Your final year research project is not complete without an abstract. In order to write a good abstract for your research project you must have a good understanding of your research project; since the abstract usually covers your research objective, methods, result and conclusion.
In this article, I will guide you on how to write an abstract for your research project.
Table of Contents
How to Write an Abstract for your Research Project
What is an abstract
Before looking at how to write an abstract for your research project, let’s look at the meaning of abstract. An Abstract is a summary of your research project. Coined from the Latin word abstractum, an abstract allows the reader to understand the purpose, methods and finding of a research without reading the entire project.
Types of Abstract.
They are majorly 2 types of abstract, these include
- Descriptive abstract: Descriptive abstract as the name implies summarize the project without any comparison to other papers. It is usually very short; 100 words or less. Descriptive abstract is usually referred by some researchers as the outline of a project rather than an abstract it does not include conclusions of the research and recommendations of the author.
- Informative abstract: Informative abstract Informs the readers of all essential points of the
paper. It’s summarizes the method, result, findings and conclusion of the paper
summarizes the background, purpose, focus.
Apart from descriptive and informative abstract, we also have
critical, and highlight abstracts,
What makes a good abstract?
- A good abstract contains only information from the paper
- Covers all essential part of the paper, viz purpose, methods, results and conclusion
- It’s written after all other aspect of the paper is concluded
- Answers the questions on the purpose of the research, methodology, results and conclusion.
- Does not include any referencing
- The main difference between an abstract and Introduction is; an abstract gives the essence of the whole paper in brief, while introduction introduces the paper and outline background issues for discussion
Contents of an abstracts
Majorly a good abstract should cover the following:
- Background of the study
- Purpose of the study
- Study methodology
- Results
- Conclusions
- Recommendations
Steps to writing a good abstract
- Write the entire project first
- Determine the type of abstract that is suitable for your research project
- List out important keywords and technical terms from the research project
- Describe the purpose of your project in summary
- Explain the methodology for your research
- Describe your results and conclusion
- Put all of them together in not more than 250 words depending on the publication and the purpose of the abstract
Don’t
- Do not used any first person statement like “I”
- Do not introduce any findings that is not in the document in your abstract
- Do not use jargons or acronyms.
- Define any terms
- Extensively discussing other works.
DO
- Be Concise
- Use active voice
Final thought
An abstract is a concise form of your research project, which should be written at the end of your project. Writing a good abstract is very important to help readers to quickly understand the content of the entire project. Most people sees it as a gateway to your project and as such you have to pay great attention when writing this section of your project.
It is very important to consider your audience when you are working on it; you need to know who will be reading it and tailor your writing appropriately to suit your audience.