In recent years, abstracts have become a progressively important part of written submissions within the academic world. Not only are they used when submitting work for consideration to journals or conferences, they are now often required when submitting written projects (e.g. theses or dissertations) for graduate and undergraduate degree courses.
Students often believe the primary purpose of an abstract is to inform readers of, and attract them to, their study. While this is certainly true, these characteristics relate more to published articles rather than degree course submissions. When required as part of an assessed dissertation or thesis, abstracts are used chiefly to:
- Identify a potential examiner (i.e. administrative use)
- Practice for future publications (i.e. professional development use)
Length of Abstract
Many publishers, or departments in the university, will set a word or page limit for your abstract. If they don’t, you should note that thesis and dissertation abstracts typically range from one long paragraph to a page in length (though natural science abstracts can be up to two pages in length).
Please note: ‘extended abstracts’ (also known as conference proceedings) are one exception to the one to two page convention.
Writing an Abstracts
An abstract looks to primarily provide a summary of the work carried out, and highlight its value to the field of study. With this in mind, abstracts are typically comprised of the 8 following topics (or ‘moves’) in the order set out below:
1. Background to the study
2. Purpose of the study
3. Research issues/problems/questions/hypotheses
4. Method
5. Results or
6. Outline of argument/study
7. Conclusions/implications
8. Contribution of the thesis/dissertation to the field of study
Few abstracts, if any, would include all 8 moves. Rather, the writer would select the four of five moves that are most relevant to their thesis, dissertation, publication. The amount of emphasis put on each move will depend on how important it is within your study. The amount of detail for each depends on the word count available. However, concision is an important aspect of abstract writing, and the convention is to only write one or two sentences for each move you select.
While one student will select different topics/moves from another, all good abstracts have things in common. Namely, effectice abstracts include a discussion on the value (i.e. implications or contribution) of the study. Put another way, all abstracts should conclude with Move 7 or 8.
Oxford Abstract Examples
Undergraduate Thesis Example
Post Graduate:
FURTHER LANGUAGE CONSIDERATIONS
There are several linguistic conventions that are regularly observed with abstract writing.
Tenses
The most common tense used in abstract writing is present simple. Please consider the example below as well as the analysis.
Past Tense Version
This thesis had a particular and a general aim. The particular aim was to provide a satisfactory account of constitutional crises. Available accounts tended to either exaggerate the disruptive character of such crises or, conversely, to deny it; the challenge was thus to acknowledge the disruption without representing it disproportionately. The general aim was to outline a theory of law from which such a satisfactory account would follow…. The legal system had a place in this latter picture, but this place corresponded to the important yet limited role of the state in wider social practice. Articulating and substantiating this proposal took up the better part of the thesis, eventually yielding an understanding of legal continuity which translates into a satisfactory account of constitutional crises. The continuity of legal practice was a direct function of the continued efficacy of some normative system, but depended on whether participants in the practice can make enough legal sense of their interactions to know how to carry on with them.
Future Tense Version
This thesis will have a particular and a general aim. The particular aim will be to provide a satisfactory account of constitutional crises. Available accounts tend to either exaggerate the disruptive character of such crises or, conversely, to deny it; the challenge will thus [be] to acknowledge the disruption without representing it disproportionately. The general aim will be to outline a theory of law from which such a satisfactory account would follow…. The legal system will have a place in this latter picture, but this place will correspond to the important yet limited role of the state in wider social practice. Articulating and substantiating this proposal will take up the better part of the thesis, eventually yielding an understanding of legal continuity which translates into a satisfactory account of constitutional crises. The continuity of legal practice will not be seen to be a direct function of the continued efficacy of some normative system, but will depend on whether participants in the practice can make enough legal sense of their interactions to know how to carry on with them.
Present Tense Version (Original)
This thesis has a particular and a general aim. The particular aim is to provide a satisfactory account of constitutional crises. Available accounts tend to either exaggerate the disruptive character of such crises or, conversely, to deny it; the challenge is thus to acknowledge the disruption without representing it disproportionately. The general aim is to outline a theory of law from which such a satisfactory account would follow…. The legal system has a place in this latter picture, but this place corresponds to the important yet limited role of the state in wider social practice. Articulating and substantiating this proposal takes up the better part of the thesis, eventually yielding an understanding of legal continuity which translates into a satisfactory account of constitutional crises. The continuity of legal practice is a direct function of the continued efficacy of some normative system, but depends on whether participants in the practice can make enough legal sense of their interactions to know how to carry on with them.
Analysis
Often times, students feel that the past-tense would be most appropriate because the study is, after all, in a completed state at the time the student is writing the abstract. From a stylistic standpoint, however, this tends to present the research as dated or obsolete. The future tense would appear appropriate from a reader standpoint (as the reader has yet to read the paper) but, again there are stylistic drawbacks, with the study coming across as both speculative or incomplete.
As can be seen from the examples above, the present tense version strikes a good balance between the past and future tense version, with the research coming across as both completed and relevant.
Positive Evaluative Language
Abstracts tend to avoid any detailed discussions of limitations. Rather, it is important to draw the reader’s attention to the potential contributions or positive implications of the study. Below is table of useful positive evaluative language commonly seen in abstracts written by Oxford students:
Empirical Studies
- [x] allows [y] to be successfully modelled.
- [x] allows relevant data to be extracted.
- This has permitted the determination of [y]…
- These experimental results have enabled [y] to be proposed.
- Further work will permit a better interpretation of [x]…
- The results presented show/demonstrate that…
- [x] is a suitable alternative to [y]
- [x] demonstrates the significance of [y]
- The [x] techniques utilised in the study offer great potential for such analysis.
- [x] allows for the development of a new and easier to use technique.
- This technique, the first to use [x]…
Theoretical Studies
- I stress the relevance of such an investigation to [x]…
- I provide an original interpretation of [x]…
- The effect of [x] has been found to be significant to [y].
- This comparison effectively reveals how [x] can be linked to [y].
General Positive Language
- This study offers a new approach to [x].
- It is shown that…
- This proves for the first time a long-held theory that…
- The advantages of [x] have been amply demonstrated in this work.
- The advantages of this technique in terms of its ease of use have…
- [x] is shown to be successful.
- [x] were successfully identified.
