Writing Brief and Concise Abstracts – A Thorough Scrutiny

Academic writers must be aware of the importance of using their summary skills and respect standard linguistic features to produce an appropriate and effective abstract for their Research Article (RA). The significance of abstracts responds not only to their function of condensing the main ideas of a text but also to the fact that they are the first contact target readers have with an RA and can be crucial to the acceptance of the article.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the previously stated characteristics are reflected in the abstracts of four different RAs. Two of them belong to the field of medicine and the remaining two, to the field of education. Such analysis is meant to show researchers the value of being acquainted with the forms they are expected to respect so as to make a legitimate contribution to their discourse community.

Analysing the abstracts

Regarding the RAs from the field of medicine, both abstracts appear to be well written and to provide target readers with conventional examples of what this type of text should be like. The fact that abstracts must be clear, concise, and objective is fully reflected in Wijeysundera, R. et. al. (2010) and Martinez, C. et. al. (2010). The approach to writing taken by these authors is that of summarising the RA, which is the reason why these abstracts have been classified as informative. They seem to be organised according to the the Introduction-Methods-Results-And-Discussions (IMRAD) formula.

There exist a number of standard linguistic characteristics for abstracts, which are mostly exhibited in the papers under analysis. Although not all sentences are full and the reader can find non-conjugated verbs in the Introduction, it has been observed that the past tense for Methods, Results and Conclusion has been used and passive voice sentences occur frequently. As for the extension of the abstracts, both appear to exceed the maximum length of ten full sentences specified by Swales and Feak (1994) and Hubbuch (1996).

On the other hand, the abstracts in both of the RAs on the subject of the use of audio-visual material in the classroom do not comply with the aforementioned characteristics in the same manner as those from the RAs about medicine. Both RAs present unstructured abstracts which do not include bold or italicised headings. Rammal (2006) does not apply the IMRAD formula and in King’s (2002) article the abstract is incomplete. Rammal’s (2006) writing conveys the impression that he has little acquaintance with the characteristics of abstracts, and of Research Papers in general.

A glance at Rammal’s (2006) article shows that he has failed to adhere to the conventions of headings, since the first heading reads ‘I. Abstract’ with an introduction section but the second heading jumps to ‘III. Methods.’ As pointed out by Purdue OWL (2013), they should be respected in order of appearance and numbered accordingly. On the other hand, King’s (2002) abstract, classified as indicative, includes an Introduction, a Methods and a Discussion section and the author properly states the topic of her research, yet neglects the Results segment.

Regarding the conventional linguistic features of abstracts, both writers have included full and impersonal passive sentences, and no instances of negative statements have been observed. As regards classification and length, it could be claimed that Rammal (2006) has not produced a proper abstract; consisting of merely two full sentences, it does not fulfil the previously stated minimum length for this section of RAs. In contrast, King’s (2002) abstract is one that, as well as being appropriate in length, better approaches the conventional characteristics, although the introduction could be regarded as rather extended and presenting too many active voice sentences.

Conclusion

As this analysis has shown, the RAs on the field of medicine favour a more organised and complete form of abstracts. Proper headings and specific data have been included in both instances to provide readers with an accurate and comprehensive summary of their entire work. Also, standard linguistic features have been respected throughout. On the other hand, the abstracts in the educational RAs under scrutiny in this paper appear to display a less structured layout, while partially complying with the standard conventions of layout and form.

By and large, abstracts are written with the purpose of attracting the reader’s attention, for instance, to be considered as part of the literary review for other RAs or to be eligible for eventual publication in a journal. Hence, it is not surprising that they are not produced until the RA has been finished, so as to condense the main points of the whole research. To attain this aim, not all abstracts need to be similar: within convention, authors can find more than one manner of approaching the task of writing this brief yet relevant section of their article.

According to this preliminary study, the four abstracts scrutinized have shown that differing approaches do exist. Notwithstanding, an established organization should be respected in order to provide readers with understandable and concise information. When readers find form familiar, they can exclusively concentrate on content; thus, researchers must be meticulous when selecting both the information and the format of their abstracts.

References

Hubbuch, S. M. (1996). Writing research papers across the curriculum. (4th ed.). Harcourt Brace: Fort Worth, TX.

King, J. (2002): Using DVD features in the EFL classroom. The Weekly Column. Article 88.

Retrieved from: http://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/February2002/art882002.htm

Martinez, C., Assimes, T., Mines, D., Dell’Aniello, S., Suissa, S. (2010): Use of venlafaxine compared with other antidepressants and the risk of sudden cardiac death or near death: a nested case-control study. BMJ 2010;340. doi:10.1136/bmj.c249

Paiz, J., Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., Brizee, A., Keck, R. (2013, April 3). APA Headings and Seriation. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/16/

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Rammal, S. (2006) Video in EFL Classrooms. UsingEnglish.com English Language (ESL) Learning. Retrieved from http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/video-in-efl-classrooms.html

Wijeysundera, R., Scott Beattie, W., Fraser Elliot, R., Austin, P. C., Hux, J. E., Laupacis, A., (2010) Non-invasive cardiac stress testing before elective major non-cardiac surgery: population based cohort study. BMJ 2010; 430. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b5526