Writing the abstract

Answer these four questions: 

• Why did you do this project?   (Intro and Lit Review)
• a/What did you do and b/how did you do it?  (Procedures)
• What did you find out?   (Results)
• Why does it matter?      (Discussion)

 Usually but not necessarily in that order.

Considerations in answering each question:

1. First step in convincing readers that you have something new is convincing them you are up to date on current state of knowledge in your field.

 There is often some over lap between 1 and 2a:  “Here’s the hole in knowledge in my field, and here’s how I designed my project to fill it.”

2b Remember that while research is generally messy and unpredictable, abstracts are neat and orderly. 

3. Tricky to write if you haven’t completed your project.  Ties into 1. Strategy depends on how far along you are:

                          If we find a, it’s important because…

                          If we find b, that’s important too because

Or, this research question is so important, whatever answer we get is bound to be important.

4. Stating the significance of your research, you’ll probably take one or more of these approaches:

Knowing this, we can do something better

This challenges accepted belief

Answers question

Opens new avenue of research

Finally, don’t hold anything good back! The abstract is NOT an introduction. It’s “the whole thing in a nutshell.”

Sentence and word level advice

Don’t repeat your title. Don’t say I. (“This project”) Dropping I-constructions, you can compress sentences more.

Wordy version:

“I exposed lab mice to cigarette smoke. Then I killed and dissected them. I found lung tumors. So I think smoking causes cancer.”

Condensed version:

“Dissection revealed lung tumors in mice exposed to cigarette smoke, indicating that smoking causes cancer.”

 Don’t quote. Passive voice okay in natural sciences, but avoid in psychology.  Explain technical terms, or even better, think of a generally understood equivalent.