research paper with an abstract

Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper

Definition and Purpose of Abstracts

An abstract is a short summary of your (published or unpublished) research paper, usually about a paragraph (c. 6-7 sentences, 150-250 words) long. A well-written abstract serves multiple purposes:

• an abstract lets readers get the gist or essence of your paper or article quickly, in order to decide whether to read the full paper;
• an abstract prepares readers to follow the detailed information, analyses, and arguments in your full paper;
• and, later, an abstract helps readers remember key points from your paper.

It’s also worth remembering that search engines and bibliographic databases use abstracts, as well as the title, to identify key terms for indexing your published paper. So what you include in your abstract and in your title are crucial for helping other researchers find your paper or article.

If you are writing an abstract for a course paper, your professor may give you specific guidelines for what to include and how to organize your abstract. Similarly, academic journals often have specific requirements for abstracts. So in addition to following the advice on this page, you should be sure to look for and follow any guidelines from the course or journal you’re writing for.

The Contents of an Abstract

Abstracts contain most of the following kinds of information in brief form. The body of your paper will, of course, develop and explain these ideas much more fully. As you will see in the samples below, the proportion of your abstract that you devote to each kind of information—and the sequence of that information—will vary, depending on the nature and genre of the paper that you are summarizing in your abstract. And in some cases, some of this information is implied, rather than stated explicitly. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , which is widely used in the social sciences, gives specific guidelines for what to include in the abstract for different kinds of papers—for empirical studies, literature reviews or meta-analyses, theoretical papers, methodological papers, and case studies.

Here are the typical kinds of information found in most abstracts:

• the context or background information for your research; the general topic under study; the specific topic of your research
• the central questions or statement of the problem your research addresses
• what’s already known about this question, what previous research has done or shown
• the main reason(s) , the exigency, the rationale , the goals for your research—Why is it important to address these questions? Are you, for example, examining a new topic? Why is that topic worth examining? Are you filling a gap in previous research? Applying new methods to take a fresh look at existing ideas or data? Resolving a dispute within the literature in your field? . . .
• your research and/or analytical methods
• your main findings , results , or arguments
• the significance or implications of your findings or arguments.

Your abstract should be intelligible on its own, without a reader’s having to read your entire paper. And in an abstract, you usually do not cite references—most of your abstract will describe what you have studied in your research and what you have found and what you argue in your paper. In the body of your paper, you will cite the specific literature that informs your research.

When to Write Your Abstract

Although you might be tempted to write your abstract first because it will appear as the very first part of your paper, it’s a good idea to wait to write your abstract until after you’ve drafted your full paper, so that you know what you’re summarizing.

What follows are some sample abstracts in published papers or articles, all written by faculty at UW-Madison who come from a variety of disciplines. We have annotated these samples to help you see the work that these authors are doing within their abstracts.

Choosing Verb Tenses within Your Abstract

The social science sample (Sample 1) below uses the present tense to describe general facts and interpretations that have been and are currently true, including the prevailing explanation for the social phenomenon under study. That abstract also uses the present tense to describe the methods, the findings, the arguments, and the implications of the findings from their new research study. The authors use the past tense to describe previous research.

The humanities sample (Sample 2) below uses the past tense to describe completed events in the past (the texts created in the pulp fiction industry in the 1970s and 80s) and uses the present tense to describe what is happening in those texts, to explain the significance or meaning of those texts, and to describe the arguments presented in the article.

The science samples (Samples 3 and 4) below use the past tense to describe what previous research studies have done and the research the authors have conducted, the methods they have followed, and what they have found. In their rationale or justification for their research (what remains to be done), they use the present tense. They also use the present tense to introduce their study (in Sample 3, “Here we report . . .”) and to explain the significance of their study (In Sample 3, This reprogramming . . . “provides a scalable cell source for. . .”).

Sample Abstract 1

From the social sciences.

Reporting new findings about the reasons for increasing economic homogamy among spouses

Gonalons-Pons, Pilar, and Christine R. Schwartz. “Trends in Economic Homogamy: Changes in Assortative Mating or the Division of Labor in Marriage?” Demography , vol. 54, no. 3, 2017, pp. 985-1005.

Sample Abstract 2

From the humanities.

Analyzing underground pulp fiction publications in Tanzania, this article makes an argument about the cultural significance of those publications

Emily Callaci. “Street Textuality: Socialism, Masculinity, and Urban Belonging in Tanzania’s Pulp Fiction Publishing Industry, 1975-1985.” Comparative Studies in Society and History , vol. 59, no. 1, 2017, pp. 183-210.

Sample Abstract/Summary 3

From the sciences.

Reporting a new method for reprogramming adult mouse fibroblasts into induced cardiac progenitor cells

Lalit, Pratik A., Max R. Salick, Daryl O. Nelson, Jayne M. Squirrell, Christina M. Shafer, Neel G. Patel, Imaan Saeed, Eric G. Schmuck, Yogananda S. Markandeya, Rachel Wong, Martin R. Lea, Kevin W. Eliceiri, Timothy A. Hacker, Wendy C. Crone, Michael Kyba, Daniel J. Garry, Ron Stewart, James A. Thomson, Karen M. Downs, Gary E. Lyons, and Timothy J. Kamp. “Lineage Reprogramming of Fibroblasts into Proliferative Induced Cardiac Progenitor Cells by Defined Factors.” Cell Stem Cell , vol. 18, 2016, pp. 354-367.

Sample Abstract 4, a Structured Abstract

Reporting results about the effectiveness of antibiotic therapy in managing acute bacterial sinusitis, from a rigorously controlled study

Note: This journal requires authors to organize their abstract into four specific sections, with strict word limits. Because the headings for this structured abstract are self-explanatory, we have chosen not to add annotations to this sample abstract.

