IJIMAI How to Write a Good Abstract

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The abstract is the showcase of a paper. This is a very important part of it because, after the title, this is one of the most read parts. Many researchers decide reading a paper from the information in the abstract. Therefore the abstract is the opportunity to synthetize what has been done in a way that the reader is impressed and wants to learn more. When you read an abstract you have to know exactly what the paper is about and its key benefits for readers. A poorly written abstract will make a potential reader to move to another paper and, moreover, it can result in a direct rejection from the editor of a journal. Editors of journals should be able to know if the research presented in the paper is sound and relevant from the information in the abstract. Besides, when a reviewer is invited by the editor to review a manuscript, he will make the decision of accepting the invitation from the information included in the abstract and, more important, this will form an initial opinion on the paper. In this article we give some guidelines to write a good abstract.

The abstract is a condensed version of the paper, which can be read as a standalone document. This must reflect the essential information of the paper, which can be organized as follows:

• Introduction: use two or three sentences to outline the motivation of the research and its objective. First, introduce the overall topic in just one sentence. After that indicate what is already known about it and focus on what is not known, indicating the scientific gap your research is filling. In other words, synthetize the research in a key question, and summarize why nobody has answered to the research question yet.
• Methodology: explain how the research question has been answered, what has been done and how. Briefly describe if you have developed a new tool or method, if you have run experiments and their main characteristics, as sample size or instruments used to evaluate results.
• Results: Indicate what is found in the research, the data and information obtained from the methods applied. There are papers which do not give details about results in the abstract. These authors just introduce motivation and the key question and keep reader in suspense hoping that he will read the whole paper. An abstract is not the trailer of a film. Researchers devote plenty of time to study papers so we must help them to select those papers relevant for their research. Therefore, indicate the findings of the research in your abstracts, even if results do not confirm the established hypothesis. Experiments with hypothesis not confirmed can be also relevant for researchers to avoid their repetition.
• Conclusion: indicate the meaning of results, the answer to the research question and other unexpected findings. In two or three sentences indicate key benefits, let the reader know why the results are important, which are the implications and contribution to literature.

As guidance about extensions of these different parts, while introduction and conclusion may take up one third of the abstract, methods and results would cover two thirds.

When writing the abstract, do not forget to tell the story of your research trying to attract the intended reader. To compose the abstract you may extract key sentences from corresponding sections of your paper and then, adapt texts and link the different parts so that the information flows well.

The logical moment to write the abstract is when the rest of the paper is finished, because the abstract synthetizes the information in the paper. However, you can write the abstract at the beginning of the process to organize your ideas and to have in mind all that you want to tell in the paper. If this is the case, it is crucial to revise the abstract at the end of the process and modify it so that it exactly reflects the information in the paper. During peer review process, do not forget to re-write the abstract to fit the adapted version of your paper when this is modified to comply with reviewers’ comments.

Some more tips below:

• Be Clear and concise. Ask a colleague to read the abstract to be sure that it is clear and understandable.
• Be careful in writing. An abstract with typographic errors will make the reader and editor think that the paper is not good.
• Avoid using abbreviations.
• Do not include reference citations. Take into account that many readers of the abstract will not have access to the reference list.
• Do not include information that is not in the paper.

Last, meet the guidelines of the targeted journal, keeping abstract within the word limit, etc. Take a look to the abstracts of papers published in the journal and, also, to the abstracts of your favourite papers. Pay attention to their style and contents. Ask yourself if those abstracts are appealing and if you miss some information there. This is a good exercise that surely will allow you to write better and better abstracts.

• Academic Journals Database
• Cabell's Directories
• Dialnet
• DBLP
• DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals
• EMERGING SOURCES CITATION INDEX- Thomson Reuters
• REDIB - Red Iberoamericana de Innovación y Conocimiento Científico
• EBSCO - Applied Science & Technology Source
• GALE Cengage Learning
• INSPEC - IET
• LATINDEX
• PUBLINDEX
• Web of Science - Thomson Reuters
• WORLDCAT

Other indexes:

Standford University(Libraries & Academic information resources), Ulrichs Web: The Global Source for Periodicals, Lupton Library: The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, NewJour. Georgetown University, National Library of Australia, HKU Libraries, OAK List DataBase of Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane Australia), University of Tsukuba Library (Japan), State Library of Kansas, Chinese Culture Library, Cleveland State University, Uottawwa Library, University of York, Google Scholar, Biblioteca Universia, Dulcinea.