Writing an abstract

Before you continue, reflect on your previous writing experiences and the feedback you have received. How would you rate your ability in the following skills? Rate your ability from ‘good’ to ‘needs development’. 

Reflect on your answers. Congratulations if you feel confident about your skills. You may find it helpful to review the materials on this page to confirm your knowledge and possibly learn more. Don't worry if you don't feel confident. Work through these materials to build your skills.   

An abstract gives an overview of your entire project and usually answers these questions: 

• What is your research about? 

• Why is it important? 

• How did you do it? 

• What did you find? 

• Why are your findings important? 

An abstract is generally brief: about 150-300 words for a journal article and about 500 words for a thesis. Requirements will vary depending on the type of abstract, the journal, the institution or the discipline.  

In some disciplines, an abstract is divided into several short sections such as Background; Methodology; Findings; Implications. 

The abstract aims to: 

• give readers a summary of a research study 

• help readers decide whether the research is relevant before they read the full paper 

• provide a roadmap for readers who wish to read the whole article or thesis.  

It therefore functions as a stand-alone mini text, a screening device and a preview (Huckin, 2001). 

The abstract is generally the first thing a reader will look at although the abstract is the last part of a dissertation to be written (Cooley & Lewkowicz, 2003, p. 112). 

Explore the interactive image below to understand the many reasons why writing a good abstract is important. Click the (+) in the image for more information about each point. 

The type or style of an abstract depends on several considerations. For example,  they may be structured or unstructured depending on the discipline. More information can be found in Structuring an abstract.

Different types of abstracts are required depending on where you want to publish. These include thesis abstracts, research article abstracts, conference abstracts and so on. More information can be found in Different types of abstracts.   

To know when to write an abstract, it is necessary to understand the process of building an article. 

The sequence for writing an article is different to the sequence for reading it. When writing, you may:

• produce your tables and figures which convey the results of your research and help you form an argument.
• describe your methods and results and then discuss the results
• write the conclusion and introduction and ensure they are consistent with each other
• produce the abstract once the study is complete. 

A complete abstract that summarises the article, tells a coherent story, states the argument and reveals the most significant findings can only be written after all the steps in the writing process are complete. 

However, you should START drafting an abstract EARLY as the task is "the anchor and catalyst for the framing and reframing of writing goals (Liner et al, 2014, p. 223). You can draft a preliminary abstract of a paper as a way of beginning to think about the topic and as a device for organising your ideas. Throughout your research project, you are likely to modify the abstract because the abstract also serves as a diagnostic tool (Belcher, 2019). If you can't write some parts in your abstract, it may mean your research does not yet have a clear focus.  

A  good abstract should:  

• summarise the article or thesis 

• tell a story 

• state the argument and a claim for the significance of that argument 

• reveal the most valuable findings 

• state the methods briefly 

• use strong verbs, not vague ones 

• include all the most relevant keywords.  

(Belcher, 2019, p. 83) 

To ensure your abstract includes the key components listed above, it is recommended that you follow these fives moves in this typical order:

Let's look at two examples 

Example 1:  

Example 2:

The structure of an abstract varies. For example, not all abstracts include five moves and writing styles vary across disciplines. Of the moves, moves 2, 3 and 4 are usually considered essential.  

You should  analyse examples in your discipline and read the instructions for authors from your target journal carefully.  

Being concise

The most important language feature of abstracts is that they are concise. Every word in the abstract has been chosen because it is necessary and performs a function.  To learn more, visit the Academic Style in Writing page and do the practice tasks in Being concise.

Tenses

Present and past tenses are mainly used in abstracts, as illustrated below. 

Look at this example:

Read this abstract and click on the correct verb choices.

Word choice:

Your abstract needs to be concise so choice of words is important. A good abstract needs to include key words and strong verbs. 

Opening sentences to engage readers:

Writing the first sentence in an abstract can be challenging. Here are four basic types of opening sentences based on Swales and Feak (2009) that may help you.  

Being a text detective

To ensure you make appropriate language choices in your abstracts, pay close attention to the language used in published abstracts in your discipline. Think of yourself as a text detective. 

Learn more about this by visiting Academic Style in Writing and exploring the abstracts in Being a text detective.

The table below compares a thesis abstract and a research article abstract .

A conference abstract is normally a standalone abstract ranging from 100 to 500 words, depending on the conference. It is designed to help conference organisers decide whether they would like your paper to be presented at the conference and attendees decide whether they would like to attend your presentation. 

A conference abstract describes the topic you would like to present at the conference. It can report a complete study, a part of your study or a study that is in progress (a promissory abstract). 

Let's look at the examples below:

It is very important that you read the conference instructions carefully. Here are points to consider when preparing to write a conference abstract. 

1. When is the submission date? How much time do you have to write the abstract?  

2. What is the acceptance rate of the conference? 

3. What is the word limit? 

4. Is this a promissory abstract? ( a study in progress) 

5. What is the conference theme and sub-themes? 

A graphical abstract is a single, visual summary of the main findings of an article, allowing readers to easily identify the article's main message. It does not take the place of a written abstract but complements your written abstract.   

You can communicate your research in different ways through graphical abstracts:  

• Flow diagrams use simple shapes such as shapes, arrows and crosses to describe the process.

• Visual representations use models to bring a particular study into the context.

• Graphs, charts and images can capture the main research findings. 

Let's look at some examples of graphical abstracts:

A video abstract introduces readers to your article and emphasises why they should read your work. The video focuses on  

1. What question(s) did you want to answer with your research?  
2. How did you go about it?  
3. What conclusions did you come to?  

Your video should make people want to know more.  Here are the top tips for making your video abstract engaging: 

You can find examples of video abstracts on theTaylor and Francis academic publisher site here.  

Highlights are the ‘elevator pitch’ of your article. They are the three to five bullet points that will help increase the discoverability of your article via search engines.  

They capture the novel results of your research as well as new methods that were used during the study (Elsevier, 2023). In other words, they communicate the core findings, convey the essence, and demonstrate the distinctiveness of your research. 

Each highlight usually does not exceed 85 characters, including spaces, so it should be very concise.  

When you know which journal you want to publish in, read articles from the journal as well as the instructions for authors to gain an understanding of whether highlights are required and how they are written.  

Below is an example of highlights. 

More information on highlights can be found on the Elsevier academic publishing page here.  

Use this template to plan and draft your abstract.  

The template will help you gain an overview of the five moves including the background, aim of your research, research method, main findings, discussion and conclusion. You can download it and save it as a Word document once you have finished. 

Use these three tips to improve your draft.

Tip 1

Read these comments made by abstract reviewers. Have you avoided these pitfalls in your own abstract?

Reflect on your learning 

If you would like more support, visit the Language and Learning Advisors page. 

References  

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Phukon, J., Borah, A. J., & Gogoi, S. (2022). Transition-metal-catalyzed synthesis of spiro compounds through activation and cleavage of C-H bonds. Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry Review, 11, 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajoc.202200581 

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