same order in which the reader will encounter them in the final report.
Introduction
The Introduction tells the reader why your work is important. Explain why and where the study was done. What knowledge already exists about this subject? If you quote or cite previous work, number it in the text. What is the specific purpose of the study? Include this information in every report.
Materials and Methods
The Materials and Methods section helps the reader understand how you arrived at your results. Describe your study procedures. What protocol did you follow? What reagents, organisms, populations, assays, statistical conventions, and instruments were used? Why and how? For field studies, say where and when the work was done. Give readers enough detail to understand your procedure so they can repeat it. If you followed procedures from a lab book or another report exactly, just cite that work and note that details can be found there. Include this information in every report.
Results
The Results section is the core of your report, where you report your findings. Use tables (see Tables) as needed to summarize your findings. Title all tables; include a legend to explain symbols, abbreviations, or special methods. Number tables separately, if you have more than one, and refer to them in the text by their numbers. Summarize the overall findings in a sentence or two. Include this information in every report.
Discussion
The Discussion (sometimes called the Conclusion) is where you try to place your findings in a larger context and relate them to the goals stated in your Introduction. Lab reports rarely include a Discussion or Conclusion section. If you need to include one in your reports, see the Discussion section of a Research Report.
References
The References is the place to credit any information sources you used when writing your report. List any papers, books, websites, and other sources you cite within your report. Arrange them either alphabetically by the authors’ last names or numerically in the order in which you cited them in the text. Follow the format for citations recommended by your teacher or supervisor.
Appendices
The Appendices is where you put helpful background material that doesn’t belong in the main body of your report. Put any additional or supplementary material here. Make sure you reference material included in the Appendix where it is relevant in the body of your report.
Further Reading
The Further Reading section alerts interested readers to other related publications that they might also want to see. List these works here, alphabetized by the last names of the authors.
See a Model: Scientific Abstract
Scientific abstract
(See the numbered items to learn more about components of this type of document.)
Complexation Titration: Lab Testing for Water Hardness (Item 1)
Ramona Y. McPhie, Department of Chemistry, (Item 2) University College, Portland, ME (Item 3)
Please direct all correspondence to rymcphie@chem.ucol.edu.
Abstract (Item 4)
Water hardness is the capacity of water to precipitate soap, here expressed as the divalent concentration of calcium in terms of calcium in terms of CaCO3. The analysis of water hardness is important in light of two economic considerations: the amount of water needed to precipitate soap to clean certain materials and the precipitation of carbonates in piping systems at certain temperatures. The precipitation of calcium carbonate can cause problems which can be prevented by determining water hardness and treating it. (Item 5) This experiment tested lab procedures to determine the hardness of an unknown sample. In order to determine the water hardness, an EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) solution was created to complex with the calcium present in the sample. Its complexation constant is a function of the pH of the solution. The complexation will not occur until the complex reaches a pH over 10. Once the solution complexes, the hardness can be determined using the molarity of volume of the EDTA solution used. (Item 6) However, the hardness of the tap water sample was not able to be read accurately or precisely, yielding a high percent error of 96.65%. Experimentation on the tap water sample was terminated due to the variability of results concerning the volume needed to complex the calcium in the tap water. Since this experiment did not go according to plan due to systematic errors, sufficient readings were not obtained for the sample. (Item 7) If tap water were to be under future consideration, several titrations should be performed after ensuring constant composition of the sample. In addition, impurities should be accounted for, as through masking agents. (Item 8)
Keywords: Water hardness, EDTA titration, calcium carbonate, lab test (Item 9)
Full text available at www.ucoll.edu\chem\rymcphie\papers. (Item 10)
What’s wrong with this abstract?
The notes below explain more about specific components of this type of document.
Item 1. The title tells the reader the focus of the story and exactly what procedure was performed.
Item 2. Author’s name include professional or academic affiliation.
Item 3. Academic affiliations include addresses or contact information.
Item 4. At 266 words, this abstract runs a bit long.
Item 5. The introduction requires three sentences to cover the background, previous work, hypothesis, rationale, problem statement, and research objectives. Although it’s long, it does a very good job of introducing the reader to the study.
Item 6. The Methods are covered in these three sentences. The author explains what was done, where it was done, and how it was done, without going into excessive detail.
Item 7. Three sentences summarize the results, using specific terminology and descriptive verbs. In this case, results have not been sufficiently quantified as the experiment failed. The percent error statistic supports the experiment’s shortcomings.
Item 8. These two sentences summarize the Discussion. They make recommendations about the procedure based on this experiment’s results (or lack thereof).
Item 9. Most of these Keywords appear in the abstract; one (microbial biosensors) has been rephrased.
Item 10. A citation will help readers locate the original article.
Revision Checklist: Scientific Abstract
Focus/Purpose
Is the abstract suitable to its purpose?
- Make sure it is complete enough to stand alone.
- Include keywords to help readers find it.
- Make it interesting enough that people will want to read the whole article.
- Write it to reflect the work accurately.
- Don’t overstate results of work still in progress.
Development/Elaboration
Does it have a useful title?
- Make the Abstract’s title the same as the title of the paper.
- Make the Title short, but descriptive.
- Make sure the Title indicates what you investigated.
Is the authors’ information complete?
- List all authors and their affiliations.
- Provide contact information for the corresponding author.
Does the abstract introduce the study in an informative manner?
- Begin with one or two sentences with specific information.
- Include the study’s topic, background and context, rationale, and importance.
- State the purpose of the research and list research objectives and hypotheses.
Are the methods described succinctly?
- Describe how the investigation was done.
- Say when and where the study was done.
- Outline the theoretical background, the scope of the study, and the methods used.
- Omit specific details about procedures.
Have you summarized the results adequately?
- Write two or three sentences describing the results.
- Summarize principal findings and major points.
- Be as specific as possible.
- Say whether the results are consistent with the initial hypothesis.
Does the discussion recap the study’s contribution to science?
- Use one or two sentences of the Discussion or Conclusion.
- Summarize the Results and their relationship to the general topic.
- Describe any limitations on the results.
- Recap the work’s contribution to science and its implications.
Have you provided information to identify your abstract?
- Provide the information readers will need to locate the article.
- Give a bibliographic citation if the article is published in a book, journal, or magazine.
- Include organizational information if it’s an internal document.
- For articles that are published online, provide a URL or DOI.
Organization
- Use the IMRAD structure to keep your abstract organized in the same sequence as in the full piece it describes.
Language/Style
Is your abstract brief but comprehensive?
- Ensure that it doesn’t exceed the word limit.
- Summarize the entire article.
- Focus on essentials.
- Restrict coverage of each section to just a few sentences.
Do you make concise, coherent, active statements?
- Use the active voice. It is more direct and uses fewer words.
- Remove unnecessary words transferred in copying and pasting.
- Sources of wordiness include empty phrases such as:
- It has long been known that
- It is worth mentioning at this point
- It might be said that
- and so on
- Use single words instead of phrases: not a number of, but several; not the vast majority of but most or nearly all; not at the present time but now; not based on the fact that but because; not has been shown to be but is.
- Omit excess words such as green in color, preliminary in nature, there are three main steps that are required.
- Make sure people can understand the study by reading the abstract.