Wald, Ellen R., David Nash, and Jens Eickhoff. “Effectiveness of Amoxicillin/Clavulanate Potassium in the Treatment of Acute Bacterial Sinusitis in Children.” Pediatrics , vol. 124, no. 1, 2009, pp. 9-15.

“OBJECTIVE: The role of antibiotic therapy in managing acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS) in children is controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of high-dose amoxicillin/potassium clavulanate in the treatment of children diagnosed with ABS.

METHODS : This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Children 1 to 10 years of age with a clinical presentation compatible with ABS were eligible for participation. Patients were stratified according to age (<6 or ≥6 years) and clinical severity and randomly assigned to receive either amoxicillin (90 mg/kg) with potassium clavulanate (6.4 mg/kg) or placebo. A symptom survey was performed on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, and 30. Patients were examined on day 14. Children’s conditions were rated as cured, improved, or failed according to scoring rules.

RESULTS: Two thousand one hundred thirty-five children with respiratory complaints were screened for enrollment; 139 (6.5%) had ABS. Fifty-eight patients were enrolled, and 56 were randomly assigned. The mean age was 6630 months. Fifty (89%) patients presented with persistent symptoms, and 6 (11%) presented with nonpersistent symptoms. In 24 (43%) children, the illness was classified as mild, whereas in the remaining 32 (57%) children it was severe. Of the 28 children who received the antibiotic, 14 (50%) were cured, 4 (14%) were improved, 4(14%) experienced treatment failure, and 6 (21%) withdrew. Of the 28children who received placebo, 4 (14%) were cured, 5 (18%) improved, and 19 (68%) experienced treatment failure. Children receiving the antibiotic were more likely to be cured (50% vs 14%) and less likely to have treatment failure (14% vs 68%) than children receiving the placebo.

CONCLUSIONS : ABS is a common complication of viral upper respiratory infections. Amoxicillin/potassium clavulanate results in significantly more cures and fewer failures than placebo, according to parental report of time to resolution.” (9)

Some Excellent Advice about Writing Abstracts for Basic Science Research Papers, by Professor Adriano Aguzzi from the Institute of Neuropathology at the University of Zurich:

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Abstract Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide With Tips & Examples

Table of Contents

Introduction

Abstracts of research papers have always played an essential role in describing your research concisely and clearly to researchers and editors of journals, enticing them to continue reading. However, with the widespread availability of scientific databases, the need to write a convincing abstract is more crucial now than during the time of paper-bound manuscripts.

Abstracts serve to "sell" your research and can be compared with your "executive outline" of a resume or, rather, a formal summary of the critical aspects of your work. Also, it can be the "gist" of your study. Since most educational research is done online, it's a sign that you have a shorter time for impressing your readers, and have more competition from other abstracts that are available to be read.

The APCI (Academic Publishing and Conferences International) articulates 12 issues or points considered during the final approval process for conferences & journals and emphasises the importance of writing an abstract that checks all these boxes (12 points). Since it's the only opportunity you have to captivate your readers, you must invest time and effort in creating an abstract that accurately reflects the critical points of your research.

With that in mind, let’s head over to understand and discover the core concept and guidelines to create a substantial abstract. Also, learn how to organise the ideas or plots into an effective abstract that will be awe-inspiring to the readers you want to reach.

What is Abstract? Definition and Overview

The word "Abstract' is derived from Latin abstractus meaning "drawn off." This etymological meaning also applies to art movements as well as music, like abstract expressionism. In this context, it refers to the revealing of the artist's intention.

Based on this, you can determine the meaning of an abstract: A condensed research summary. It must be self-contained and independent of the body of the research. However, it should outline the subject, the strategies used to study the problem, and the methods implemented to attain the outcomes. The specific elements of the study differ based on the area of study; however, together, it must be a succinct summary of the entire research paper.

Abstracts are typically written at the end of the paper, even though it serves as a prologue. In general, the abstract must be in a position to:

• Describe the paper.
• Identify the problem or the issue at hand.
• Explain to the reader the research process, the results you came up with, and what conclusion you've reached using these results.
• Include keywords to guide your strategy and the content.

Furthermore, the abstract you submit should not reflect upon any of  the following elements:

• Examine, analyse or defend the paper or your opinion.
• What you want to study, achieve or discover.
• Be redundant or irrelevant.

After reading an abstract, your audience should understand the reason - what the research was about in the first place, what the study has revealed and how it can be utilised or can be used to benefit others. You can understand the importance of abstract by knowing the fact that the abstract is the most frequently read portion of any research paper. In simpler terms, it should contain all the main points of the research paper.

What is the Purpose of an Abstract?

Abstracts are typically an essential requirement for research papers; however, it's not an obligation to preserve traditional reasons without any purpose. Abstracts allow readers to scan the text to determine whether it is relevant to their research or studies. The abstract allows other researchers to decide if your research paper can provide them with some additional information. A good abstract paves the interest of the audience to pore through your entire paper to find the content or context they're searching for.

Abstract writing is essential for indexing, as well. The Digital Repository of academic papers makes use of abstracts to index the entire content of academic research papers. Like meta descriptions in the regular Google outcomes, abstracts must include keywords that help researchers locate what they seek.

Types of Abstract

Informative and Descriptive are two kinds of abstracts often used in scientific writing.

