Writing an abstract

An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of contents of the article: it allows readers to survey the contents of an article quickly, and like a title, it enables abstracting and information services to index and retrieve articles.

A well-prepared abstract can be the most important paragraph in your article. “Once printed in the journal, your abstract is just beginning an active and frequently very long life as part of collection of abstracts” in printed and electronic forms (APA, 1984). Most people will have their first contact with an article by seeing just the abstract, usually on a computer screen with several other abstracts, as they are doing a literature search through an electronic abstract-retrieval system. Readers frequently decide on the basis of the abstract whether to read the entire article: this is true whether the reader is at a computer or is thumbing through a journal. The abstract needs to be dense with information but also readable, well organized, brief, and self contained. Also, embedding many key words in your abstract will enhance the user’s ability to find it. A good abstract is:

Accurate: ensure that the abstract correctly reflects the purpose and content of the manuscript. Do not include information that does not appear in the body of the paper.

Self-contained: Define all abbreviations (except unit of measurement) and acronyms. Define unique terms. Paraphrase rather than quote. Include name(s) of author(s) (initials and surnames) and dates of publications in citations of other publications (and give a full bibliographic citation in the article’s reference list)

Concise and specific: Make each sentence maximally informative, especially the lead sentence. Be as brief as possible. Abstracts should not exceed 120 words. Begin the abstract with the most important information and include in the abstract only the four or five most important concepts, findings, and implications.

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 verbs rather than their noun equivalents and the active rather than the passive voice. Use the present tense to describe results with continuing applicability or conclusions drawn. Use the third person rather than the first person.

An abstract of a report of an empirical study should describe:
•The person user investigation, in one sentence if possible
•The participants or subjects, specifying pertinent characteristics, such as number, type, age, sex, and genus and species.
•The experimental method, including the apparatus, data-gathering procedures, complete test names, and complete generic names.
•The findings, including statistical significance levels, and
•The conclusions and the implications or applications

An abstract for a review or theoretical article should describe:
•The topic, in one sentence
•The purpose, thesis, or organizing construct and the scope of the article
•The sources used (e.g. personal observation, published literature), and
•The conclusions

An abstract for a methodical paper should describe:
•The general class of method being proposed or discussed
•The essential features of the proposed method
•The range of application of the proposed method, and
•The behavior of the method, including its power and robustness to violation of assumptions

An abstract of a case study should describe
•The subject and relevant characteristics of the individual or organization
•The nature of or solution to a problem illustrated by the case example, and
•The questions raised for additional research or theory

An abstract that is accurate, succinct, quickly comprehensible, and informative will increase the audience and the further retrievability of your article. You may submit only one version of the abstract. I is exceeds 120-word limit, the abstractors in some secondary services may truncate your abstract to fit their databases, and this could impair retrievability.

Source: Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth Edition