Abstracts
Many research publications require an abstract, which is a brief synopsis of the text outlining its major points. As Samuel Johnson (1755) defined the term, an abstract is "a smaller quantity containing the virtue or power of a greater" (quoted in Oxford English Dictionary).
In terms of importance, abstracts tend to possess a prominent position among academic genres, as stated by Lorés (2004): "They [abstracts] constitute the gateway that leads readers to take up an article, journals to select contributions, or organisers of conferences to accept or reject papers" (p. 281).
In research writing, there are different formats for abstract writing. The information below is therefore of a general kind; students will need to check with their supervisors if their department has specific guidelines for abstract writing.
The length of the abstract will be decided by the supervisor, publisher, etc. Generally, though, the word count for abstracts for research articles is 100-200 words.
The function of the abstract is to inform prospective readers of the content and argument of the text, but also to attract readers to read the whole text. Vintzileos & Ananth (2010) describe the abstract as "the 'mirror' of the full manuscript" and that it is the part of an article that is most widely read (p. 344e2).
Hernon & Schwartz (2001) point out that abstract authors "need to adopt the art of persuasion—convincing a reader of the worth of reading the paper and perhaps subsequently of using and citing it" (p. 173). These persuasive powers must be coupled with accuracy and straightforwardness: after having read the abstract the reader should be able to understand the main points of the argument in the text that it sums up.
Types of abstract
Two common types of abstracts are article abstracts and conference abstracts.
Article abstract
Abstracts usually accompany research articles - in many journals the abstract is published as part of the article, between the title and the proper text. Abstract services and journal providers publish abstracts, which serve to inform prospective readers about the contents of the article.
At many departments, students writing their degree projects are required to include an abstract. These are sometimes made available in university repositories of degree projects and theses, such as LUP Student Papers at Lund University.
Conference abstracts
Another kind of abstract is the one that is submitted to conference CFPs (Call For Papers). Researchers wishing to present a paper at a conference send an abstract outlining their proposed paper.
A call for papers is sent out well in advance of the actual conference. Because of the long-term planning that is necessary for conference participants, conference abstracts are sometimes written before the papers they describe have been written. Therefore, they cannot always show the same level of specificity as will be found in article abstracts.
To attract the attention of conference organisers, conference abstracts need to be to the point. The author must show his or her command of the topic and the abstract has to be structured in a way that gives an idea of the organisation of the proposed presentation.
Format of abstracts
Graetz (1985) claims that the most common structure for abstracts is Problem-Method-Results-Conclusions, i.e. four parts. Many abstracts indeed more or less follow the IMRD structure, consisting of an introduction to the topic, a section on method and results, and finally a concluding part that discusses the findings presented in the article.
In a study of research abstracts within the field of applied linguistics, Santos (1996) identified a pattern consisting of five "moves". These moves constitute the transitions between the different stages of the abstract, each fulfilling a "communicative purpose" (Santos, p. 485).
In brief, the pattern that Santos identified looks like this:
- Situating the research
- Presenting the research
- Describing the methodology
- Summarising the results
- Discussing the research
(from Santos 1996 p. 485)
This pattern can be applied to abstracts in other fields as well. As seen in the example below, Santos's pattern highlights the transitions of the text. Not all stages will be found in every abstract, and the order of the moves may vary. Still, Santos's list of moves can be used as a kind of template for abstract writing.