Abstract: How to Write
OVERVIEW
The last major section of the experimental research report we look at is the abstract. As you know, the abstract is actually the first section of a report, coming after the title and before the introduction. The abstract provides the reader with a brief preview of your study based on information from the other sections of the report. We have reserved our examination of the abstract for the last because it is often the last part of the report to be written.
FIGURE 9.1 Abstract.
INFORMATION CONVENTIONS
Many readers depend on the abstract to give them enough information about the study to decide if they will read the entire report or not.
Read the following sample abstract from the field of computer science. It reports on a test of a voice recognition device designed to take dictation. Not the kinds of information included and the order in which the information is presented.
COMPOSING LETTERS WITH A SIMULATED LISTENING TYPEWRITER
Background
Abstract. With a listening typewriter, what an author says would be automatically recognized and displayed in front of him or her.
Purpose
However, speech recognition is not yet advanced enough to provide people with a reliable listening typewriter. An aim of our experiments was to determine if an imperfect listening typewriter would be useful for composing letters.
Methods
Participants dictated either in isolated words or in consecutive word speech. They did this with simulations of listening typewriters that recognized either limited vocabulary or an unlimited vocabulary.
Results
Results indicated that some versions, even upon first using them, were at least a good as traditional methods of handwriting and dictating.
Conclusion
Isolated word speech with large vocabularies may provide the basis for a useful listening typewriter.
WHAT HAVE YOU OBSERVED?
1. What was the principal activity of this research project?
2. Why are the five information elements in the preceding abstract orderci in this particular way?
3. Which sentences could be eliminated from this abstract without losing critical information about the study?
Please, write down your answers to this task and mail them through course-email to your tutor with the mark "2.9.1"!
Ordering Your Information
Abstracts from almost all fields of study are written in a very similar way. The types of information included and their order are very conventional. The box that follows shows the typical information format of an abstract.
NOTE: In some publications this section is titled "summary." Check with your editor or professor to determine the appropriate title for you to use.
EXERCISE 2.9.1 Analysis
Read the following abstract carefully. It is taken from the child psychology study. Identify the sentences in the abstract that correspond to the elements B, P, M, R, and C in the preceding box.
TYPE A BEHAVIORS BY CHILDREN, SOCIAL COMPARISON, AND STANDARDS FOR SELF-EVALUATION
Abstract
Type A behavior, an established risk factor for coronary heart disease, is characterized by extremes of competitive achievement striving, impatience, hostility, and aggression. As part of an effort to understand the origins of this behavior pattern, the present study assessed the impact of performance standards on the social behavior of Type A and Type B children. Children performed a five-trial task. Half were given an explicit standard with which to compare their own performance; half were given no standard. After 5 trials, all subjects were informed that their total score represented the middle score of the whole group and were asked to select one score for further comparison, results showed no significant differences among groups on the frequency of comparison. In contrast, the results did show that regardless of the presence or absence of an explicit standard. Type A children chose to evaluate their performance against the top score, whereas Type B children chose to do so only in the absence of an explicit standard. The implications of these results for understanding the childhood antecedents of Type A behavior are discussed.
