Abstract

Abstract

By Muhammad Ahmad (2011-IM-46)

An abstract is a brief summary of the most important points in a scientific paper. Abstracts enable professionals to stay current with the huge volume of scientific literature. Students have misconceptions about the nature of abstracts that may be described as the table of contents or introduction syndromes. There are several ways to tell if youve written an abstract or not. These are the basic components of an abstract in any discipline: 1) Motivation/problem statement: Why do we care about the problem? What practical, scientific, theoretical or artistic gap is your research filling? 2) Methods/procedure/approach: What did you actually do to get your results? (e.g. analyzed 3 novels, completed a series of 5 oil paintings, interviewed 17 students) 3) Results/findings/product: As a result of completing the above procedure, what did you learn/invent/create? 4) Conclusion/implications: What are the larger implications of your findings, especially for the problem/gap identified in step 1? However, it's important to note that the weight accorded to the different components can vary by discipline. For models, try to find abstracts of research that is similar to your research.

Common misconceptions about abstracts

Student misconceptions abound on the nature of abstracts. Perhaps the two most common misconceptions are that the abstract is a table of contents or an introduction. An abstract is neither of these. Just because it appears first in a paper does not mean that it is an integral part of the paper. Abstracts should be able to stand alone. The table of contents syndrome is marked by statements such as these: This paper will examine..., following this I will describe... , the last section of the paper will address..., etc.. If what you have written includes such statements, chances are you have not written an abstract. The introduction misconception is also common. If you have statements such as these, you have probably written an introduction and not an abstract: One of the most important events in geologic history..., etc..

How can you tell if what you have written is an abstract or not? Ask yourself the following questions: Does my abstract summarize all the most important points in my paper? If someone reads my abstract will they get all the main points that I want to make in the paper? Does my abstract stand alone or does it lead to other parts of the paper? If the latter is true, chances are good that you have not written an abstract.

Types:
There are two common types of abstracts: Descriptive abstracts Descriptive abstracts are generally used for humanities and social science papers or psychology essays. This type of abstract is usually very short (50-100 words). Most descriptive abstracts have certain key parts in common. They are: Background Purpose Particular interest/focus of paper Overview of contents (not always included) Informative abstracts Informative abstracts are generally used for science, engineering or psychology reports. You must get the essence of what your report is about, usually in about 200 words. Most informative abstracts also have key parts in common. Each of these parts might consist of 1-2 sentences. The parts include: Background Aim or purpose of research Method used Findings/results Conclusion

Examples:
1) Descriptive abstract:
1. Key parts 2. Background 3. Purpose and aim 4. Particular focus of paper

1. The opportunity to design and deliver short programs on referencing and avoiding plagiarism for transnational UniSA students has confirmed the necessity of combating both the all-plagiarism-is-cheating reaction and the just-give-them-a-referencingguide response 2. The notion of referencing is but the tip of a particularly large and intricate iceberg 3. Consequently, teaching referencing is not adequate in educating students to avoid plagiarism 4. In this presentation, I will use the transnational teaching experience to highlight what educating to avoid plagiarism entails.

2) Informative abstract:
1. Key parts 2. Background 3. Purpose and aim 4. Methods 5. Results 6. Conclusions 1. Metalinguistic awareness contributes to effective writing at university. Writing is a meaning-making process where linguistic, cognitive, social and creative factors are at play. University students need to master the skills of academic writing not only for getting their degree but also for their future career 2. It is also significant for lecturers to know who our students are, how they think and how we can best assist them 3. This study examines first-year undergraduate Australian and international engineering students as writers of academic texts in a multicultural setting at the University of Adelaide 4. A questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data about students level of metalinguistic awareness, their attitudes toward, expectations for, assumptions about and motivation for writing 5. The preliminary results of the research show that students from different cultures initially have different concepts about the academic genres and handle writing with different learning and writing styles, but those with a more developed metalanguage are more confident and motivated 5. The conclusion can also be drawn that students level of motivation for academic writing positively correlates with their opinion about themselves as writers. Following an in-depth multi-dimensional analysis of preliminary research results, some recommendations for writing instruction will also be presented.

3) Engineering abstract:
"Quantifying the Mechanics of a Laryngoscopy" Laryngoscopy is a medical procedure that provides a secure airway by passing a breathing tube through the mouth and into the lungs of a patient. The ability to successfully perform laryngoscopy is highly dependent on operator skill; experienced physicians have failure rates of 0.1% or less, while less experienced paramedics may have failure rates of 10-33%, which can lead to death or brain injury. Accordingly, there is a need for improved training methods, and virtual reality technology holds promise for this application. The immediate objective of this research project is to measure the mechanics of laryngoscopy, so that an advanced training mannequin can be developed. This summer an instrumented laryngoscope has been developed which uses a 6-axis force/torque sensor and a magnetic position/orientation sensor to quantify the interactions between the laryngoscope and the patient. Experienced physicians as well as residents in training have used this device on an existing mannequin, and the force and motion trajectories have been visualized in 3D. One objective is to use comparisons between expert and novice users to identify the critical skill components necessary for patients, to identify the mechanical properties of the human anatomy that effect laryngoscopy, and thus enable the development of a realistic training simulator. In the future an advanced training mannequin will be developed whose physical properties will be based on our sensor measurements, and where virtual reality tools will be used to provide training feedback for novice users.