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For those of you who are heavily involved in research report writing or even publication of papers, you might face problems when trying to condense your research work into a short abstract. Most of the time, you’re required to submit an abstract for consideration of publication as it helps the editor to read through your work rapidly before getting into your full paper. Here are some useful tips that might just help you come up with a good abstract:

Why write an abstract?

An abstract is a shortened version of a paper. It is important for several reasons. Generally, it aims at providing the first chance for you to announce and cite the preliminary findings of your study. Besides that, it allows you to communicate your findings to your colleagues and get their feedback as they don’t have to read your full paper. The key to a good abstract is that it can attract you readers to "wanting" to know more about your work.

Structure of an abstract

Title

The title should be an accurate promise of the abstract’s contents. It should explain as much as possible about the context and the aims of the study. Ideally, the title should be about 10–15 words long, and should include the scope of the investigation, the study design and the goal.

Main text

 A good abstract should address the five following questions in the relevant sections:

"Why did you start?" – Introduction or background
You should summarise, preferably in one sentence, the current knowledge, or state-of-the-art, specifically in relation to the work you are presenting.

"What did you try to do?" – Aims and objectives
Here, you should state the aim of the study, and ideally include a short statement of the study’s hypothesis. A legitimate scientific study is not done "to prove that something is true" but rather "to find out whether it is true." The difference may seem small, but it makes a huge difference. A formal hypothesis shows that you were objective.

"What did you do?" – Methods
In an abstract, the description of the methods has to be concise, and much of the details of what was done must be omitted. However, in a few short sentences, you can give the reader a good idea of the design of the study, the context in which it was done, and the types of patients or measurements that were included.

"What did you find?" – Results
It is important to give the main results of the study, not just in subjective terms ("We found device X to be superior to device Y") but also in the form of some real data. You will need to choose which findings to report here: it should be the most important data in your study, and the findings on which your conclusions will be based. Do not include a table or figure unless you need it to show your results (even so, minimize them).

"What does it mean?" – Conclusions
Here, space limitations generally limit you to a single sentence of why you think your findings are important, and their potential implications. Keep your conclusions reasonable and supportable by the findings of your study. Remember that if your study was restricted to certain patients, or a particular therapy, or a specific device, its results may not extend beyond these restrictions.

 

 You should also avoid using acronyms and citations in your abstract. If you need to use acronyms, spell it out for the first time it is mentioned. Use simple sentences when writing an abtract, avoid using too many passive sentences.