1. Disclaimer
All workshops and workshop materials are for student and faculty use only and are the sole property of PEGS. Publishing, copying, or disseminating them without prior written approval from PEGS is strictly prohibited.
PEGS credits the Writing Center at UNC for much of the material included in this presentation:
All workshops and workshop materials are for student and faculty use only and are the sole property of PEGS.
Publishing, copying, or disseminating them without prior written approval from PEGS is strictly prohibited.
PEGS credits the Writing Center at UNC for much of the material included in this presentation.

2. Promoting Excellence in Graduate Studies
ABSTRACTS
Presented by PEGS
Promoting Excellence in Graduate Studies
This presentation is not comprehensive, but it does address the fundamentals for writing descriptive & informative abstracts; for further detail, please consult any one or more of the resources included herein, or visit the PEGS website:
For additional resources, simply visit the PEGS website: where you’ll find a whole host of online, academic resources, including many on abstracts.
If you’ve any questions or comments regarding this presentation, please feel free to contact PEGS via or telephone, both of which can be found on the home page of the aforementioned website.
Thank you.

3. What is an ABSTRACT?
ABSTRACT: an original, self-contained, brief, but powerfully informative & persuasive statement describing a longer, larger work
What is an abstract?

4. Why an ABSTRACT?
Indexing: Many online databases use abstracts to index larger works Selection: Abstracts allow readers to quickly determine if a particular source is worthy of a close-reading
So what’s the difference between “indexing” on the one hand and “selection” on the other?

5. Three types of ABSTRACTS:
1. Descriptive
2. Critical
3. Informative
Although there are 3 kinds of abstracts, for the purposes of this presentation, we will discuss the two most common types.
For information about critical abstracts, simply visit the PEGS website or ask one of CSUDH’s campus librarians; in fact, you can even schedule an appointment with a librarian who will be happy to assist you with your research and writing.

6. *Note: most abstracts are not descriptive…
relatively brief (typically 100 words or less)
incorporates key words, terms, & concepts
includes: purpose, method, & scope
more an outline; less a summary
primarily descriptive (hence the name!)
A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work.
It makes no judgments about the work, nor does it provide results or conclusions of the research.
It does incorporate key words found in the text and may include the purpose, methods, and scope of the research.
Essentially, the descriptive abstract describes the work being abstracted.
Some people consider it an outline of the work, rather than a summary.
Descriptive abstracts are usually very short—100 words or less.

7. *Note: most abstracts are informative
relatively longer (around 250 words / 10% or less the length of the paper)
descriptive (describes purpose, methods, and scope)
explanatory (explains all arguments and discusses results, conclusions, implications, and recommendations)
The majority of abstracts are informative.
While they still do not critique or evaluate a work, they do more than describe it.
A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate for the work itself.
That is, the writer presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the complete article/paper/book.
An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract (purpose, methods, scope) but also includes the results and conclusions of the research and the recommendations of the author. The length varies according to discipline, but an informative abstract is rarely more than 10% of the length of the entire work.
For example, if the length of the work itself is 100 pages, then the abstract may be as long as ten pages, but typically with lengthy works like that, the corresponding abstract will be considerably less.

8. Sample A Descriptive Abstract of this presentation:
“Descriptive and Informative Abstracts are the two most common types of abstracts; using examples, this presentation describes and explains each.”
Here’s a self-reflexive example of a descriptive abstract.

9. Sample B Informative Abstract of this presentation:
“In a short yet powerful statement, abstracts present the essential elements of a longer work in order to a) provide prospective readers the opportunity to assess this work’s relevancy and b) persuade readers to read the larger work in its entirety (Koopman, 1997). It may include key terms and concepts from the larger work, including the purpose and methods of its research. There are two main types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. A descriptive abstract briefly describes the longer work, while an informative abstract presents all the main arguments and important results, including implications and recommendations. This presentation provides examples of each, including instructions on how to compose one.”
Here’s a self-reflexive example of a informative abstract.

10. ??? Descriptive or Informative ???
How do we know which one to use?
Ask your professor
Refer to the publisher’s guidelines
Guesstimate!
Your best bet in this case is to ask your instructor or refer to the instructions provided by the publisher.
You can also make a guess based on the length allowed; i.e., words = descriptive; 250+ words = informative.

