How to Write an Abstract for a Research PaperWANG YanSchool of International StudiesUIBEIssues to address:1What is an abstract?2Functions of an abstract3Structure of an abstract4Principles of abstract writing1. What is an abstract?☐An abstract is a condensed version of a longer piece of writing that highlights the major points covered, concisely describes the purpose and scope of the writing,and reviews the writing's contents inabbreviated form.⏹It is a concise and clear summary of acomplete research paper.⏹It tells the reader What you set out todo, and Why you did it,How you did it, What you found (recommendations).2. Functions of an abstract☐An abstract is used to communicate specific information from the article.☐It is aimed at introducing the subject to readers, who may then read the article to find out the author's results, conclusions, or recommendations.2. Functions of an abstract☐The practice of using key words in an abstract is vital because of today'selectronic information retrieval systems.⏹Titles and abstracts are filed electronically, andkey words are put in electronic storage.⏹When people search for information, they enterkey words related to the subject, and thecomputer prints out the titles of all the articlescontaining those key words.⏹An abstract must contain key words about whatis essential in an article so that someone elsecan retrieve information from it.3. Structure of an abstract☐The components of an abstract①Background Information②Subject Matter/Problem Statement③Purpose④Method (and Data)⑤Results / Findings⑥Conclusion / ImplicationsThe components of an abstract①Background information◆You may need to refer briefly to background toprovide a context.②Statement of the problem (subject matter):◆What problem(s) are you trying to solve?◆What is the author’s focus in this research?③Purpose of the research:◆What is the reason/purpose for doing this research?④Methods (approach and data):◆What is the main method used for the research?What is the theoretical framework?◆What is the subject scope? What data is analyzed?⑤Results (Findings):◆What did you find/invent/create?⑥Conclusion (Implications):◆What are the larger implications of your findings, esp.for the problem/gap identified in steps ①& ②?Exercise 1:A Sample Abstract(1) The dozens of studies on academic discourse carried out over the past 20 years have mostly focused on written academic prose or on academic lectures. (2) Other registers that may be more important for students adjusting to university life, such as textbooks, have received surprisingly little attention, and spoken registers such as study groups or on-campus service encounters have been virtually ignored. (3) To explain more fully the nature of the tasks that incoming international students encounter, this article undertakes a comprehensive linguistic description of the range of spoken and written registers at U.S. universities. (4) Specifically, the article describes a multidimensional analysis of register variation in the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and Written Academic Language Corpus. (5) The analysis shows that spoken registers are fundamentally different from written ones in university contexts, regardless of purpose. (6) Some of the register characterizations are particularly surprising. (7) The findings of this research may provide insights and have significant implications for pedagogy and further research.subject matter (1) The dozens of studies on academic discoursecarried out over the past 20 years have mostlyfocused on written academic prose or onacademic lectures.problem statement (2) Other registers that may be more important forstudents adjusting to university life, such astextbooks, have received surprisingly littleattention, and spoken registers such as studygroups or on-campus service encounters havebeen virtually ignored.background information(3) To explain more fully the nature of the tasks that incoming international students encounter, this article undertakes a comprehensive linguistic description of the range of spoken and written registers at U.S. universities.(4) Specifically, the article describes a multidimensional analysis of register variation in the TOEFL 2000 Spoken and Written Academic Language Corpus.purposemethod data(5) The analysis shows that spoken registers are fundamentally different from written ones in university contexts, regardless of purpose.(6) Some of the register characterizations are particularly surprising.(7) The findings of this research may provide insights and have significant implications for pedagogy and further research.findings implications Subject:written in the third person Length:short, usually 10% or less of the length of the original piece Audience:understandable to a wide audience Language:technical language of the discipline or profession Verbs:passive voice Tense:the present tense the past tense the present perfect tense 4. Principles of abstract writing4. Principles of abstract writing☐Requirements for the abstract of aBA thesis in UIBE⏹Length: 200-300 words⏹Key words: 3⏹One page of Chinese abstract and onepage of English abstractLanguage used in an abstract Background:(1) The dozens of studies on academicdiscourse carried out over the past 20years have mostly focused on writtenacademic prose or on academic lectures. (2) Other registers that may be moreimportant for students adjusting touniversity life, such as textbooks,have received surprisingly little attention, and spoken registers such as studygroups or on-campus service encountershave been virtually ignored.Language used in an abstract Background:☐Most studies in this field have addressed …☐In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in …☐… has received much attention in the field of …e.g.:As a newly developed interdisciplinary field of study, research on the development ofpragmatic competence is increasinglyattracting extensive academic interest.Purpose:(3) To explain more fully the nature of the tasks that incoming international students encounter, this article undertakes a comprehensive linguistic description ...This paperattempts to…The purpose of this paper is to …This paper isintended to…Language used in an