There are some necessary components of a perfect research paper or article. The abstract is one of them. It is the key section of your paper due to many reasons. When you send your paper for review or editing, the editors first read the abstract of your paper. And when your paper becomes clear and published, the abstract is the first thing that readers read. Sometimes, readers only read the abstract of a paper. Thus, the abstract is important, and many literature databases index the abstracts and inhibit access to the full-text article.
It means that your abstract is the main component that helps readers decide whether to access full-text or leave it. We collect some key points for you to write a perfect abstract for your paper. If you follow all these instructions, you will be able to get maximum attention. However, you can also search about how to write a paper online and hire expert services.
Tips to write an abstract for your paper
- Write the paper first.
Some writers may suggest you start your abstract while writing the research. It is the chance that your paper may take a long time to finish in months or years. When you write a research paper for months or years, the full concept of the paper may fade in your mind. It will affect the efficiency of your abstract. So, we recommend you to write your first. It will refresh all the ideas and concepts of paper in your mind and help to write a great abstract.
- Provide introductory background information that leads into a statement of your aim
The first few lines of the abstract have a great impact on your paper. You must provide basic information about your research in the first 3 to 4 lines. Informative sentences quickly attract the readers. Middle lines should describe a specific topic that lacks information. You must also write about the problem and the work of researchers to find the solution.
- Briefly describe your methodology.
It is the section where you can define the mainframe of your paper. Avoid extending the section of methodology. Only describe the techniques used in this research. Try to brief your methodology.
If your research paper is about medicine or biology, mention some cell lines, tissues, or organisms. The abstract of clinical papers should describe patients’ groups, study duration, medicine dose, and sample size. If the paper is about ecology, then the abstract should have important and authentic information.
- Clearly describe the most important findings of your study.
As we discussed earlier, the abstract is the key section of a paper. The subsection of results is also a very important piece of the abstract. Because it mentions all your findings here, reading your paper must be curious about the findings. So, this portion of the paper should be long and describe every important finding and result of your research. It is the section that you should try to make lengthy by providing details of your research.
We are taking an example of body weight to explain how you should write your findings. The statement is the bodyweight difference in two groups of animals named “A” and “B.” The differences that we found were not very clear and informative. When we observe the average weight loss, the animals of group “A” show a greater average of weight loss as compared to group “B.” as the weight loss difference was significant in-group “A.” The word “significant” is not needed now.
- State the conclusion concisely and avoid overstatement
Close your abstract by writing 2 to 3 lines that describe the main message of your research paper. This section is called the conclusion. Start this section with a perfect statement that holds your team together. For example, you can say that our whole discussion in the study was about, etc.; if you find other information about your title, you can mention it here. Next, write a statement that describes the advantages of your research or how your work meets modern society. A good conclusion helps readers to understand the findings and their importance.
- Things that should be avoided in abstract
An abstract is considered as a summary of a research paper. Usually, the abstract has a strict limit of words. It is very challenging to collect very important information and findings in only 250 or less than 250 words. So, you need to be careful while writing your abstract. Do not write unnecessary information that can waste your words.
Here is the list of some points that should not be used in the abstract;
- Avoid excessive background information about your topic. Readers are more curious to know about current work rather than previous information.
- Do not put detailed information about the daily procedure in the laboratory.
- Avoid details of the software and statistical methods used in research.
- Citation
- Avoid undefined abbreviations. Many research papers contain a list of abbreviations used in the paper. It is unnecessary.
- Do not write the results of the research that were not discussed in the paper.