11. ??? How do we write an ABSTRACT ???
Your format will depend upon the work you’re abstracting. For example, an abstract for a Science article will be different than one for a Humanities article.
The format of your abstract will depend on the work being abstracted.
An abstract of a scientific research paper will contain elements not found in an abstract of a literature article, and vice versa.

12. ??? How do we write an ABSTRACT ???
Identify key terms
Highlight key phrases & sentences
Don’t look back
Revise! Revise! Revise!
However, all abstracts share several mandatory components, and there are also some optional parts that you can decide to include or not.
When preparing to draft your abstract, keep the following key process elements in mind:

13. Key Process Elements: Purpose Problem Methodology Results Implications
Purpose: What is the importance of the research? Why would a reader be interested in the larger work?
Problem: What problem does this work attempt to solve? What is the scope of the project? What is the main argument/thesis/claim?
Methodology: An abstract of a scientific work may include specific models or approaches used in the larger study. Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the research.
Results: Again, an abstract of a scientific work may include specific data that indicates the results of the project. Other abstracts may discuss the findings in a more general way.
Implications: What changes should be implemented as a result of the findings of the work? How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

14. All ABSTRACTS include:
full citation of the source
most important info first
same type & style of language used in the original work, including any technical jargon
key words & phrases
clear, concise language
powerful & persuasive rhetoric
A full citation of the source, preceding the abstract.
The most important information first.
The same type and style of language found in the original, including technical language.
Key words and phrases that quickly identify the content and focus of the work.
Clear, concise, and powerful language.

15. Some ABSTRACTS may also include:
the original work’s thesis
background info
same chronological order as the original
The thesis of the work, usually in the first sentence.
Background information that places the work in the larger body of literature.
The same chronological structure as the original work.

16. NO! ABSTRACT includes: extensive reference to other sources
additional info not contained in the original
definitions of terms, words, & concepts
Do not refer extensively to other works.
Do not add information not contained in the original work.
Do not define terms.

17. ??? What if we’re ABSTRACTING our own work ???
Reverse Outlining
Cut & Paste
Reverse outlining:
This technique is commonly used when you are having trouble organizing your own writing.
The process involves writing down the main idea of each paragraph on a separate piece of paper.
For the purposes of writing an abstract, try grouping the main ideas of each section of the paper into a single sentence.
For a scientific paper, you may have sections titled Purpose, Methods, Results, and Discussion.
Each one of these sections will be longer than one paragraph, but each is grouped around a central idea.
Use reverse outlining to discover the central idea in each section and then distill these ideas into one statement.
Cut and paste:
To create a first draft of an abstract of your own work, you can read through the entire paper and cut and paste sentences that capture key passages.
This technique is useful for social science research with findings that cannot be encapsulated by neat numbers or concrete results.
A well-written humanities draft will have a clear and direct thesis statement and informative topic sentences for paragraphs or sections.
Isolate these sentences in a separate document and work on revising them into a unified paragraph.

18. Additional Online Sources:
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “Abstracts.”
web/abstracts.html
St. Cloud University. “LEO Writing Abstracts.”
Here are some additional resources you may wish to consider.

19. Texts:
Borko, Harold. Abstracting Concepts and Methods. NY: Academic Press, 1975.
Cremmins, Edward T. The Art of Abstracting. Philadelphia: ISI Press, 1982.
Lancaster, F.W. Indexing and Abstracting in Theory and Practice. 3rd ed. London: Facet, 2003.
O’Connor, Brian C. Explorations in Indexing and Abstracting. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1996.*
*To access this electronic source, simply go to:
The CSUDH’s campus library has several holdings that cover the topic of writing abstracts, including a relatively current holding available electronically: simply click on the corresponding link to access this particular source.

20. References
Koopman, Philip. (October, 1997). How to write an abstract. Retrieved from UNC. (2010). Abstracts. Retrieved from
And finally, we’d like to again thank the Writing Center at UNC for providing much of the material for this presentation, including references to Philip Koopman’s “How To Write an Abstract,” available online at the corresponding url.

21. PEGS www.pegs4grads.org 310-243-2700 pegs@csudh.edu
Again, if you’ve any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding this presentation or any of PEGS’ other programs and services, please contact us at your convenience.
Thank you.