Research Abstract Writing

Research abstracts are stand alone statements that briefly, but specifically, describe research projects. Research abstracts are most commonly encountered in scholarly journal publishing where abstracts are included at the beginning of an article. In this instance, the abstract is a summary of the research being reported in the article and includes the research question, the research methodology and the general research findings. The article then describes all of these topics in detail. Abstracts of researchers who have presented their research findings at national and international conferences are also published as part of the proceedings of the conference.

Once the necessary information is gathered, the next step is drafting the abstract. The abstract writing style is usually dictated by the research discipline and/or the guidelines provided by a journal publisher. It may be helpful to read sample abstracts to understand the writing style.

The essential parts of an abstract should include statements about the following:

• the research question, hypothesis or purpose of the research
• the research methodology
• the preliminary findings and/or results of the investigation
• the conclusions or possible application of the research
  

The abstract should be written in third person voice and should not include personal references or names. The writing style should be concise and to the point. Very little explanation or further description is required. The total number of words should not exceed 250.

Students are encouraged to read a variety of abstracts to understand the writing style and the abstract content. Abstracts can be found by browsing current research journals available in any of the University libraries. A collection of abstracts written by undergraduate students is available in the UROP Office.

Abstract Writing Resources

• Abstracts, Summaries and Creative Statements
  by Hilton Obenzinger,Stanford University
• How to Write an Abstract...
  URC, University of California, Davis
• ASA Writing an Informative Abstract  The American Sociological Association
• Abstracts,  by John December and Susan Katz.
  The Writing Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Writing up the Research Abstract
   Asian Institute of Technology 

For personal assistance writing the abstract, students are encouraged to work with the following:

• UROP Faculty Research Sponsor
• Sweetland Writing Center