abstract Language used in an abstract Purpose ☐The purpose/aim/objective/goal (of present study is/was to ☐The present study is /was designed/ devised/ intended to / aimed at ☐This study was performed/ conducted/ carried out/undertaken to ☐We aimed/sought to/attempted to e.g.:The aim of this study was to determine the protective function of …Methods:(4) Specifically, the article describes a multidimensional analysis of register variation...A …approach isused in this studyto examine.The study employsa … approach.Language used in an abstractMethods:☐Introduce the research process:⏹study, investigate, examine, discuss, analyze, emphasize, focus, explain☐Describe the research methods:⏹measure, estimate, calculate, test☐Introduce the uses or implications:⏹use, applyLanguage used in an abstract Results:(5) The analysis shows that spoken registers are fundamentally different from …(6) Some of the register characterizations are particularly surprising.It is found that …The resultsindicated that…The resultssuggest/show that …Language used in an abstract Results:☐Show the research results:⏹show, result, present, suggeste.g.:⏹Our results show that …⏹The results we obtained demonstrate that …⏹By means of informal mathematical arguments, simulations and a series of worked examples, we conclude that …Language used in an abstractConclusion/implications:(7) The findings of this research may provide insights and have significant implications for pedagogy and further research.It is suggested that …The paper suggests …It isrecommended that …It is concluded that …Language used in an abstract Conclusion/Implications:1) indicate the results:⏹These results suggest that …⏹These data confirm the presence of …2) support a point:⏹These results (do not) support the idea that …⏹These results fail to support the idea that …3) show uncertainty of an idea:⏹There is no evidence that …⏹It is likely/unlikely that …4) show significance of the findings:⏹be of great (some/little/no) clinical significance in …⏹It sheds light on future studies in this field.5) suggest further studies:⏹… remain to be further studied.⏹It remains to be proved that …Language used in an abstract Steps For Writing Effective Abstracts1.Reread your paper with the purpose of abstracting in mind. Look specifically for these main parts: purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendations.2.After you have finished rereading your paper, write a rough draft WITHOUT LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PAPER. Consider the main parts of the abstract listed in step 1. Do not merely copy key sentences from your paper.3.Revise your rough draft to correct weaknesses in organization and coherence, drop superfluous information, add important information originally left out, eliminate wordiness, and correct errors in grammar and mechanics.4.Carefully proofread your final copy.Four C's of Abstract Writing☐Complete—it covers the major parts of the project/case.☐Concise—it contains no excess wordiness or unnecessary information.☐Clear—it is readable, well organized, and not too jargon-laden.☐Cohesive—it flows smoothly between the parts.Qualities Of A Good AbstractAn effective abstract☐uses one or more well-developed paragraphs, which are unified, coherent, concise, and able tostand alone☐uses an introduction-body-conclusion structure in which the parts of the paper are discussed in order: purpose, methods, findings, conclusions☐follows strictly the chronology of the paper☐provides logical connections between materials included☐adds no new information but simply summarizes the research☐is intelligible to a wide audienceQualities Of A Good Abstract☐Accuracy —choose exact words for precise☐Specificity —be concrete☐Objectivity —succinctly summarize main points;☐Informativeness —what the research is about; how it was taken, what wasdiscovered☐Independency —must stand aloneSummary☐Writing an abstract is a sophisticated skill.To write a good abstract for your papersyou should follow a checklist consisting of: background, problem statement,purpose,method,results,and conclusion.☐Make sure that all the components of a good abstract are included in your paper.Summary☐The two main features of an abstract are its discourse structure and the language used for condensing the information.☐The secret of writing a successful abstract is in giving the most information in the leastnumber of words in a coherent structure.☐Because Readers want quick information.If it suits them, they will read on for thedetails.Exercise 2:☐Read the following abstract and find out the problems in terms ofstructure and language☐Revise the abstractDevelopmental changes in speakingvocabulary by English majorsI carried out a longitudinal study on the changes in speakingvocabulary by English majors through four years’learning, whichwas then compared with the native speakers’performance. TheEnglish learners involved in the study were 56 students who wereenrolled in a university in 2001. I asked them to complete an oraltask by producing a three-minute monologue after three minutes’preparation in a language lab. The native speakers were 15American college students who accomplished the same task asthe English learners. The developmental changes were measuredin terms of three indexes: fluency, word variations and lexicalfrequency profile. The performance on the three indexes of theEnglish majors across four years and the native speakers form acontinuum. However, Year Four students were significantly lowerin fluency and word variations than native speakers, but similar tothe native speakers in lexical frequency profile. The periodbetween Year Two and Year Three saw the most noticeableprogress. The students with different starting levels of the threeindexes varied in terms of their changes. The low-level groupmade greater progress than the middle-level group whichproduced slightly faster progress than the high-level group.Exercise 3:☐Read the selected abstracts fromsome published journal articles.☐Discuss the structure, content andlanguage of these abstracts.☐Make comments on these articles:⏹Are they well written?⏹If not, can you revise them?Assignment☐Write an abstract for your BAgraduation thesis11。
