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Mastering the Art of Writing Research Abstracts

Learn strategies and challenges in writing effective research abstracts for reports, theses, and papers. Understand the goals, new findings, methodology, and significance. Improve with iterations and examples for impactful communication.

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Mastering the Art of Writing Research Abstracts

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  1. Writing a Research Abstract Ian F. C. Smith

  2. Disclaimer This is mostly opinion. Suggestions are incomplete. There are other strategies.

  3. Why? • Research abstracts are needed for … • Intermediate thesis reports • Contributions to a summary of work by an organization • The beginning of a thesis document, journal paper and conference paper • Report your work to introduce yourself to other research groups • Looking for a job after a thesis • Looking for money to continue research • Looking for money to start a company

  4. What are the challenges? Abstract length is limited (typically 200-400 words) • Staying accurate • Including important results • Leaving out less important results

  5. What are the challenges? Readers have limited attention spans • Most people will scan • Must not use text simplifiers such as acronyms and abbreviations unless everyone is sure to know them • Should not use long compound-complex sentences

  6. What are the challenges? Readers have limited interest • Most people are not in your field and not interested (yet) • Those who are interested will refer to a longer document to get more details

  7. Startingmindset Writing a good research abstract meansbelieving the following • Short issweet • Time spentdoingsomeresearchtasksdoesnotcreate importance • Everythingcannotbesaid • Importance criteria changes with the audience • Cleardoes not meanstupid

  8. Whatis the goal? Beforewriting, identify the purpose of the abstract and the context in whichitisread. This meansyouneed to know • Whowillreadit (scientist, journalist, architect, politician) • Wherewilltheyreadit (in their office, on a wall, at an exhibition) • Whyisit important to do an abstract (seebefore) Identify relevant trendsthatmakethisworktimely. Examples are : convergence of technologies, drops in prices, increases in capacity, population trends, resourcescarcity, climate change, otheropportunities and risks.

  9. Give it “punch” Answerthese questions in as few words as possible (no sentences yet!) • Why do thisresearch (include trends herewhen relevant)? • Whatis new? • How and what has been found? • Whydoesitmatter? Nowyoucanstartwriting!

  10. 1. Whydo thisresearch? Justification for researchis • Answered in one sentence, refer to goals • Need input from team members • Usuallyrelated to the arguments used to fund the work in the researchproposal. Refer to this document. • Dependsupon the audience (focus and words) • Likely to bemodified over time

  11. 2. Whatis new? Originalityisestablishedthrough use of one one, perhapstwo sentences. Statement(s) thatrevealresearch gaps and shortcomings. Typicalwords are “new approach”, “new method”, “new framework”, “new combination”. Instead of “new” one can use “novel”. Other possibilities are “innovative”, “original”, “unique”, “transformational”, “ground breaking”. It is better to understate than to overstate. There is no room for a literature survey. While it is possible to refer to “other work” no citations are made in abstracts.

  12. 3. How and what has been found? These are sentences that usually contain either pairs of methodology (how) and results (observations) or pairs of results and conclusions. Four to six sentences are usually enough. Numbers can be impressive. “5000 simulations were performed and after falsification using sensor data, 310 were found to be feasible descriptions of reality” Conclusions must be included. (This is not a film summary where the end is purposely not revealed!) It is not enough to state observations only.

  13. 4. Why does it matter? Done in one sentence. Refer to • Goals of work (see before) • May include social, technical, economic and political links that have not been explicitly stated in goals • How has the World been made to be a better place? Be careful not to oversell here(!!). Check with the senior author. Total length of research abstract : 7-10 sentences

  14. Quality Usually the first draft is not very good. To improve • Iterate 2-3 times • All team members should contribute • Individual words are important. Take the time to find good ones. • 1-2 day minimum period between iterations. This means that abstracts cannotbe done in one day. Plan on one week at least.

  15. Conclusions Much can be accomplished with a good research abstract. Finding the right words and the right arguments can take a long time. Identify good abstracts from others to learn by example. Remember that there are many, many bad abstracts around. Improvement is always possible.

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