English for Academic and Professional Purposes

Week 0019: Writing An Abstract

This module entails writing an abstract paper. A writing skill

you need to acquire as early as high school in order to prepare
you in writing academic papers in the undergraduate course.
Abstract provides a brief yet complete overview of your paper. As
indicated in the APA publication manual, an abstract functions
much like your title page. By reading the abstract, the reader would
quickly determine the content of your paper without reading the
whole material .
In addition to lesson 1, this module provides a better
understanding of the functions and uses of participial phrase and
prepositional phrase.

At the end of this module, you will be able to:

a. determine the purpose of the abstract paper;

b. identify the components of an abstract paper;
c. identify participial phrase and prepositional
phrase.

The Abstract Paper

An abstract is a brief summary of a research article and is
written after the title page. It is a brief overview of your paper.
The APA format requires an abstract to be no more than 150 to
200 words.

Purpose of an Abstract

1. to summarize your study

2. to give an overview of the topic
3. to get the reader interested

Components of an abstract:

1. Statement of the problem - it presents the research focus and

the purpose. It entails answers to why the study is needed and
what is the problem about.

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2. Methods
This portion describes the participants and the method used
in getting the results.
3. Results/ findings of the study.
Presents basic findings and statistical significance level, effect
size.
4. Conclusion/ Implications
Presents the summary of the implication of the study. Did it
close the gap in step 1?

Types of abstracts

1. Informational abstracts

 Communicate contents of reports

 Include purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and
recommendations
 Highlight essential points
 Are short—from a paragraph to a page or two, depending
upon the length of the report (10% or less of the report)

2. Descriptive abstracts

 Tell what the report contains

 Include purpose, methods, scope, but NOT results,
conclusions, and recommendations
 Are always very short— usually under 100 words
 Introduce subject to readers, who must then read the report
to learn study results

Steps for writing effective report abstracts

To write an effective abstract, follow these four steps.

1. Reread your report with the purpose of abstracting in

mind. Look specifically for these main parts: purpose,
methods, scope, results, conclusions, and
recommendations.
2. After you have finished rereading your report, write a
rough draft without looking back at your report. Consider
the main parts of the abstract listed in step #1. Do not
merely copy key sentences from your report. You will put
in too much or too little information. Do not summarize
information in a new way.
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3. Revise your rough draft to:

 Correct weaknesses in organization and coherence,

 Drop superfluous information,
 Add important information originally left out,
 Eliminate wordiness, and
 Correct errors in grammar and mechanics.

4. Carefully proofread your final copy.

Abstract is a miniature version of your paper

Grammar Builder - Prepositional Phrase and Participial Phrase

Setting the Context

What do the following song titles have in common?

The Story of My life

Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Wind Beneath My Wings
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Seasons in the Sun

 The song titles are not sentences. They are phrases and
all have prepositions.

A phrase is a group of words without a subject and a

verb, used as one part of speech.

A – The Prepositional Phrase

The prepositional phrase consists of the preposition, its
object, and modifiers of the object.

Preposition modifiers object

Ex. Behind the ramshackle red barn was an old workhorse.

The children ran through the whirling lawn sprinkler.

Preposition modifier object

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 o The object of the preposition is always a noun, a
pronoun, or a
o group of words used as a noun.
The prepositional phrase is a modifier. It is used either
as an adjective or as an adverb.

 A prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or pronoun is

an adjective phrase.

Example:

1. George is the student with the most potential. ( with the most
potential modifies the noun student.)

2. The energy of an atom is tremendous. ( of an atom modifies energy.)

3. Military forces discovered the clandestine operation of the

drug syndicate. ( of the drug syndicate modifies operation.)
4. Residents of West London expresses anger over the Grenfell
Tower tragedy.

 A prepositional phrase that modifies a verb, an adjective ,

or an adverb is an adverb phrase.

Example:

1. Hank put the stereo speakers on the bookcase. ( on the bookcase

tells where about the verb put.)
2. The movie was successful beyond all expectations. ( beyond all
expectations tells how much about the adjective successful.)

3. The hunters rose early in the morning. ( in the morning tells when
about the adverb early.)

 When two or more prepositional phrases follow each

other in succession,
they may modify the same word, or one phrase may modify the
object on the preceding phrase.

1. They arrived at the airport on time. ( Both phrases modify arrived; at

the airport tells where and on time tells when about the verb.)
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B - Participial Phrase

The participial phrase usually begins with the participle.

The phrase consists of the participle, its modifiers, and its
complements.

The word participle comes from Old French “participe” through Latin
(participium). It means “a sharing or partaking.”
So basically, it means that it “partakes” of both verb and adjective
characteristics.

A participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective. It ends in –ing,

–ed, -t, -en.
 Always put a comma after an introductory participial phrase. When
you write a sentence with an introductory participial phrase, make
sure that you put a noun or pronoun immediately after the phrase so
that it will have something to modify.

Consider the examples below:

 Running as a VERB: Mousie was running from the cat.

And now…

 Running as an ADJECTIVE: Running, Mousie escaped the cat.

Examples of Participles:
 See how the participles describe the subjects.

 Rushing, Steph hurried to class.

 Confused, Sara looked at the map.
 Broken, the vase lay on the hallway floor.

Examples of participial phrase:

 Rushing through the halls at breakneck speed, Steph ran to
class.
 Confused by the strange directions in the letter, Sara looked
at the map.
 Broken into a thousand pieces, the vase lay on the hallway
floor.
 Looking at the cats competing for the title, Sue chose the
lovely Siamese.

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  Enchanted by its adorable personality, Deb played with the
little Persian kitten.

Example:

1. We stood in line for three hours, hoping to get tickets. (The

participial phrase modifies the pronoun we. The infinitive phrase to get tickets
is the object of the participle hoping.

2. Having been able to finish only two years of schooling, Ben

Franklin had to teach himself. ( The participial phrase modifies Ben
Franklin.)

3. Lying in front of the fireplace, the kittens dreamed of warm

summer days.

4. Comforted by the mother cat, it made a beautiful picture.

In this module, you have learned about the definition of an

abstract paper, its purpose and components. You also learned
about the differences between participial phrase and
prepositional phrase.

Glossary
Abstract paper - is a succinct, single-paragraph summary of your paper's
purpose, main points, method, findings, and conclusions, and is often
recommended to be written after the rest of your paper has been completed.
APA format is the official style of the American Psychological Association (APA)
and is commonly used to cite sources in psychology, education, and the social
sciences. The APA style originated in a 1929 article published in Psychological
Bulletin that laid out the basic guidelines. These guidelines were eventually
expanded into the APA Publication Manual.
Complement – something that completes or goes with an item.
Preposition – a word or group of words that shows the relationship of a noun
or pronoun to some other word in the sentence.
Participles – a verb form in present or past and used as a verbal. As a verbal,
it functions as an adjective.
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References and Supplementary Materials

Books
Calmorin, L.P. and Calmorin, M. ( 1995) Methods of Research and Thesis
Writing. Manila. Rex Book Store
Dapat, JR, O( 2013) Applied English for Academic and Professional Services.
Manila , Philippines. JFS Publishing
Online Supplementary Reading Materials
The Writing Lab. (2010). Annotated bibliographies. The Owl At Purdue. Purdue
University. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/Retrieved on
April 10, 2017
Understanding Academic Texts
http://webapp.ln.edu.hk/ceal/elss/sites/default/files/exercise/cate/reading/
Understanding%20Academic%20Texts%20-
%20Structure%20and%20Purpose%20v2/index.htm. Retrieved on 13 May
2017

Online Instructional Video

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