Writing an Abstract in a Research Project For students

What exactly is an abstract?

A one-paragraph overview of any research work for undergraduates is what an abstract is. Abstracts are written before research defence. The abstract in a research enables readers to immediately comprehend the aim and important ideas of a work and informs your supervisor whether reading the complete work is worthwhile.

Why should you write an abstract?

Readers can make conclusions regarding your idea based on the abstract. Your sponsoring professor can use the abstract to determine how well your study is progressing. It is used by the conference organizer to determine whether your project meets the supervisor’s criteria. Your abstract is used by the defence audience (teachers, administrators, colleagues, and presenters’ families) to decide whether or not to grade you properly. All of these readers must be considered in your abstract.

How does an abstract appeal to such a large number of people?

This abstract’s target audience is as broad as feasible, ranging from expert to layperson. You must strike a balance between creating an abstract that demonstrates your knowledge while still being understandable (with some effort) by lay members of the audience. Use as little technical jargon as possible and explain it as much as feasible. Before using an abbreviation, always use the complete term [DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs), for example]. Remember that you are an expert in the topic about which you are writing; don’t assume that the reader will share your insider knowledge.

What information should be included in the abstract?

Consider your abstract to be a simplified summary of your entire project. The reader should comprehend the nature of your research question after reading it.

Although the content varies depending on the topic and topic, all abstracts, whether in the sciences or the humanities, should have the following information:

1. The purpose of the project identifying the area of study to which it belongs.

2. The research problem that motivates the project.

3. The methods used to address this research problem, documents or evidence analyzed.

4. The conclusions reached or, if the research is in progress, what the preliminary results of the investigation suggest, or what the research methods demonstrate.

5. The significance of the research project. Why are the results useful? What is new to our understanding as the result of your inquiry?

Whatever type of research you are conducting, your abstract should address the following questions for the reader: What do you want to know? What is the significance of this? How are you going to study it? What will you utilize to back up your claims? What are the implications of these findings? What do they imply?

Stylistics Considerations For Writing A Standard Abstract

The abstract should be one paragraph in length and should not exceed the word count. Edit it thoroughly to ensure that it adheres to the Four C’s of abstract writing:

Complete — it covers all of the project’s major components.

It is concise — there is no extraneous wordiness or content.

It’s simple — it’s readable, well-organized, and doesn’t use a lot of jargon.

It is cohesive because it flows seamlessly between the sections.

The significance of clear language during abstract writing

Because all researchers hope that their work will be valuable to others, and because good scholarship is increasingly being used across disciplines, it is critical that the language of your abstracts be understandable to non-specialists. Simplify your vocabulary. Friends from another major will immediately notice what has to be clarified. Problem areas to look for include:

Remove all jargon. Displaying your technical vocabulary will not convey the worth of your research. If a technical term must be used, include a non-technical equivalent to assist a non-specialist in deducing the term’s meaning.

Remove unnecessary words such as superfluous modifiers, pompous diction, and excessive description.

Avoid linking together nouns (make the relationship clear with prepositions).

Remove phrases like “it is my opinion that,” “I have decided,” “the key issue supporting my position concerns,” or “surely there is little dispute as to…” Concentrate entirely on what the reader needs to know.

Below is an example of a standard Abstract

Project Topic: Trend And Impacts Of Education On Economic Growth (1980–2008)

Abstract

Human capital has consistently been recognized as one of the major factors driving the economic growth of a nation. It is essential to make the education sector, which plays a major role in development of human capital, more responsive towards the changing demands of an economy. Extensive literature on this subject presented a close relationship between role of education and economic growth of the nation. The impetus of this study is to examine the trend and impact of education on economic growth in Nigeria for the time period 1980–2008. Additionally this study investigated the inverse relationship between them i.e. whether the rising economic growth of Nigeria is also contributing significantly in education. The study therefore found that there is statistically significant relationship between RGDP and all the variables used in the study with the exception of capital expenditure on education (CEDU). The negative coefficient of the CEDU shows the non-contributory role of capital expenditure on economic growth in the Nigeria. In conclusion to attain economic development through education in Nigeria, there should be serious commitment of government at all levels to effective educational policies from pre-planning stage through planning stage to post-planning stage (implementation) in realization of the fact that Nigeria is a developing country and it cannot afford to neglect the educational sector that is most crucial in the provision of the needed manpower for growth and development. The findings suggest that Nigerian’s government needs to increase public expenditure on divergent components of education to boost further economic growth. Nigerian government has already implemented several policies regarding education such as reorientation of the education system to enable students gain deep knowledge, thinking and entrepreneurship skills. Educational services will also be improved through the construction of schools in rural areas and providing infrastructure and adequate training for teachers.