Due to numerous emails students keep sending to me
concerning difficulties they face when trying to write a
good and standard abstract, I have decided to pick up
my pen once again, do some research and tackle this
issue once and for all.
Writing an abstract is an important phase in the
research process; hence in-order to make good grades
with your research project and impress your readers,
one must be familiar with the techniques of writing a
good, concise and standard abstract.
Before I discourse on how to write a good abstract,
let’s talk a bit about an abstract. Is it a bird or an
insect? Absolutely not a bird or an insect, an abstract in
simple terms is a summary of a research project,
thesis. Dissertation, research journal etc. abstracts are
usually seen at the beginning of research paper.
In-order to write good and standard abstract, students
must first know how abstracts should be structured and
things to avoid when writing one. This article torches on
all of these. So enjoy!
STRUCTURE OF A STANDARD ABSTRACT
Most well written abstracts by outstanding researchers
all over the world are structured as follows:
Overview of the study/Background
Methods
Results or Findings
Recommendations and Conclusion
Now let us discourse these sections one after the
other.
OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
This is usually the first part of an abstract. It depicts
the central focus of the study. When writing an
abstract, students should know the central idea behind
their study. This section is very important as it tells
readers whether to continue reading or not. In essence
when giving an overview of your study, you should make
it concise and interesting enough to encourage readers
to read your whole work. Students must ensure readers
easily get a clue of what the research objectives are as
well as problems motivating the researcher to pick up
interest in the study.
METHODOLOGY
Methodology employed by the researcher constitutes
the second part of an abstract. With a semi-paragraph
or a sentence, state your research methods. This is
where you briefly let readers know your data collection
methods, research instruments employed, sample size
and so on. To some extent depending on your
institution’s research project format, you can state how
the research instruments were validated and distributed
(i.e. was it face-to-face distribution? or through email?).
RESULTS
The third section of an abstract is a brief summary of
your key findings or results. Findings or important
results recorded in the study must be briefly stated in
the abstract.
RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION
The last section of most abstracts tells readers
recommendations or suggestions made by the
researcher. This section is the most important section
in an abstract as it brings out the essence of research
which is solving identified problems, developing better
ways of doing things and adding to the body of
knowledge.
THINGS TO AVOID WHEN WRITING AN ABSTRACT
In-order to present a good abstract for academic award
(s), the following should be observed by the researcher:
Avoid Ambiguous Words and Complex Grammar
Remember an abstract is like a tip of the iceberg.
Complex and ambiguous words/sentences may
discourage readers from reading the full content of your
research. Using keywords at the end of an abstract may
help in letting your readers know the central theme or
idea of the study.
Do not Loose Focus
When writing an abstract, just go straight to the point.
Do not beat around the bush. Definition of terms, long
stories that are not interesting may make your abstract
too lengthy and boring…..leave all definitions and stories
for your introduction.
Avoid Lengthy Abstracts
Abstracts are meant to be brief and concise. Avoid
writing numerous pages and calling it ‘Abstract’. An
ideal abstract should be on a single page. However, if
you wish to write more, seek the advice of your
supervisor first.
Avoid Writing Abstracts When you have not
completed your Study
This particular point one is of great interest to me. I see
students writing abstracts before completing their
research studies, and it gets me wondering a lot. How
did they get findings and recommendations before data
analysis and interpretation? Or is there any such thing
as pre and post abstracts? If there is any, please feel
free to share your ideas by commenting below
because, this one is killing me. An abstract is meant to
be a summary of your entire work; hence it should be
after you have conducted your study.
Below is a perfect example of an abstract:
ABSTRACT
This study was intended to evaluate the extent
to which strategic planning affects organizational
performance. The study was guided by the
following objectives; to identify the various
components and phases of strategic planning
used in company ABC, to find out other factors
affecting organizational performance other than
strategic planning and to find out the relationship
between strategic planning and organizational
performance.
The study employed descriptive and explanatory
design, questionnaires in addition to library
research were applied in order to collect data.
Primary and secondary data sources were used
and data was analyzed using statistical package
which was presented in frequency tables and
percentage. The respondents under the study
were 30 employees of ABC, DEF branch. The
study majorly focused on phases and
components of strategic planning and how they
affect the organizational performance.
The study findings revealed that there is lack of
information gathering, where strategic planning
does not begin with collection of the necessary
information, there is strong review of the past
performance where by past performance is
considered to make the strategic plans. Pearson
correlation coefficient is 0.692 significant at
0.01 level (2-tailed), 0.00 indicates the
significance of interaction between two variables
an indication that the significant is under the
range of 0.0 and 0.05.
Using the above findings, it implied that there is
a strong relationship between strategic planning
and organization performance. According to the
study, strategic planning contributes 69.2%
towards performance in banking services and
this implied that other factors contribute 30.8%.
