Undergraduate Research: Abstracts

What is an abstract?

"Abstracts are concise summaries that help potential readers decide if they will read [a] work. Since [an] abstract will often be [the] readers' first interaction with [the] piece, you must write with them in mind: people will not read what they consider to be irrelevant or uninteresting."

What do you include in an abstract?

An abstract is essentially an "elevator speech" for professional, peer-reviewed journal articles: you only have 30 seconds (or 300 words) to grab the readers' attention and convince them that the article is worth reading. Start by highlighting the main points of the article:

• The problem and purpose that the authors set out to investigate with their research;
• The methods that the authors used to approach the topic;
• The results of the authors' research methods;
• The conclusions and implications that this research will have on the field of study and any further research on the topic, as well as how those relate to the problem and purpose.

Always keep your intended audience in mind, and remain professional throughout:

• Give an accurate overview of the article and avoid including information that doesn't appear anywhere in the article; don't disappoint your readers by convincing them to read an article that doesn't live up to the expectations of its abstract;
• Due to the short nature of the abstract, use concise language and make every word count; don't overuse adjectives, adverbs, or prepositional phrases or otherwise include flowery language that would distract your readers;
• Everything written in your abstract should be clear; it should be able to stand on its own and not require readers to look up unfamiliar acronyms or jargon that they don't understand;
• Think about the keywords that people might use when searching for articles on this topic, including the keywords that you were using when you found the article that you're writing an abstract for.

And don't forget to proofread! Errors in punctuation, grammar, and spelling, not to mention informal language that holds a personal bias either for or against the topic at-hand, will turn readers away from the article and not make them want to read it. Remember that you're the one who wrote the article, and you're trying to do everything in your professional power to convince more people to follow your research!

Sources

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

University of Maryland Writing Center. (n.d.). Abstracts [PDF file]. Retrieved from https://www.umaryland.edu/media/umb/oaa/campus-life/writing-center/documents/Abstracts.pdf

The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (2019). Abstracts. Retrieved July 24, 2019, from https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/abstracts/