GUIDELINES

ON PREPARATION AND WRITING AN ABSTRACT

The candidate (final) exam in the discipline “History and Philosophy of
Science” consists of parts (stages), it is taken by Ph.D. students at the end of this
course. The writing stage is the writing and submission of an abstract within the
time limit. The oral stage is an interview with members of the examination
committee.
An oral interview is conducted according to a pre-formulated list of questions.
Exam questions are divided into two categories:
Section 1. General problems of the philosophy of science. Section 2.
Philosophical problems of special sciences. Each examination paper includes two
questions – one question from each section.
The written part of the candidate's exam in “History and Philosophy of
Science” is the preparation and delivery of an abstract. A Ph.D. student (applicant)
on the basis of a course on the history of the relevant branch of science or an
independent study of historical and scientific material must submit an abstract on
the history of the relevant branch of science in agreement with his / her
dissertation supervisor and the Department of Philosophy.
Verification of the abstract prepared on the history of the relevant branch of
science must be carried out by the supervisor, who should carry out the initial
examination, as well as by a specialist in the history of the branch of science or
who has completed advanced training in the discipline “History and Philosophy of
Science”, who provides a short review of an abstract and grades according to the
“Pass – Fail” system. If a Ph.D. student (applicant) has a pass mark, he / she is
allowed to take an exam in the philosophy of science and in philosophical
(methodological) problems of the relevant branch of science.
Preparation of an abstract is one of the main forms of work in the course
“History and Philosophy of Science”. Each Ph.D. student (applicant) is obliged to
perform such written work of an educational and scientific nature. According to the
new program, the assessment of the abstract will be one of the components of the
final assessment for the entire course. An abstract in the course “History and
Philosophy of Science” is a written study on the history of science and technology
in one's specialty. Its implementation involves the active use of the methodology of
the general history of science and technology, the philosophy of science and
technology.
Work on the abstract begins with the choice of a topic, which is determined
taking into account the formulation of the topic of the candidate's dissertation. It is
recommended to formulate the topic of the abstract after consultations with the
supervisor and the teacher who conducts classes in the discipline “History and
Philosophy of Science”. Then, on the chosen topic, the selection and study of
scientific and educational literature and the preparation of the initial version of the
abstract plan are carried out. The study of monographs, articles, Internet sources
involves their careful review and determination of the nature of work with each
source: taking notes, extracts, photocopying, etc. This work should be done taking
into account the possibilities for further use of the accumulated materials. It should
also be remembered that often an analytical review of scientific literature on the
topic under study is an integral part, and sometimes the basis of the abstract, and
can also become an integral part of the dissertation work.
In parallel with the study of sources on the topic, an initial abstract plan is
outlined, which in the future (perhaps even more than once) will change. After
viewing and studying the sources, the primary processing and systematization of
the material is carried out, and its comprehension should begin. It is possible that
in the process of this work, the initial plan of the abstract and the arrangement of
the material in it will not fully satisfy the author, which means that he / she will
need to finally think over and clarify the plan of the abstract.
The final work will allow the author to move on to compiling and writing an
abstract. If in the study of literature, the main task was the accumulation of
material, its analysis, the identification of central ideas, then during the writing of
the abstract, the process of synthesis, generalization of the material, its further
systematization, grouping and transformation into a conceptually designed text is
carried out.
The abstract is an independent essay of a Ph.D. student (applicant), in which
he / she presents material taken from various sources. It testifies to his / her
knowledge of the literature on the topic, the level of theoretical training of the
graduate student, reflects the author's point of view on the subject of consideration.
Therefore, it is wrong to limit the work on the abstract simply by arranging
statements from a number of sources into a certain text. In this case, you can get a
thematic summary, but not an abstract. Such work can only be an intermediate link
in the creation of an abstract. Unlike the thematic abstract, the abstract requires
more creative activity, it implies independence in the systematization of the
material, the ability to evaluate different points of view on the problem under
study, express one's own opinion and argue it, outline the prospects for further
research.
The structure of the abstract should include:
 Title page (1 page);
 Content (1 page);
 Introduction (1 page);
 Main text – from two to three chapters (about 20-22 pages);
 Conclusion (1 page);
 List of sources (1-2 pages).
The total volume of the abstract should be approximately 25-28 pages of
typewritten text, done at intervals of 1.5 (approximately 1 printed sheet).
In the Introduction, it is necessary to substantiate the relevance of the topic,
identify the range of its constituent problems, clearly and concisely define the
objectives of the study. Footnotes in the abstract should be indicated in the text in
square brackets – [1, p. 52], observing the accepted requirements.
In the main part of the abstract, the author needs to reveal the fundamental
aspects or aspects of the chosen topic, and all of them together should provide a
complete coverage of this topic, consistently disclose the results and content of the
study as a whole. The main part of the abstract must be divided into chapters, and
chapters into paragraphs. The originality and consistency of the arrangement of the
material in the chapters are important, the quality of the work largely depends on
the logic of presentation and the correct ratio of which.
