Over the past decade, the volume of scientific work has exploded, with an estimated more than 50 million scientific papers that have existed since 2009 (Jinha, 2010). One approximation suggests that a new scientific paper is published every 20 seconds (Munroe, 2013). The abstract is one of the most important parts of a research paper. The abstract, which is often found at the beginning of a research paper, arouses the reader`s interest and provides a concise and informative summary of the article. This short text also tells readers what to expect if they decide to continue reading the newspaper. An article abstract is a short, focused article on a scientific article that is informed by a critical reading of that article. In the case of argumentative articles, the abstract identifies, explains and analyses the thesis and the supporting arguments; For empirical articles, the abstract identifies, explains and analyzes the research questions, methods, results, and implications of the study. Creating a reverse plan is one way to make sure you fully understand the item. Read the article in advance (read the abstract, introduction and/or conclusion). Summarize the main question(s) and the thesis or results. Browse subtitles and subject phrases to understand the organization. Take notes on each section on the edges.
Read each paragraph in a section; Take short notes about the main idea or purpose of each paragraph. This strategy will help you see how certain parts of the article relate to the main idea or the entire article. Abstracts show the key elements of longer written work in a concise but authoritative manner. The main purpose of an abstract is to give potential readers the opportunity to assess whether or not an article or report is relevant to their specific needs. Because they contain the core of an article or research report, abstracts have proven to be very useful in providing important information to a wide range of users. © 2004 Weihs; Licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article: Copying and redistributing this article unchanged is allowed in all media for any purpose, provided that this notice is kept with the original URL of the article A major challenge in writing an article abstract is deciding which information or examples to include from the article. Keep in mind that article summaries are much shorter than the article itself. They don`t have the space to explain every point of the author. Instead, you need to explain the author`s main points and find some excellent examples that illustrate these points. The most common problem students have when writing an article abstract is that they misunderstand the purpose of the assignment. In an article summary, it`s your job to write about the article, not about the actual topic of the article.
For example, if you summarize Smith`s article on the causes of bubonic plague in Europe, your summary of Smith`s article should be: What does she want to know about the plague? What evidence does it use? What is their argument? They do not write an article about the real causes of bubonic plague in Europe. An abstract is a brief summary of a particular research article, thesis, journal, conference procedure, or in-depth analysis of a particular topic and is often used to help the reader quickly determine the purpose of the paper. [1] When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a manuscript or typed manuscript and serves as an entry point for a specific scientific article or patent application. Abstraction and indexing services for various academic disciplines aim to compile a collection of literature for this particular topic. Abstracts are also a common inclusion in research papers, so even students pursuing the college`s simplest majors typically write abstracts at least once. Usually, the author of the article or the entire article (or proposed work) prepares the abstract. For articles, book chapters, and other materials written by multiple authors, the first author usually writes the abstract in collaboration with other contributors. The format and content of your abstract depends on the article or report you want to abbreviate. An abstract of a social science article or thesis contains material that is not used in abstracts for scientific research, and vice versa. Nevertheless, all abstracts have several mandatory components, and there are also some optional parts that you may or may not include. In the late 2000s, some scientific publications, especially those published by Elsevier, began to include graphical summaries alongside text summaries due to the influence of computer storage and retrieval systems such as the Internet. [22] The graph should summarize or be an example of the main focus of the article.
It is not intended to be as exhaustive a summary as the textual summary, but indicates the type, scope and technical coverage of the article at a glance. The use of graphical summaries has been generally welcomed by the scientific community. [23] [24] In addition, some journals also include video abstracts and animated abstracts created by the authors to easily explain their work. [25] Many academic publishers currently encourage authors to supplement their articles with graphical summaries, in the hope that such a practical visual summary will facilitate a clearer overview of works of interest to readers and lead to better overall visibility of the respective publication. However, the validity of this hypothesis has not been thoroughly investigated, and a recent study comparing publications with or without graphical summaries in terms of multiple output parameters that reflect visibility could not show the effectiveness of graphical abstracts in drawing attention to scientific publications. [26] A descriptive summary describes the type of information contained in the article or report. It does not evaluate the article and does not provide definitive conclusions or research. What it does is provide key terms or concepts found in the article and may include the objectives, methods, and scope of the study. This is more of an overview than a detailed summary and it is often short. Students, researchers, authors, and others prepare abstracts to meet the requirements if: The format of your abstract also depends on the type of article you are writing. For example, an abstract that summarizes experimental work is different from that of a meta-analysis or case study.
Here are some guidelines (in chronological order) when writing abstracts for certain types of articles. As in most cases, abstracts are written last and placed at the beginning of an article or report. To ensure that you comply with the publication rules, consult the institution`s or publication`s style manual. The use of abstracts to summarize science dates back to the early 1800s, when the Secretary of the Royal Society recorded brief conference summaries in the minutes of each meeting, called “abstracts.” [7] Abstracts of the Royal Society from 1800 to 1837 were later compiled and published in the journal of the Society Philosophical Transactions, the first group appearing in 1832. [8] These summaries were usually one or more pages long.