WRITING YOUR ABSTRACT

Why Write an Abstract and For Whom Are You Writing it?

For this research paper you are asked to include an Abstract, or general summary of your work. The
Abstract allows you to refer to each major aspect of the paper and helps readers decide whether they want
to read the rest of the paper. Therefore, enough key information (e.g., summary results, observations,
trends, etc.) must be included to make the Abstract useful to someone who may be interested in your topic
and work. The Abstract should present sufficient information to enable another researcher decide whether
they should look at your publication in more depth because it is relevant to their own studies.

How do I Know if my Abstract is OK?

Ask yourself this: does your Abstract present sufficient information to enable another researcher decide
whether they should look at your publication in more depth because it is relevant to their own studies? If
your Abstract was the only part of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the amount of
information presented there? Does it tell the whole story about your study? If the answer is "no" then the
Abstract likely needs to be revised.

There are four main types of Abstract:

 Critical Abstract
 Descriptive Abstract
 Highlight Abstract
 Informative Abstract – this is what your Abstract is

The majority of Abstracts are informative. While they do not critique or evaluate a work, they do more than
simply describe it. A good informative Abstract acts as a summary for the whole work itself. The author
presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the paper. An
informative Abstract includes purpose, methods, scope and it also includes the results and conclusions of
the research, and the recommendations of the author. An informative Abstract is usually no more than 300
words in length.

Although it is the first section of your research publication, the Abstract should be written last since it will
summarize the contents of your entire paper. If the Abstract appears alone on one page, do not number that
page. Your Abstract is not included in the word count for your thesis.

The Structure of an Abstract

An Abstract summarizes, usually in one single paragraph of 300 words or less, the major aspects of the
entire research paper in a prescribed order:
1) the overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s) you investigated;
2) the basic design of the study;
3) major results and the findings or trends found as a result of your analysis of your results;
4) a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions, and any recommendation(s) for future
research.

Get to the point quickly and always use the past tense because you are summarising a study that has been
completed.
The final sentences of your Abstract should concisely summarize your study’s conclusions, implications or
applications and, if appropriate, can be followed by a recommendation for additional research.

The Abstract should NOT contain:

 Lengthy background or contextual information
 Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and repetitive information
 Acronyms or abbreviations
 References to other literature
 Incomplete sentences
 Jargon or terms that may be confusing to the reader
 Citations to other works
 Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or references to them.

Remember Tim Caro and his group’s research into why zebras have black and white stripes? Here is the
Abstract from that research publication:

Abstract
Averting attack by biting flies is increasingly regarded as the evolutionary driver of zebra stripes, although
the precise mechanism by which stripes ameliorate attack by ectoparasites is unknown. We examined the
behaviour of tabanids (horse flies) in the vicinity of captive plains zebras and uniformly coloured domestic
horses living on a horse farm in Britain. Observations showed that fewer tabanids landed on zebras than on
horses per unit time, although rates of tabanid circling around or briefly touching zebra and horse pelage
did not differ. In an experiment in which horses sequentially wore cloth coats of different colours, those
wearing a striped pattern suffered far lower rates of tabanid touching and landing on coats than the same
horses wearing black or white, yet there were no differences in attack rates to their naked heads. In
separate, detailed video analyses, tabanids approached zebras faster and failed to decelerate before
contacting zebras, and proportionately more tabanids simply touched rather than landed on zebra pelage in
comparison to horses. Taken together, these findings indicate that, up close, striped surfaces prevented
flies from making a controlled landing but did not influence tabanid behaviour at a distance. To counteract
flies, zebras swished their tails and ran away from fly nuisance whereas horses showed higher rates of skin
twitching. As a consequence of zebras’ striping, very few tabanids successfully landed on zebras and, as a
result of zebras’ changeable behaviour, few stayed a long time, or probed for blood.

(There are 243 words in this Abstract.)