A good trailer is the best sauce…

AN INTRODUCTION TO ABSTRACT WRITING

Prepared by- Shaswata Sengupta (Assistant Professor, Centre of Linguistics,
MAKAUT, WB)

A short guide on how to increase the readership

of the fruits of your hard work… Your research
paper.
 What is an Abstract?
An Abstract is like a movie trailer…

• It offers a preview.
• Upholds the theme.
• Harps on the keypoints.
 Remember:
Just as a trailer induces people to watch a movie by
triggering their interests, an abstract too induces the
readership of your paper to be…

Readers will consider reading your paper only if they

find the Abstract interesting.
Moreover, many journal editorial boards screen
manuscripts based only on the Abstract.
 Shhhss… A little secret…

Do NOT give away the contents of your entire research paper in

your abstract… It will spoil the climax.

However, you have to fit in a few essential points from your paper
in the Abstract, inclusive of keywords, which will determine the
subject matter of your paper.
Readers should be able to determine the Subject of your paper
just as you can determine the Subject of a movie by looking at its
trailer.
 TIPS FOR WRITING AN ABSTRACT:
• Tip 1:
Write the Abstract after you have finished writing the Paper. Just
in the same way as a Trailer is composed after a movie has been
made, compiling bits and pieces from it.
• Tip 2:
Pick out the major objectives/hypotheses and conclusions from your
Introduction and Conclusion Sections.
Don’t just copy and paste in order to avoid redundancies.

• Tip 3:
Keywords have to be selected from your methods section…

Remember the trailer of ‘Dwitiyo Purush’ ;-) Words can be interesting.

• Tip 4:
After arranging the paragraphs in order, make sure that the
Abstract does not contain:
• New information that is not present in the paper.
• Undefined abbreviations or group names.
• Unnecessary details/giveaway about the methods used.

Also check if purpose, aim, methods and conclusions of the study

are clearly stated.
• Tip 5:
Check to see if the final abstract meets the guidelines of the
target journal with respect to word limit, type of abstract,
recommended subheadings etc.
Thank you for your kind attention.
Awaiting your Trailer now…