Write a Scientific Abstract

A scientific abstract summarizes your research paper or article in a concise, clearly written way that informs readers about the article's content. Researchers use abstracts to determine whether a paper is relevant to their work and/or decide which papers to acquire and read. For academic conferences, participants only receive copies of the abstracts in proceedings. When readers search through electronic databases for articles, the abstract is usually the sole part of the paper that they see without cost. Typically 200-250 words, a scientific abstract consists of five key parts: title and author information, background, methods, results, and conclusions.

Steps

Preparing to Write an Abstract

1. Complete your research paper. Authors usually write their abstracts after they have finished their research papers so that the abstract contains the major points of the article. If you need an abstract for a conference paper proposal before your paper is completely finished, be sure to have a draft or outline form of the paper from which you can create your abstract.
2. Read your research paper completely. Highlight or underline the important points and copy and paste them into a separate document. After you finish reading your paper, review your underlined material and select sentences that help explain the research topic, research question, methods, results, and conclusion. Retain this material for your abstract.
3. Identify keywords. Remember that online databases have keyword search engines for finding abstracts. Note relevant keywords that will help researchers find your paper. Set these aside for use in your abstract.

Structuring an Abstract

1. Explain the background of your study. Using the material and keywords set aside from your paper as the basis, write 1-3 introduction sentences that explain the research topic, purpose of the study, and research question(s). The first sentence should be interesting, eye-catching, and draw the reader into your piece. As the shortest part of the abstract, your background should convey what already is known about the subject and how it relates to your paper. The background also explains what we do not know yet about the subject and thus what the study examined and/or what your paper presents.
   • Think of the research paper as having investigated a particular scientific question. Other researchers will value knowing your research question.
   • Your background section should answer questions like: What did I study? Why is my research question important? What did my field of study know about my research question before I did this study? How will this study advance knowledge in our field?
   • Try to use an active voice and reduce passive language throughout your abstract. For example, write: "I interviewed Cassandra" instead of "Cassandra was interviewed by me."
   • Minimize use of pronouns like "I" or "we." Write about "the study," "this paper examines," or "this research" instead of "my study" or "I write about..."
   • Keep your abstract in the past or present tense but not in the future. For instance, do not write: "this paper will examine" but "this paper examines" or "the results showed."
2. Share your research methods. The second-longest section of the abstract, your methods section should explain in 2-3 sentences how you conducted your study and what exactly you did. Did you use qualitative and/or quantitative methods? Methods can include lab experiments, ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, surveys, and/or data analysis. Your methods section should answer the following questions:
   • What was the research design?
   • How long did the study last?
   • What was the sample size?
   • How did you recruit participants?
   • What was the research setting?
3. Demonstrate your results. Write 1-2 sentences describing the results/findings of your study. Major findings include key quantitative or qualitative results or identified trends. Your results section is the most important part of your abstract because it explains what you discovered and the relevance of your work to other people's research. This is the time to elaborate and give details.
4. Conclude with the main point and impact of your research. In 1-2 sentences, iterate your overall summary of the project and its theoretical and/or practical impact on the pertinent field(s) of study. State whether your research has filled a knowledge gap. The conclusion should be data-based and very factual. Do not present unsubstantiated personal opinions. End your conclusion with a strong final sentence.
5. Choose a title for your abstract. Your title should summarize the abstract and convince reviewers or potential readers that the topic is important, relevant, and innovative. The abstract title can be the title of your paper. Be sure to include your name, institutional affiliation (if applicable), and contact information under the title.
   • Some organizations, journals, or conferences require a special format for the title, which could be all uppercase letters, bolded, or italics.

Checking Style and Flow

1. Read your abstract aloud and check content accuracy and flow. Your abstract should be short and concise but also flow smoothly. Make sure you have adequate transitions from sentence to sentence and consider adding transition words like "additionally" or "furthermore." Fix any problem sentences that represent your findings inaccurately or are unclear in their meaning.
   • Read the abstract as if you were another researcher deciding whether to read your paper. Do you find the abstract has the right information to help you decide whether to read it? If not, ask yourself what is missing.
2. Proofread for correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Consider printing out your abstract and editing it with a pencil or pen. Having your work in print versus on your computer screen can help you catch additional mistakes and envision how your abstract will appear in printed mediums. Because your writing style impacts readers' perception of your work, effective style and accurate grammar and mechanics are important elements of a successful abstract.
   • Be sure to place commas and periods within quotation marks, e.g. "Milton said." instead of "Milton said".
   • Do not end sentences with prepositions (of, for, about).
   • Vary your verbs and nouns from sentence to sentence and use a print or online thesaurus for synonyms in order to not sound repetitive.
   • Avoid vague adjectives like "very" and "many." Try to quantify your findings with specific numbers or conditions that offer comparisons. For example, "135 interlocutors participated" or "Subject A's performance was thirty percent better than Subject B's performance."
   • Written years should not have apostrophes. Thus, write "1990s" rather than "1990's."
   • Eliminate unnecessary content and add any missing important pieces of information.
3. Complete a word count. Make sure that your abstract is not too long or excessively short. Aim to have as close to the word count limit as possible, whether for example, 200 or 250 words. Some journals or conferences will reject abstracts that are too long so be sure to be accurate.
4. Share your abstract with a friend or colleague. Having another person review your abstract will ensure that your abstract makes sense to potential readers. If they have suggestions for changes, re-read your abstract and revise your work.

Tips

• Review the abstract guidelines for the specific journal or scholarly discipline for which you are writing. Most disciplines (e.g. biology or sociology) have their own stylistic conventions for abstracts. Use other abstracts from your field as examples for style.
• Do not include references to other papers, non-standard abbreviations, or any kinds of illustrations. For abbreviations you do include, always spell them out the first time you use them unless they are in common use.

Warnings

• If you write an abstract for a research paper that you did not write, remember that it is not your job to review the paper, criticize its methods, or offer your opinion on the importance or relevance of the research.

Sources and Citations

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