Tips for Writing Research Abstract

1. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿: an abstract is a brief description of a research article, not a retelling.
It is typically a short summary of the completed research. The main purpose of an abstract is to
provide insight into a research project. It should give a clear explanation of the subject, attract
readers’ attention and make them want to learn more about the research.
Irrespective of a field of research, every abstract should include four main types of information.
- 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵.
- 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.
- 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.
- 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥.
2. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗲, 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘂𝘀𝗲.
Therefore, the text should be concise, clear and easy for understanding. An abstract should provide the reader
with information allowing to create an overall impression of a research work. That is why it should be
objective and contain actual facts.
Particular attention should be given to the style. It is better to avoid long and complex sentences. Research
articles are never written from the first person, so an abstract should not contain such phrases as 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿”,
“𝗜 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲”, “𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 etc. Do not copy key sentences from the paper and summarize information
in a new way. It is better to avoid standard popular phrases as they may distract readers’ attention and make no
impression.
3. 𝗔𝗻 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝟭𝟮𝟬 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀. Thus, despite of being quite short, it should have a nice flow.
Every word should be carefully chosen for an abstract to give an optimal amount of information in a way that
is easy to read. If your abstract is still too long, look for unnecessary adjectives or other modifiers that do not
make it easier to understand the content. Look for places where you repeat yourself, and remove all
unnecessary information.
It may seem uneasy to reduce the whole paper to 10-15 sentences that will let a reader get to the bottom of the
matter. Therefore, an abstract should be carefully planned. 𝗧𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱
Follow these simple tips and your abstract will definitely catch the attention of readers and make your paper
stand out against many others.