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Abstracts. Abstract. A brief overview of the report’s contents Most read section of a report Offers readers a “first impression” of your work Readers determine the report’s usefulness to them Written last (usually). Two Basic Types of Abstracts. Descriptive abstract Informative abstract.
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Abstract • A brief overview of the report’s contents • Most read section of a report • Offers readers a “first impression” of your work • Readers determine the report’s usefulness to them • Written last (usually)
Two Basic Types of Abstracts • Descriptive abstract • Informative abstract
Descriptive Abstracts • Provides the specialist with enough information to decide if she would benefit from reading the report • Gives an accurate indication of the subject matter and scope • May use technical language and jargon
Informative Abstracts • Provides administrator or executive with an overview of the project and the results it shows • Summarizes the results and conclusions in context by adding a bit of background • Contains terms understood by a general audience
Guidelines • Include enough specific information to satisfy the needs of a busy reader • Topic • Method • Budget • Results • Other??
Guidelines (con’t) • Must be a self-contained unit • The abstract must accurately portray the report’s contents in order to be effective • “Report-in-miniature” (or a snapshot of the report’s contents)
Guidelines (con’t) • Must be short • Depends on the length of the paper • Rule of thumb 100-150 words • Longer reports will require longer abstracts
Guidelines (con’t) • Must be easy-to-read • Grammatically correct • Each sentence must be purposeful • Be able to identify the function of each sentence • If you can’t identify a sentence’s purpose, consider revising • No tables or illustrations