A descriptive abstract gives readers an outline of the author's main points in their study. The reader can determine if they want to stick to the research work, based on their interest in the topic. An abstract that is descriptive is similar to the contents table of books, however, the format of an abstract depicts complete sentences encapsulated in one paragraph. It is unfortunate that the abstract can't be used as a substitute for reading a piece of writing because it's just an overview, which omits readers from getting an entire view. Also, it cannot be a way to fill in the gaps the reader may have after reading this kind of abstract since it does not contain crucial information needed to evaluate the article.

To conclude, a descriptive abstract is:

• A simple summary of the task, just summarises the work, but some researchers think it is much more of an outline
• Typically, the length is approximately 100 words. It is too short when compared to an informative abstract.
• A brief explanation but doesn't provide the reader with the complete information they need;
• An overview that omits conclusions and results

An informative abstract is a comprehensive outline of the research. There are times when people rely on the abstract as an information source. And the reason is why it is crucial to provide entire data of particular research. A well-written, informative abstract could be a good substitute for the remainder of the paper on its own.

A well-written abstract typically follows a particular style. The author begins by providing the identifying information, backed by citations and other identifiers of the papers. Then, the major elements are summarised to make the reader aware of the study. It is followed by the methodology and all-important findings from the study. The conclusion then presents study results and ends the abstract with a comprehensive summary.

In a nutshell, an informative abstract:

• Has a length that can vary, based on the subject, but is not longer than 300 words.
• Contains all the content-like methods and intentions
• Offers evidence and possible recommendations.

Informative Abstracts are more frequent than descriptive abstracts because of their extensive content and linkage to the topic specifically. You should select different types of abstracts to papers based on their length: informative abstracts for extended and more complex abstracts and descriptive ones for simpler and shorter research papers.

What are the Characteristics of a Good Abstract?

• A good abstract clearly defines the goals and purposes of the study.
• It should clearly describe the research methodology with a primary focus on data gathering, processing, and subsequent analysis.
• A good abstract should provide specific research findings.
• It presents the principal conclusions of the systematic study.
• It should be concise, clear, and relevant to the field of study.
• A well-designed abstract should be unifying and coherent.
• It is easy to grasp and free of technical jargon.
• It is written impartially and objectively.

What are the various sections of an ideal Abstract?

By now, you must have gained some concrete idea of the essential elements that your abstract needs to convey . Accordingly, the information is broken down into six key sections of the abstract, which include:

An Introduction or Background

Research methodology, objectives and goals, limitations.

Let's go over them in detail.

The introduction, also known as background, is the most concise part of your abstract. Ideally, it comprises a couple of sentences. Some researchers only write one sentence to introduce their abstract. The idea behind this is to guide readers through the key factors that led to your study.

It's understandable that this information might seem difficult to explain in a couple of sentences. For example, think about the following two questions like the background of your study:

• What is currently available about the subject with respect to the paper being discussed?
• What isn't understood about this issue? (This is the subject of your research)

While writing the abstract’s introduction, make sure that it is not lengthy. Because if it crosses the word limit, it may eat up the words meant to be used for providing other key information.

Research methodology is where you describe the theories and techniques you used in your research. It is recommended that you describe what you have done and the method you used to get your thorough investigation results. Certainly, it is the second-longest paragraph in the abstract.

In the research methodology section, it is essential to mention the kind of research you conducted; for instance, qualitative research or quantitative research (this will guide your research methodology too) . If you've conducted quantitative research, your abstract should contain information like the sample size, data collection method, sampling techniques, and duration of the study. Likewise, your abstract should reflect observational data, opinions, questionnaires (especially the non-numerical data) if you work on qualitative research.

The research objectives and goals speak about what you intend to accomplish with your research. The majority of research projects focus on the long-term effects of a project, and the goals focus on the immediate, short-term outcomes of the research. It is possible to summarise both in just multiple sentences.

In stating your objectives and goals, you give readers a picture of the scope of the study, its depth and the direction your research ultimately follows. Your readers can evaluate the results of your research against the goals and stated objectives to determine if you have achieved the goal of your research.

In the end, your readers are more attracted by the results you've obtained through your study. Therefore, you must take the time to explain each relevant result and explain how they impact your research. The results section exists as the longest in your abstract, and nothing should diminish its reach or quality.

One of the most important things you should adhere to is to spell out details and figures on the results of your research.

Instead of making a vague assertion such as, "We noticed that response rates varied greatly between respondents with high incomes and those with low incomes", Try these: "The response rate was higher for high-income respondents than those with lower incomes (59 30 percent vs. 30 percent in both cases; P<0.01)."

You're likely to encounter certain obstacles during your research. It could have been during data collection or even during conducting the sample . Whatever the issue, it's essential to inform your readers about them and their effects on the research.

Research limitations offer an opportunity to suggest further and deep research. If, for instance, you were forced to change for convenient sampling and snowball samples because of difficulties in reaching well-suited research participants, then you should mention this reason when you write your research abstract. In addition, a lack of prior studies on the subject could hinder your research.

Your conclusion should include the same number of sentences to wrap the abstract as the introduction. The majority of researchers offer an idea of the consequences of their research in this case.

Your conclusion should include three essential components:

• A significant take-home message.
• Corresponding important findings.
• The Interpretation.

Even though the conclusion of your abstract needs to be brief, it can have an enormous influence on the way that readers view your research. Therefore, make use of this section to reinforce the central message from your research. Be sure that your statements reflect the actual results and the methods you used to conduct your research.

Good Abstract Examples

Abstract example #1.

Children’s consumption behavior in response to food product placements in movies.

