In passive voice, the subject is acted upon, usually by an unnamed actor. Scientists seem to be in love with the passive voice, as it can be found in many papers, simply adding to the word count and making the write less engaging. That is a shame. Your sentences will often sound more convincing and powerful in active voice, as the following examples demonstrate:.
Passive voice : Pituitary cells were grown in dishes that had been subjected to irradiation 12 words. Active voice : We grew pituitary cells in irradiated dishes 7 words. Passive voice : Three-hundred and forty-five patients who had undergone ovariectomy at our institution were enrolled in the present study 17 words.
Active voice : We enrolled patients whom we had ovariectomized eight words. Avoid using the passive voice in the abstract—save it for the Methods section! Most scientific articles include statistics. Usually, the statistical methods are described in detail in the Methods section of a paper. But many authors feel compelled for some reason to mention statistics in the abstract, perhaps to get the details out first.
But unless your paper is primarily about statistics, it is best to keep statistics out of the abstract and stick to language that expresses the most important use and findings of the study. Not only do statistics add to your word count, but they also interrupt the flow of your argument. You certainly do not need to tell the reader what statistical tests you used or the version of the statistics program you used—that is what the Methods section is for. Some authors place information about patient consent and institutional review board approval in the abstract.
Whereas this information is indeed essential, it is not necessary to put it in the abstract. Like statistics, consent and approval statements interrupt the flow of your argument. Readers expect to find information about consent and approval in the Methods section. Are you struggeling with writing the abstract of your research paper? Let us show you in 10 steps how to write a really good paper abstract that will help you get published and likely generate a bigger audience for your work.
The abstract of your paper will be found by lots of researchers in online databases. They might come across your abstract through a database search, or through using keywords in their search. They will scan your abstract, and if it is convincing and well-written, they might download and start reading your paper. But, think about it, how often have you downloaded a paper after you read a really poor, confusing and irrelevant paper abstract?
We guess… not too often. Why would you start reading a paper if the abstract is already poor? Therefore, if you want your paper to be published, found, and read by many of your peers, to let them know the good research you are doing, you should craft a well-written abstract! Let us show you how you can develop an abstract that readers will like and that will help you to promote your work.
There is a common misunderstanding about abstracts: The abstract is not a teaser of a paper, where you start to tell some interesting bits about the research that is to come in the paper, but you stop when it really gets exciting, to tempt the reader. Once you watch the movie, most of the trailer scenes come up in the first five minutes, but the story has not yet enfolded. The abstract is also not an outline for a paper that you are going to write, where you briefly sketch the content that should be covered in your paper.
This is not what an abstract should be used for. An abstract is the short summary of a paper published in an international peer-reviewed journal. Abstract and summary can be used synonymously in papers. The abstract summarises the entire content of the paper, not only some parts.
After reading the abstract, your readers should have a very clear idea what they can expect to read in the paper. Yes, the information in the paper will be far more detailed and specific but the research question, how it has been addressed and what has been found should already be clear to the reader after reading the abstract.
In a paper, the abstract appears on the front page. This is where your peers, the potential readers of your paper, will most likely first find it. Purpose 1: It plays a key role when other researchers look for literature on a specific topic.
It informs them about the content and the benefits of your paper. Based on the abstract, a researcher might determine the relevance of a paper and might decide to read the paper. A good abstract on a topic someone is interested in extends them an invitation to read the entire paper! Purpose 2: Your abstract has also an important function in the peer-review process. Once your paper is submitted to the journal to be judged by its editors and reviewers, they will first look at the abstract of the paper to get a first impression of your topic and its relevance.
When an editor decides to pass it on to a reviewer, this reviewer will also see your abstract first. They will use the abstract to help them decide to accept or decline the review invitation.
A well-written abstract may make a reviewer like your paper that much more. Getting a review invitation with a poor abstract creates no appetite to review a paper. If the reviewer decides to review anyway he or she might be biased from the start and look merely for confirmation that the rest of the paper follows the quality of the abstract. The abstract is often the first thing readers start with and it comes on the first page.
But please, do not write it as the first section of your paper. Write the abstract only once the other paper sections are completed.
You can only summarise what you have already written. If you write the abstract at the beginning, you risk writing statements that are not included in the paper. As a consequence, you will have to rewrite your abstract later.
If the paper sections are well-written and you follow the steps outlined below, it should not take you longer than minutes to write a very informative abstract. Most abstracts are between and words. Seldom will you find abstracts of more than words in papers.
For conferences, abstracts can sometimes be longer, and labelled as extended abstracts up to 1, words. This study aims to determine how such representations can be better targeted in order to increase donations. Specifically, it investigates whether the perceived social distance between victims and potential donors has an impact on donation intention. In this context, social distance is defined as the extent to which people feel they are in the same social group in-group or another social group out-group in relation to climate change victims.
To test the hypothesis that smaller social distance leads to higher donation intention , an online survey was distributed to potential donors based across the UK. Respondents were randomly divided into two conditions large and small social distance and asked to respond to one of two sets of fundraising material.
Responses were analyzed using a two-sample t-test. The results showed a small effect in the opposite direction than hypothesized: large social distance was associated with higher donation intention than small social distance. These results suggest that potential donors are more likely to respond to campaigns depicting victims that they perceive as socially distant from themselves.
On this basis, the concept of social distance should be taken into account when designing environmental fundraising campaigns. You will almost always have to include an abstract when writing a thesis , dissertation , research paper , or submitting an article to an academic journal. In all cases, the abstract is the very last thing you write. It should be a completely independent, self-contained text, not an excerpt copied from your paper or dissertation.
The easiest approach to writing an abstract is to imitate the structure of the larger work — think of it as a miniature version of your dissertation or research paper.
In most cases, this means the abstract should contain four key elements. Start by clearly defining the purpose of your research. What practical or theoretical problem does the research respond to, or what research question did you aim to answer? After identifying the problem, state the objective of your research.
Use verbs like investigate , test , analyze or evaluate to describe exactly what you set out to do. This part of the abstract can be written in the present or past simple tense , but should never refer to the future, as the research is already complete. Next, indicate the research methods that you used to answer your question. This part should be a straightforward description of what you did in one or two sentences. It is usually written in the past simple tense as it refers to completed actions.
Next, summarize the main research results. This part of the abstract can be in the present or past simple tense. Depending on how long and complex your research is, you may not be able to include all results here.
Try to highlight only the most important findings that will allow the reader to understand your conclusions. Finally, state the main conclusions of your research : what is your answer to the problem or question?
The reader should finish with a clear understanding of the central point that your research has proved or argued. Conclusions are usually written in the present simple tense. If there are important limitations to your research for example, related to your sample size or methods , you should mention them briefly in the abstract. This allows the reader to accurately assess the credibility and generalizability of your research. If your aim was to solve a practical problem, the conclusions might include recommendations for implementation.
If relevant, you can briefly make suggestions for further research. If your paper will be published, you might have to add a list of keywords at the end of the abstract. These keywords should reference the most important elements of the research to help potential readers find your paper during their own literature searches.
Be aware that some publication manuals, such as APA Style , have specific formatting requirements for these keywords.
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