Writing an Abstract

The Reason and Process An abstract is the summary of the research study that is placed below the title in a journal article. – Allows readers to survey the content quickly – Appears when looking up article in a database Usually….it’s the last thing you write But in this class….you’ll do it early and later revise

A good abstract is… Accurate: reflects the purpose and content of the study Self-contained: Should be understood without reading the study in its entirety. Concise: Each sentence should be informative, and it should include only the most important information.

An abstract of a report of an empirical study should describe: The problem under investigation. The participants/subjects, and their important demographics. The method, including materials and procedure. The findings (which you don’t know now, but will know at the end). The conclusions and implications/applications.

Step 1: How long is it? Always find out how long the abstract has to be before you write. For UW symposium and first draft < 300 words Final draft = < 150 words APA requires < 120 words!

Step 2: State the problem/question If there is room, you can start more broadly with the general problem Example: Maternal smoking is a leading preventable cause of poor pregnancy outcomes and infant morbidity and mortality. Whereas pregnancy has been thought of as a “window of opportunity” when women are more motivated to change health behaviors such as smoking, only 20% of pregnant women quit smoking upon learning they are pregnant and remain abstinent.

Step 3: Summarize question/hypothesis Example: The purpose of the study is to examine the meaning that the institution of marriage can hold for young, unmarried adults based on their systems (or collections) of beliefs about marriage. Note: You don’t need to use the word “hypothesis” or “purpose” or “question”. Example: The present study examined the effect of room temperature on aggressive behavior.

Step 4: Summarize highlights of method This includes participants, materials and procedure. You don’t have to use the terms “independent variable” or “dependent variable”.

Step 5: Give highlights of the results Right now, you don’t know what the results will be- don’t guess, but state what you “expect” to happen. Example: It is expected that participants in the hot room condition will perform more aggressive acts than participants in the cool room condition.

Step 6: Implications If implications and/or suggestions for future research are emphasized in the study, consider concluding the abstract by mentioning them Again, this may be speculative in your early version: The results of this study may have implications for whether exercise should be a part of the school curriculum.

Two hundred second-grade students were administered a battery of published cognitive tests that measured a variety of academic achievement variables. The students were drawn from three elementary schools in a large, urban school district. All were tested near the end of second grade. Test administrators administered the tests in three sessions because students might become fatigued by taking the entire battery in a single testing session. The three research hypotheses were confirmed. Implications for cognitive development and directions for future research are discussed.