The abstract:

"Almost all research into the effects of brand placements on children has focused on the brand's attitudes or behavior intentions. Based on the significant differences between attitudes and behavioral intentions on one hand and actual behavior on the other hand, this study examines the impact of placements by brands on children's eating habits. Children aged 6-14 years old were shown an excerpt from the popular film Alvin and the Chipmunks and were shown places for the item Cheese Balls. Three different versions were developed with no placements, one with moderately frequent placements and the third with the highest frequency of placement. The results revealed that exposure to high-frequency places had a profound effect on snack consumption, however, there was no impact on consumer attitudes towards brands or products. The effects were not dependent on the age of the children. These findings are of major importance to researchers studying consumer behavior as well as nutrition experts as well as policy regulators."

Abstract Example #2

Social comparisons on social media: The impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood. The abstract:

"The research conducted in this study investigated the effects of Facebook use on women's moods and body image if the effects are different from an internet-based fashion journal and if the appearance comparison tendencies moderate one or more of these effects. Participants who were female ( N = 112) were randomly allocated to spend 10 minutes exploring their Facebook account or a magazine's website or an appearance neutral control website prior to completing state assessments of body dissatisfaction, mood, and differences in appearance (weight-related and facial hair, face, and skin). Participants also completed a test of the tendency to compare appearances. The participants who used Facebook were reported to be more depressed than those who stayed on the control site. In addition, women who have the tendency to compare appearances reported more facial, hair and skin-related issues following Facebook exposure than when they were exposed to the control site. Due to its popularity it is imperative to conduct more research to understand the effect that Facebook affects the way people view themselves."

Abstract Example #3

The Relationship Between Cell Phone Use and Academic Performance in a Sample of U.S. College Students

"The cellphone is always present on campuses of colleges and is often utilised in situations in which learning takes place. The study examined the connection between the use of cell phones and the actual grades point average (GPA) after adjusting for predictors that are known to be a factor. In the end 536 students in the undergraduate program from 82 self-reported majors of an enormous, public institution were studied. Hierarchical analysis ( R 2 = .449) showed that use of mobile phones is significantly ( p < .001) and negative (b equal to -.164) connected to the actual college GPA, after taking into account factors such as demographics, self-efficacy in self-regulated learning, self-efficacy to improve academic performance, and the actual high school GPA that were all important predictors ( p < .05). Therefore, after adjusting for other known predictors increasing cell phone usage was associated with lower academic performance. While more research is required to determine the mechanisms behind these results, they suggest the need to educate teachers and students to the possible academic risks that are associated with high-frequency mobile phone usage."

Quick tips on writing a good abstract

There exists a common dilemma among early age researchers whether to write the abstract at first or last? However, it's recommended to compose your abstract when you've completed the research since you'll have all the information to give to your readers. You can, however, write a draft at the beginning of your research and add in any gaps later.

If you find abstract writing a herculean task, here are the few tips to help you with it:

1. Always develop a framework to support your abstract

Before writing, ensure you create a clear outline for your abstract. Divide it into sections and draw the primary and supporting elements in each one. You can include keywords and a few sentences that convey the essence of your message.

2. Review Other Abstracts

Abstracts are among the most frequently used research documents, and thousands of them were written in the past. Therefore, prior to writing yours, take a look at some examples from other abstracts. There are plenty of examples of abstracts for dissertations in the dissertation and thesis databases.

3. Avoid Jargon To the Maximum

When you write your abstract, focus on simplicity over formality. You should  write in simple language, and avoid excessive filler words or ambiguous sentences. Keep in mind that your abstract must be readable to those who aren't acquainted with your subject.

4. Focus on Your Research

It's a given fact that the abstract you write should be about your research and the findings you've made. It is not the right time to mention secondary and primary data sources unless it's absolutely required.

Conclusion: How to Structure an Interesting Abstract?

Abstracts are a short outline of your essay. However, it's among the most important, if not the most important. The process of writing an abstract is not straightforward. A few early-age researchers tend to begin by writing it, thinking they are doing it to "tease" the next step (the document itself). However, it is better to treat it as a spoiler.

The simple, concise style of the abstract lends itself to a well-written and well-investigated study. If your research paper doesn't provide definitive results, or the goal of your research is questioned, so will the abstract. Thus, only write your abstract after witnessing your findings and put your findings in the context of a larger scenario.

The process of writing an abstract can be daunting, but with these guidelines, you will succeed. The most efficient method of writing an excellent abstract is to centre the primary points of your abstract, including the research question and goals methods, as well as key results.

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What this handout is about

This handout provides definitions and examples of the two main types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. It also provides guidelines for constructing an abstract and general tips for you to keep in mind when drafting. Finally, it includes a few examples of abstracts broken down into their component parts.

What is an abstract?

An abstract is a self-contained, short, and powerful statement that describes a larger work. Components vary according to discipline. An abstract of a social science or scientific work may contain the scope, purpose, results, and contents of the work. An abstract of a humanities work may contain the thesis, background, and conclusion of the larger work. An abstract is not a review, nor does it evaluate the work being abstracted. While it contains key words found in the larger work, the abstract is an original document rather than an excerpted passage.

Why write an abstract?

You may write an abstract for various reasons. The two most important are selection and indexing. Abstracts allow readers who may be interested in a longer work to quickly decide whether it is worth their time to read it. Also, many online databases use abstracts to index larger works. Therefore, abstracts should contain keywords and phrases that allow for easy searching.

