As you write, consider

THE BIG PICTURE

STRUCTURE

EVIDENCE

AUDIENCE & STYLE

DO'S & DON'TS

GOAL

Provide a stand-alone summary of your research (or perhaps in your case, a summary of your project or lab assignment).

CHARACTERISTICS

  • The abstract should include information from the four main sections of the paper: background and primary objectives (introduction), methods used, key results, and a statement of the implications of your results (conclusion).

  • A large percentage of the abstract text (about 75% to 90%) should focus on describing your study (especially the results and implications) rather than on background information.

  • Abstracts are short — usually about 150 to 500 words long. For exact word count, you should ask your instructor or read the journal guidelines.

  • Abstracts are usually written last.

ORGANIZATION

The order of information in the abstract should follow the order of the paper (introduction, methods, results, conclusion).

STYLE

Write the abstract in past tense.

Do refer to this successful example.

DON’T

Don’t include any information in the abstract that is not in the body of the paper.

Abstracts do not usually contain citations.