Improvements should be made in the
information altering systems and information
should be gathered first before making the
strategic plans. Company ABC should evolve all
the employees in decision making so as to
improve on the performance.
concerning difficulties they face when trying to write a
good and standard abstract, I have decided to pick up
my pen once again, do some research and tackle this
issue once and for all.
Writing an abstract is an important phase in the
research process; hence in-order to make good grades
with your research project and impress your readers,
one must be familiar with the techniques of writing a
good, concise and standard abstract.
Before I discourse on how to write a good abstract,
let’s talk a bit about an abstract. Is it a bird or an
insect? Absolutely not a bird or an insect, an abstract in
simple terms is a summary of a research project,
thesis. Dissertation, research journal etc. abstracts are
usually seen at the beginning of research paper.
In-order to write good and standard abstract, students
must first know how abstracts should be structured and
things to avoid when writing one. This article torches on
all of these. So enjoy!
STRUCTURE OF A STANDARD ABSTRACT
Most well written abstracts by outstanding researchers
all over the world are structured as follows:
Overview of the study/Background
Methods
Results or Findings
Recommendations and Conclusion
Now let us discourse these sections one after the
other.
OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
This is usually the first part of an abstract. It depicts
the central focus of the study. When writing an
abstract, students should know the central idea behind
their study. This section is very important as it tells
readers whether to continue reading or not. In essence
when giving an overview of your study, you should make
it concise and interesting enough to encourage readers
to read your whole work. Students must ensure readers
easily get a clue of what the research objectives are as
well as problems motivating the researcher to pick up
interest in the study.
METHODOLOGY
Methodology employed by the researcher constitutes
the second part of an abstract. With a semi-paragraph
or a sentence, state your research methods. This is
where you briefly let readers know your data collection
methods, research instruments employed, sample size
and so on. To some extent depending on your
institution’s research project format, you can state how
the research instruments were validated and distributed
(i.e. was it face-to-face distribution? or through email?).
RESULTS
The third section of an abstract is a brief summary of
your key findings or results. Findings or important
results recorded in the study must be briefly stated in
the abstract.
RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSION
The last section of most abstracts tells readers
recommendations or suggestions made by the
researcher. This section is the most important section
in an abstract as it brings out the essence of research
which is solving identified problems, developing better
ways of doing things and adding to the body of
knowledge.
THINGS TO AVOID WHEN WRITING AN ABSTRACT
In-order to present a good abstract for academic award
(s), the following should be observed by the researcher:
Avoid Ambiguous Words and Complex Grammar
Remember an abstract is like a tip of the iceberg.
Complex and ambiguous words/sentences may
discourage readers from reading the full content of your
research. Using keywords at the end of an abstract may
help in letting your readers know the central theme or
idea of the study.
Do not Loose Focus
When writing an abstract, just go straight to the point.
Do not beat around the bush. Definition of terms, long
stories that are not interesting may make your abstract
too lengthy and boring…..leave all definitions and stories
for your introduction.
Avoid Lengthy Abstracts
Abstracts are meant to be brief and concise. Avoid
writing numerous pages and calling it ‘Abstract’. An
ideal abstract should be on a single page. However, if
you wish to write more, seek the advice of your
supervisor first.
Avoid Writing Abstracts When you have not
completed your Study
This particular point one is of great interest to me. I see
students writing abstracts before completing their
research studies, and it gets me wondering a lot. How
did they get findings and recommendations before data
analysis and interpretation? Or is there any such thing
as pre and post abstracts? If there is any, please feel
free to share your ideas by commenting below
because, this one is killing me. An abstract is meant to
be a summary of your entire work; hence it should be
after you have conducted your study.
Below is a perfect example of an abstract:
ABSTRACT
This study was intended to evaluate the extent
to which strategic planning affects organizational
performance. The study was guided by the
following objectives; to identify the various
components and phases of strategic planning
used in company ABC, to find out other factors
affecting organizational performance other than
strategic planning and to find out the relationship
between strategic planning and organizational
performance.
The study employed descriptive and explanatory
design, questionnaires in addition to library
research were applied in order to collect data.
Primary and secondary data sources were used
and data was analyzed using statistical package
which was presented in frequency tables and
percentage. The respondents under the study
were 30 employees of ABC, DEF branch. The
study majorly focused on phases and
components of strategic planning and how they
affect the organizational performance.
The study findings revealed that there is lack of
information gathering, where strategic planning
does not begin with collection of the necessary
information, there is strong review of the past
performance where by past performance is
considered to make the strategic plans. Pearson
correlation coefficient is 0.692 significant at
0.01 level (2-tailed), 0.00 indicates the
significance of interaction between two variables
an indication that the significant is under the
range of 0.0 and 0.05.
Using the above findings, it implied that there is
a strong relationship between strategic planning
and organization performance. According to the
study, strategic planning contributes 69.2%
towards performance in banking services and
this implied that other factors contribute 30.8%.
Improvements should be made in the
information altering systems and information
should be gathered first before making the
strategic plans. Company ABC should evolve all
the employees in decision making so as to
improve on the performance.
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