Say you are beginning a research project on how Brazilian newspapers helped Brazil’s ultra-liberal president Luiz Ignácio da Silva wrest power from the traditional, conservative power base. A good first place to start your research is to search Dissertation Abstracts International for all dissertations that deal with the interaction between newspapers and politics. “Newspapers and politics” returned 569 hits. A more selective search of “newspapers and Brazil” returned 22 hits. That is still a fair number of dissertations. Titles can sometimes help winnow the field, but many titles are not very descriptive. For example, one dissertation is titled “Rhetoric and Riot in Rio de Janeiro.” It is unclear from the title what this dissertation has to do with newspapers in Brazil. One option would be to download or order the entire dissertation on the chance that it might speak specifically to the topic. A better option is to read the abstract. In this case, the abstract reveals the main focus of the dissertation:

This dissertation examines the role of newspaper editors in the political turmoil and strife that characterized late First Empire Rio de Janeiro (1827-1831). Newspaper editors and their journals helped change the political culture of late First Empire Rio de Janeiro by involving the people in the discussion of state. This change in political culture is apparent in Emperor Pedro I’s gradual loss of control over the mechanisms of power. As the newspapers became more numerous and powerful, the Emperor lost his legitimacy in the eyes of the people. To explore the role of the newspapers in the political events of the late First Empire, this dissertation analyzes all available newspapers published in Rio de Janeiro from 1827 to 1831. Newspapers and their editors were leading forces in the effort to remove power from the hands of the ruling elite and place it under the control of the people. In the process, newspapers helped change how politics operated in the constitutional monarchy of Brazil.

From this abstract you now know that although the dissertation has nothing to do with modern Brazilian politics, it does cover the role of newspapers in changing traditional mechanisms of power. After reading the abstract, you can make an informed judgment about whether the dissertation would be worthwhile to read.

Besides selection, the other main purpose of the abstract is for indexing. Most article databases in the online catalog of the library enable you to search abstracts. This allows for quick retrieval by users and limits the extraneous items recalled by a “full-text” search. However, for an abstract to be useful in an online retrieval system, it must incorporate the key terms that a potential researcher would use to search. For example, if you search Dissertation Abstracts International using the keywords “France” “revolution” and “politics,” the search engine would search through all the abstracts in the database that included those three words. Without an abstract, the search engine would be forced to search titles, which, as we have seen, may not be fruitful, or else search the full text. It’s likely that a lot more than 60 dissertations have been written with those three words somewhere in the body of the entire work. By incorporating keywords into the abstract, the author emphasizes the central topics of the work and gives prospective readers enough information to make an informed judgment about the applicability of the work.

When do people write abstracts?

• when submitting articles to journals, especially online journals
• when applying for research grants
• when writing a book proposal
• when completing the Ph.D. dissertation or M.A. thesis
• when writing a proposal for a conference paper
• when writing a proposal for a book chapter

Most often, the author of the entire work (or prospective work) writes the abstract. However, there are professional abstracting services that hire writers to draft abstracts of other people’s work. In a work with multiple authors, the first author usually writes the abstract. Undergraduates are sometimes asked to draft abstracts of books/articles for classmates who have not read the larger work.

Types of abstracts

There are two types of abstracts: descriptive and informative. They have different aims, so as a consequence they have different components and styles. There is also a third type called critical, but it is rarely used. If you want to find out more about writing a critique or a review of a work, see the UNC Writing Center handout on writing a literature review . If you are unsure which type of abstract you should write, ask your instructor (if the abstract is for a class) or read other abstracts in your field or in the journal where you are submitting your article.

Descriptive abstracts

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.

Informative abstracts

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. In the case of a longer work, it may be much less.

Here are examples of a descriptive and an informative abstract of this handout on abstracts . Descriptive abstract:

The two most common abstract types—descriptive and informative—are described and examples of each are provided.

Informative abstract:

Abstracts present the essential elements of a longer work in a short and powerful statement. The purpose of an abstract is to provide prospective readers the opportunity to judge the relevance of the longer work to their projects. Abstracts also include the key terms found in the longer work and the purpose and methods of the research. Authors abstract various longer works, including book proposals, dissertations, and online journal articles. 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. This handout provides examples of various types of abstracts and instructions on how to construct one.

Which type should I use?

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., 100-120 words = descriptive; 250+ words = informative.

How do I write an abstract?

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. 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:

• Reason for writing: 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?

(This list of elements is adapted with permission from Philip Koopman, “How to Write an Abstract.” )

All abstracts include:

• 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.

Abstracts may include:

• 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.

How not to write an abstract:

• Do not refer extensively to other works.
• Do not add information not contained in the original work.
• Do not define terms.

If you are abstracting your own writing

When abstracting your own work, it may be difficult to condense a piece of writing that you have agonized over for weeks (or months, or even years) into a 250-word statement. There are some tricks that you could use to make it easier, however.

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– see our short video . For the purposes of writing an abstract, try grouping the main ideas of each section of the paper into a single sentence. Practice grouping ideas using webbing or color coding .

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.

If you are abstracting someone else’s writing

When abstracting something you have not written, you cannot summarize key ideas just by cutting and pasting. Instead, you must determine what a prospective reader would want to know about the work. There are a few techniques that will help you in this process:

Identify key terms:

Search through the entire document for key terms that identify the purpose, scope, and methods of the work. Pay close attention to the Introduction (or Purpose) and the Conclusion (or Discussion). These sections should contain all the main ideas and key terms in the paper. When writing the abstract, be sure to incorporate the key terms.

Highlight key phrases and sentences:

Instead of cutting and pasting the actual words, try highlighting sentences or phrases that appear to be central to the work. Then, in a separate document, rewrite the sentences and phrases in your own words.

Don’t look back:

After reading the entire work, put it aside and write a paragraph about the work without referring to it. In the first draft, you may not remember all the key terms or the results, but you will remember what the main point of the work was. Remember not to include any information you did not get from the work being abstracted.

