When your scientific work finally came to the finish line, everything is structured with text and tables on the topic, one final touch remains. And actually, a lot depends on this short thesis for research. Neither the professor or a teacher, who will evaluate this work, nor the potential reader from your target audience, does not know everything about the significant work you have done. You should know how to write the scientific abstract strong and to the point. Your task is to tell everyone about all your huge efforts and the importance of this work for modern science in a concise text of 300 words and even less.
In the age of the Internet, when all students and researchers have extensive (and equal) opportunities to develop science, it is difficult to stand out from the masses. Let your work not be lost among analogs and declare your uniqueness through a high-quality intriguing thesis. Let’s see what is an abstract, its content and the order of writing.
Abstract Scientific Definition and Purpose
Unlike any kind of literature, scientific works are read for information, not for pleasure. And the joy is experienced when information is relevant to the request of the reader. In simple words, in the scientific abstract, you should show that the work will justify the expectations from the time spent studying it.
In the conventional version, the abstract scientific definition is a brief overview of scientific work. Its goal is to inform about the content of the work without reading all the work. Therefore, before writing, you need to put yourself in the place of a reader who does not know anything about your paper. People want to understand whether they will find specific information of interest in your scientific work or whether it refers to the desired topic as a whole.
Also, abstracts are used in scientific printed and online publications as a forward. Often, the editorial board decides to include the work in the content plan only for the abstract. Notice that this short paragraph of 200-300 words must obligatorily include: introduction, description of the methodology, main results and goals achieved, summarizing the conclusions, importance, and productivity of the scientific work you have done. There is no place for details and explanations in the abstract in a scientific paper. Only a capacious text that reflects the general essence.
Writing a Scientific Abstract: Tips and Tricks
First, you need to do a brief analysis of your work. How can this be done? Print, read it and underline all the highlights with a marker. Combine this work with editing the entire paper to bring it to perfection. All the theses should be distributed in logical and chronological order in your abstract.
So, let’s disassemble step by step how to write a good scientific abstract. First of all, you need to stop the reader's attention on your work, try to answer this two questions in the introduction:
- What was already known about the topic of your study?
- What new things did you plan to open in advance in your scientific field?
The introduction should consist of 1-2 sentences. As you can see, the main task is to impress the demanding reader of scientific works.
Then write the basic definitions of the methods you used and their general essence, indicate the type of data analysis if you applied it.
The next step is to summarize all the results in several sentences. That should be a strong part, according to which the reader draws a conclusion about the importance of the whole work.
Further, summarize the work you have done and made recommendations for its application in the scientific field to which it relates. Analyze what contribution you made to science.
After the basic version is written, re-read it, remove unnecessary binding words and "water" from the text, try to reduce it as much as possible without losing the semantic load. Think about what it would be worth to add and if the text produces enough impression. Slowly read the text aloud so that you can detect errors.
What to include in a scientific abstract: topic in the title, main purpose, research questions, used methods, important findings, conclusions, recommendations. That is the basic structure.
Scientific Abstract Format Recommendations
Main rules of the correct wording:
- Observe the logical structure;
- Follow the chronology;
- Do not add new information and what is not really included in the study (use other more reasonable methods to interest the reader);
- Write for the widest possible audience, and this scientific abstracts should be understood by any person, regardless of education and qualifications;
- Scientific abstracts should reflect the essence of the work without reading it.
Typically, the scientific abstract format is 150-300 words depending on the type of abstract. Use the Times New Roman font size 12. Write it in a clear scientific language without reflection and unnecessary adjectives.
Find Scientific Abstract Outline Example for Inspiration
How to work with the examples? In fact, you do not need to copy them. Choose 5-10 scientific abstract outline examples that apply to scientific works from your area, read them and analyze their effectiveness. That will allow you to take into account other people's mistakes and not commit your personal. See how the text of most of the work is framed. By the way, do it before you start your own work.
Any scientific paper abstract example should be taken from some authoritative online publication, a scientific library of colleges and universities, recommended scientific manuals for the implementation of research. Do not use examples from non-accredited sites. Write down all your thoughts about all the examples in a notebook in the form of items that you will need to check, reading the final version of your thesis.