How to Write an Abstract

In academic writing, the Abstract is essential. Whether or not your scientific paper even gets read or published by a journal editor or the members of the board you appealed to for a grant may even depend on how well you write your Abstract, which is sometimes called a Summary. It would be a shame to conduct good research only for it to be overlooked because of a poorly constructed abstract.

The abstract is a brief summary of a research paper, thesis, or scientific article that provides readers with an overview of the work's main points and purpose. The abstract should include:

1. A brief introduction that explains the topic or problem your paper addresses.

2. A concise description of the methods used to conduct your research or experiment.

3. A brief summary or highlight of the main findings or results of your work.

4. The implications for the field regarding your results.

Again, it must be stressed that the abstract is the first thing readers will see. So make it engaging while accurately reporting the content of your research.

One of the tips often recommended in academic writing for writing abstracts is that they should be written last. Research can be unpredictable. Even after it has been completed, writing down and analyzing your results may lead to new insights and interpretations that could make an abstract written beforehand appear outdated.

In addition, conciseness is key in writing abstracts. Most journals have a word limit of about 250 words for abstracts. Therefore, it is something of a challenge to condense the most important points in a limited amount of space.

Structured versus unstructured abstract

There are two types of abstracts: unstructured and structured abstracts. The difference is simple. The structured abstract is simply a block of text, whereas the structured abstract breaks into separate the abstract into its constituent parts. This usually includes:

Background. This introduces or explains the problem and the need for the research in terms of how it can shed further light on or even contribute to solving the problem.

Method. This describes the process used to collect data and to conduct an analysis of the collected data. In addition, the materials and instruments used are also described.

Results. This describes the answers provided after analyzing the collected data. Results can be complicated; therefore, only the main results or outcomes should be emphasized.

Conclusion or implications. This summarizes the results or explains their implications in the real world. This could mean economic, policy, or scientific implications.

In the following, I provide an example of a structured and unstructured abstract for the same study:

Unstructured Abstract

The increasing use of popular AI tools such as Chat-GPT to edit academic work among university students raises several challenges in terms of both ethics and efficacy. We carried out a study to measure the efficacy of AI tools being used to proofread and edit students' work. In all, 112 students with similar levels of English proficiency were recruited for the study. The students were divided into four groups: 1) those who used new AI tools like Chat-GPT for proofreading and editing; 2) those who used "general purpose" proofreading tools like Grammarly; 3) those who used proofreading software specifically trained to edit academic writing; and 4) those who relied on trained editors to carry out proofreading. Results showed that new-generation proofreading tools demonstrated little to no value in terms of improving the quality of student's work. General purpose tools like Grammarly resulted in minor improvement, while specially trained software like PerfectIt demonstrated the most impressive improvement. Lastly, students who relied on professional editors by far benefitted much more substantially than any of the other three groups. While these new AI tools grow in popularity, their efficacy continues to severely lag behind their hype. 

Structured Abstract

Background: The increasing use of popular AI tools such as Chat-GPT to edit academic work among university students raises a number of challenges in terms of both ethics and efficacy.  Methods: We carried out a study to measure the efficacy of AI tools being used to proofread and edit students' work. In all, 112 students with similar levels of English proficiency were recruited for the study. The students were divided into four groups: 1) those who used new AI tools like Chat-GPT for proofreading and editing; 2) those who used "general purpose" proofreading tools like Grammarly; 3) those who used proofreading software specifically trained to edit academic writing; and 4) those who relied on trained editors to carry out proofreading. Results: Results showed that new-generation proofreading tools demonstrated little to no value in terms of improving the quality of student's work. General purpose tools like Grammarly resulted in minor improvement, while specially trained software like PerfectIt demonstrated the most impressive improvement. Lastly, students who relied on professional editors benefitted much more substantially than any of the other three groups. Implications: While these new AI tools grow in popularity, their efficacy continues to severely lag behind their hype.

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Final thoughts on how to write your Abstract

In short, in academic writing, abstracts represent the first impression of your research. Regardless of how well the research is conducted, the first impression given by your Abstract may decide whether or not your study is actually published. Therefore, focus on writing Abstracts that are concise, easy to read, and that appeal to the reader.

Before and above anything else, the Abstract is an exercise in conciseness. You should be able to summarize your Introduction, Methods, Results, Analysis, and Discussion in about 250 words. This is a special skill in academic writing that requires much time and practice.

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Cite this EminentEdit article

Antoine, M. (2024, August 06). How to Write an Abstract. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/how-to-write-an-abstract