Revise, revise, revise

No matter what type of abstract you are writing, or whether you are abstracting your own work or someone else’s, the most important step in writing an abstract is to revise early and often. When revising, delete all extraneous words and incorporate meaningful and powerful words. The idea is to be as clear and complete as possible in the shortest possible amount of space. The Word Count feature of Microsoft Word can help you keep track of how long your abstract is and help you hit your target length.

Example 1: Humanities abstract

Kenneth Tait Andrews, “‘Freedom is a constant struggle’: The dynamics and consequences of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, 1960-1984” Ph.D. State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1997 DAI-A 59/02, p. 620, Aug 1998

This dissertation examines the impacts of social movements through a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early 1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify the process by which movements transform social structures and the constraints movements face when they try to do so. The time period studied includes the expansion of voting rights and gains in black political power, the desegregation of public schools and the emergence of white-flight academies, and the rise and fall of federal anti-poverty programs. I use two major research strategies: (1) a quantitative analysis of county-level data and (2) three case studies. Data have been collected from archives, interviews, newspapers, and published reports. This dissertation challenges the argument that movements are inconsequential. Some view federal agencies, courts, political parties, or economic elites as the agents driving institutional change, but typically these groups acted in response to the leverage brought to bear by the civil rights movement. The Mississippi movement attempted to forge independent structures for sustaining challenges to local inequities and injustices. By propelling change in an array of local institutions, movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy in Mississippi.

Now let’s break down this abstract into its component parts to see how the author has distilled his entire dissertation into a ~200 word abstract.

What the dissertation does This dissertation examines the impacts of social movements through a multi-layered study of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement from its peak in the early 1960s through the early 1980s. By examining this historically important case, I clarify the process by which movements transform social structures and the constraints movements face when they try to do so.

How the dissertation does it The time period studied in this dissertation includes the expansion of voting rights and gains in black political power, the desegregation of public schools and the emergence of white-flight academies, and the rise and fall of federal anti-poverty programs. I use two major research strategies: (1) a quantitative analysis of county-level data and (2) three case studies.

What materials are used Data have been collected from archives, interviews, newspapers, and published reports.

Conclusion This dissertation challenges the argument that movements are inconsequential. Some view federal agencies, courts, political parties, or economic elites as the agents driving institutional change, but typically these groups acted in response to movement demands and the leverage brought to bear by the civil rights movement. The Mississippi movement attempted to forge independent structures for sustaining challenges to local inequities and injustices. By propelling change in an array of local institutions, movement infrastructures had an enduring legacy in Mississippi.

Keywords social movements Civil Rights Movement Mississippi voting rights desegregation

Example 2: Science Abstract

Luis Lehner, “Gravitational radiation from black hole spacetimes” Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, 1998 DAI-B 59/06, p. 2797, Dec 1998

The problem of detecting gravitational radiation is receiving considerable attention with the construction of new detectors in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search for and analysis of detected signals. The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holes in 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes. Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm. This code is shown to be second-order convergent and to handle highly non-linear spacetimes. In particular, we have shown that the code can handle spacetimes whose radiation is equivalent to a galaxy converting its whole mass into gravitational radiation in one second. We further use the characteristic formulation to treat the region close to the singularity in black hole spacetimes. The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability.

This science abstract covers much of the same ground as the humanities one, but it asks slightly different questions.

Why do this study The problem of detecting gravitational radiation is receiving considerable attention with the construction of new detectors in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The theoretical modeling of the wave forms that would be produced in particular systems will expedite the search and analysis of the detected signals.

What the study does The characteristic formulation of GR is implemented to obtain an algorithm capable of evolving black holes in 3D asymptotically flat spacetimes. Using compactification techniques, future null infinity is included in the evolved region, which enables the unambiguous calculation of the radiation produced by some compact source. A module to calculate the waveforms is constructed and included in the evolution algorithm.

Results This code is shown to be second-order convergent and to handle highly non-linear spacetimes. In particular, we have shown that the code can handle spacetimes whose radiation is equivalent to a galaxy converting its whole mass into gravitational radiation in one second. We further use the characteristic formulation to treat the region close to the singularity in black hole spacetimes. The code carefully excises a region surrounding the singularity and accurately evolves generic black hole spacetimes with apparently unlimited stability.

Keywords gravitational radiation (GR) spacetimes black holes

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Belcher, Wendy Laura. 2009. Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Press.

Koopman, Philip. 1997. “How to Write an Abstract.” Carnegie Mellon University. October 1997. http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html .

Lancaster, F.W. 2003. Indexing And Abstracting in Theory and Practice , 3rd ed. London: Facet Publishing.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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• How to Write an Abstract

Expedite peer review, increase search-ability, and set the tone for your study

The abstract is your chance to let your readers know what they can expect from your article. Learn how to write a clear, and concise abstract that will keep your audience reading.

How your abstract impacts editorial evaluation and future readership

After the title , the abstract is the second-most-read part of your article. A good abstract can help to expedite peer review and, if your article is accepted for publication, it’s an important tool for readers to find and evaluate your work. Editors use your abstract when they first assess your article. Prospective reviewers see it when they decide whether to accept an invitation to review. Once published, the abstract gets indexed in PubMed and Google Scholar , as well as library systems and other popular databases. Like the title, your abstract influences keyword search results. Readers will use it to decide whether to read the rest of your article. Other researchers will use it to evaluate your work for inclusion in systematic reviews and meta-analysis. It should be a concise standalone piece that accurately represents your research. 

What to include in an abstract

The main challenge you’ll face when writing your abstract is keeping it concise AND fitting in all the information you need. Depending on your subject area the journal may require a structured abstract following specific headings. A structured abstract helps your readers understand your study more easily. If your journal doesn’t require a structured abstract it’s still a good idea to follow a similar format, just present the abstract as one paragraph without headings. 