In the Conclusion, the results of the study are summarized and brief
conclusions are drawn. On the last page(s) there is a List of Sources, which shows
which sources on the topic the author is familiar with and worked with, what is the
level of his / her bibliographic culture. When compiling a list of literature sources,
you should follow the necessary rules that are accepted in Russian librarianship
standards. It is recommended to compile a list of bibliographic sources in the order
they are indicated in the text. Sources must correspond to the topic of the abstract,
that is, contain information on the history of the scientific and technical direction.
The number of sources should be approximately 10-15 positions (no less and no
more). Description of sources is made in accordance with the current Russian
ГОСТ (ГОСТ Р 7.0.100-2018)
The main task when writing a work is to present the events in the relevant
area in their historical (temporal) sequence, taking into account the socio-cultural
context. In each section of the abstract, a bunch of questions should be answered:
Who – When – Where – What – Why did it (discovered, tested, invented,
developed, implemented, improved, etc.) and what was the significance of this for
science, research, cultural influence generally.
 A consistent presentation of historical facts should not be replaced by a
description of the subject area of science or technology (formulas, graphs,
diagrams, classifications, etc.). Please note that this work also should not be a
description of your scientific field in which you work, or a description of the
apparatus or instruments you use, and so on. Your abstract should be exactly the
history of the development of a certain field of science (which is close to the topic
of your Ph.D. thesis).
The supervisor of the dissertation student must give and provide an expert
assessment of the written abstract in the form of a Review. The following criteria
are taken into account, and the supervisor should evaluate:
 whether the author was able to draw up a logically coherent plan of the
abstract and implement it;
 what is the scientific level of the abstract;
 to what extent the sources on this topic have been studied;
 whether the author showed independence in the study and presentation of
the material.
The supervisor gives a qualitative assessment in the review, pointing out the
advantages and disadvantages of the content, methodology and methodology for
completing the abstract.
The final assessment of the abstract is determined by the members of the
examination committee. The rating is set on a two-point scale: “Positive” –
“Negative” (Pass-Fail). The score for the abstract is recorded in the minutes of the
candidate minimum exam and is one of the components of the final grade for the
entire course “History and Philosophy of Science”.
Before submitting the finished abstract (at least 10-14 days before the
deadline for submitting the finished abstract), it is strongly recommended to send
the abstract file in .doc(x) format via the communication channel specified by the
teacher, in order to pre-check for compliance with the requirements. In accordance
with the Appendix to Order No. 1356 dated May 18, 2016 “Temporary regulation
on checking the amount of borrowing in final qualifying works and their
preparation for placement in the electronic library system of SPbGETU "LETI "”,
the abstract is checked for borrowing by the teacher of the Department of
Philosophy, who conducted seminar classes. After that, the verified abstract is
submitted to the supervisor of the graduate student (applicant) for the preparation
of a written review. Students can independently pre-check the manuscript of their
abstract on the website antiplagiat.ru. When self-checking in the Antiplagiarism
system, it should be borne in mind that the percentage of the original text will be
higher than when checking in the Антиплагиат.ВУЗ system, since in the latter
case, the check is performed on a larger number of sources. The originality of the
text of the abstract must be at least 60%.
After revision in accordance with the recommendations received (if any), the
finished abstract and review of the supervisor with the signature of the supervisor
himself / herself, as a hardcopy of A4 format, should be submitted to the
Department of Philosophy within the deadlines announced by the teachers. Also,
the final versions of the abstract and review files of the supervisor in pdf format
must be sent to the teacher via the specified communication channel.
Text formatting requirements:
Top and bottom margins – 2 cm, left margin – 3 cm, right margin – 1.5 cm.
Font – 14, color – “Auto”, style – normal.
Paragraph indent – 1.25 cm.
Line spacing – one and a half (1.5).
Indents and intervals between paragraphs – 0.
Alignment: main text – in width, titles (chapters, paragraphs, etc.) – in the
center without paragraph indentation, style – bold.
Footnotes – page by page, in square brackets [2, p. 131-133].
References – 10-15 sources (samples of design of various publications are
given on the last page).
A small number (up to seven) of figures (for example, images of scientists,
engineers), diagrams, tables can be inserted into the text of the abstract. However,
their presence must be justified from the point of view of the content of the abstract
on the history of the scientific and technical direction.
It is strongly recommended that the main text be divided into at least two
chapters, each with two or three paragraphs.
Sections of the text of the abstract “Introduction”, “Chapter 1”, “Conclusion”
and “Sources” should begin on a new page.
The following pages provide a sample abstract design (title page, page with the
content of the abstract, page with sources).