Background or Introduction – What is currently known? Start with a brief, 2 or 3 sentence, introduction to the research area. 

Objectives or Aims – What is the study and why did you do it? Clearly state the research question you’re trying to answer.

Methods – What did you do? Explain what you did and how you did it. Include important information about your methods, but avoid the low-level specifics. Some disciplines have specific requirements for abstract methods. 

• CONSORT for randomized trials.
• STROBE for observational studies
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Results – What did you find? Briefly give the key findings of your study. Include key numeric data (including confidence intervals or p values), where possible.

Conclusions – What did you conclude? Tell the reader why your findings matter, and what this could mean for the ‘bigger picture’ of this area of research. 

Writing tips

The main challenge you may find when writing your abstract is keeping it concise AND convering all the information you need to.

• Keep it concise and to the point. Most journals have a maximum word count, so check guidelines before you write the abstract to save time editing it later.
• Write for your audience. Are they specialists in your specific field? Are they cross-disciplinary? Are they non-specialists? If you’re writing for a general audience, or your research could be of interest to the public keep your language as straightforward as possible. If you’re writing in English, do remember that not all of your readers will necessarily be native English speakers.
• Focus on key results, conclusions and take home messages.
• Write your paper first, then create the abstract as a summary.
• Check the journal requirements before you write your abstract, eg. required subheadings.
• Include keywords or phrases to help readers search for your work in indexing databases like PubMed or Google Scholar.
• Double and triple check your abstract for spelling and grammar errors. These kind of errors can give potential reviewers the impression that your research isn’t sound, and can make it easier to find reviewers who accept the invitation to review your manuscript. Your abstract should be a taste of what is to come in the rest of your article.

Don’t

• Sensationalize your research.
• Speculate about where this research might lead in the future.
• Use abbreviations or acronyms (unless absolutely necessary or unless they’re widely known, eg. DNA).
• Repeat yourself unnecessarily, eg. “Methods: We used X technique. Results: Using X technique, we found…”
• Contradict anything in the rest of your manuscript.
• Include content that isn’t also covered in the main manuscript.
• Include citations or references.

Tip: How to edit your work

Editing is challenging, especially if you are acting as both a writer and an editor. Read our guidelines for advice on how to refine your work, including useful tips for setting your intentions, re-review, and consultation with colleagues.

• How to Write a Great Title
• How to Write Your Methods
• How to Report Statistics
• How to Write Discussions and Conclusions
• How to Edit Your Work

The contents of the Peer Review Center are also available as a live, interactive training session, complete with slides, talking points, and activities. …

The contents of the Writing Center are also available as a live, interactive training session, complete with slides, talking points, and activities. …

There’s a lot to consider when deciding where to submit your work. Learn how to choose a journal that will help your study reach its audience, while reflecting your values as a researcher…

• USC Libraries
• Research Guides

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 3. The Abstract
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Applying Critical Thinking
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

An abstract summarizes, usually in one paragraph of 300 words or less, the major aspects of the entire paper in a prescribed sequence that includes: 1) the overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s) you investigated; 2) the basic design of the study; 3) major findings or trends found as a result of your analysis; and, 4) a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions.

Writing an Abstract. The Writing Center. Clarion University, 2009; Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper. The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison; Koltay, Tibor. Abstracts and Abstracting: A Genre and Set of Skills for the Twenty-first Century . Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2010;

Importance of a Good Abstract

Sometimes your professor will ask you to include an abstract, or general summary of your work, with your research paper. The abstract allows you to elaborate upon each major aspect of the paper and helps readers decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Therefore, enough key information [e.g., summary results, observations, trends, etc.] must be included to make the abstract useful to someone who may want to examine your work.

How do you know when you have enough information in your abstract? A simple rule-of-thumb is to imagine that you are another researcher doing a similar study. Then ask yourself: if your abstract was the only part of the paper you could access, would you be happy with the amount of information presented there? Does it tell the whole story about your study? If the answer is "no" then the abstract likely needs to be revised.

Farkas, David K. “A Scheme for Understanding and Writing Summaries.” Technical Communication 67 (August 2020): 45-60;  How to Write a Research Abstract. Office of Undergraduate Research. University of Kentucky; Staiger, David L. “What Today’s Students Need to Know about Writing Abstracts.” International Journal of Business Communication January 3 (1966): 29-33; Swales, John M. and Christine B. Feak. Abstracts and the Writing of Abstracts . Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2009.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Types of Abstracts

To begin, you need to determine which type of abstract you should include with your paper. There are four general types.

Critical Abstract A critical abstract provides, in addition to describing main findings and information, a judgment or comment about the study’s validity, reliability, or completeness. The researcher evaluates the paper and often compares it with other works on the same subject. Critical abstracts are generally 400-500 words in length due to the additional interpretive commentary. These types of abstracts are used infrequently.

Descriptive Abstract 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 only describes the work being summarized. Some researchers consider it an outline of the work, rather than a summary. Descriptive abstracts are usually very short, 100 words or less. Informative Abstract 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 researcher presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the paper. An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract [purpose, methods, scope] but it 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 usually no more than 300 words in length.

Highlight Abstract A highlight abstract is specifically written to attract the reader’s attention to the study. No pretense is made of there being either a balanced or complete picture of the paper and, in fact, incomplete and leading remarks may be used to spark the reader’s interest. In that a highlight abstract cannot stand independent of its associated article, it is not a true abstract and, therefore, rarely used in academic writing.

II.  Writing Style

Use the active voice when possible , but note that much of your abstract may require passive sentence constructions. Regardless, write your abstract using concise, but complete, sentences. Get to the point quickly and always use the past tense because you are reporting on a study that has been completed.

Abstracts should be formatted as a single paragraph in a block format and with no paragraph indentations. In most cases, the abstract page immediately follows the title page. Do not number the page. Rules set forth in writing manual vary but, in general, you should center the word "Abstract" at the top of the page with double spacing between the heading and the abstract. The final sentences of an abstract concisely summarize your study’s conclusions, implications, or applications to practice and, if appropriate, can be followed by a statement about the need for additional research revealed from the findings.

Composing Your Abstract

Although it is the first section of your paper, the abstract should be written last since it will summarize the contents of your entire paper. A good strategy to begin composing your abstract is to take whole sentences or key phrases from each section of the paper and put them in a sequence that summarizes the contents. Then revise or add connecting phrases or words to make the narrative flow clearly and smoothly. Note that statistical findings should be reported parenthetically [i.e., written in parentheses].

Before handing in your final paper, check to make sure that the information in the abstract completely agrees with what you have written in the paper. Think of the abstract as a sequential set of complete sentences describing the most crucial information using the fewest necessary words. The abstract SHOULD NOT contain:

• A catchy introductory phrase, provocative quote, or other device to grab the reader's attention,
• Lengthy background or contextual information,
• Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and repetitive information;
• Acronyms or abbreviations,
• References to other literature [say something like, "current research shows that..." or "studies have indicated..."],
• Using ellipticals [i.e., ending with "..."] or incomplete sentences,
• Jargon or terms that may be confusing to the reader,
• Citations to other works, and
• Any sort of image, illustration, figure, or table, or references to them.

Abstract. Writing Center. University of Kansas; Abstract. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College; Abstracts. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Borko, Harold and Seymour Chatman. "Criteria for Acceptable Abstracts: A Survey of Abstracters' Instructions." American Documentation 14 (April 1963): 149-160; Abstracts. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Hartley, James and Lucy Betts. "Common Weaknesses in Traditional Abstracts in the Social Sciences." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 60 (October 2009): 2010-2018; Koltay, Tibor. Abstracts and Abstracting: A Genre and Set of Skills for the Twenty-first Century. Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2010; Procter, Margaret. The Abstract. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Riordan, Laura. “Mastering the Art of Abstracts.” The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 115 (January 2015 ): 41-47; Writing Report Abstracts. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Abstracts. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Koltay, Tibor. Abstracts and Abstracting: A Genre and Set of Skills for the Twenty-First Century . Oxford, UK: 2010; Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper. The Writing Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Writing Tip

Never Cite Just the Abstract!

Citing to just a journal article's abstract does not confirm for the reader that you have conducted a thorough or reliable review of the literature. If the full-text is not available, go to the USC Libraries main page and enter the title of the article [NOT the title of the journal]. If the Libraries have a subscription to the journal, the article should appear with a link to the full-text or to the journal publisher page where you can get the article. If the article does not appear, try searching Google Scholar using the link on the USC Libraries main page. If you still can't find the article after doing this, contact a librarian or you can request it from our free i nterlibrary loan and document delivery service .

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How to craft an APA abstract

Last updated

16 December 2023

Reviewed by

An APA abstract is a brief but thorough summary of a scientific paper. It gives readers a clear overview of what the paper is about and what it intends to prove.

The purpose of an abstract is to allow researchers to quickly understand the paper's topic and purpose so they can decide whether it will be useful to them.

• What is the APA style?

APA style is a method of formatting and documentation used by the American Psychological Association. This style is used primarily for papers in the field of education and in the social sciences, including:

Anthropology

What is an abstract in APA format?

Writing an abstract in APA format requires you to conform to the writing rules for APA-style papers, including the following guidelines:

The abstract should be 150–250 words

It should be brief but concise, containing all the paper's main points

The abstract is a separate page that comes after the title page and before the paper's main content

• Key elements of an APA abstract 

While the rules for constructing an APA abstract are straightforward, the process can be challenging. You need to pack a great deal of relevant content into a short piece.

The essential elements of an APA abstract are:

Running header containing the title of the paper and page number

Section label, centered and in bold, containing the word "abstract"

The main content of the abstract, 150–250 words in length and double-spaced

A list of keywords, indented and introduced with the word "keywords" in italics

Essential points to cover in an APA abstract  

When you’re creating your APA abstract, consider the following questions.

What is the main topic the paper is addressing?

People searching for research on your topic will probably be browsing many papers and studies. The way your abstract is crafted will help to determine whether they feel your paper is worth reading.

Are your research methods quantitative or qualitative?

Quantitative research is focused on numbers and statistics, typically gathered from studies and polls where the questions are in yes/no or multiple-choice format.

Qualitative research is based on language and gathered using methods such as interviews and focus groups. It is more detailed and time-consuming to gather than quantitative research but can yield more complex and nuanced results.

Did you use primary or secondary sources?

Another key element is whether your research is based on primary or secondary sources. 

Primary research is data that you or your research team gathered. Secondary research is gathered from existing sources, such as databases or previously published studies.

Is your research descriptive or experimental?

Your research may be descriptive, experimental, or both.

With descriptive research , you’re describing or analyzing existing studies or theories on the topic. You may be using surveys, case studies, or observation to study the topic.

Experimental research studies variables using the scientific method. With an experiment, your objective is to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables (or show the lack of one).

What conclusion did you reach?

Readers will want to know upfront what your paper is claiming or proving. Your APA abstract should give them a condensed version of your conclusions. Summarize your most significant findings.

It's customary to place your findings and conclusion in the final sentence of the abstract. This should be directly related to the main topic of the paper.

What is the relevance of your findings?

Show readers that your paper is a significant contribution to the field. While staying accurate and not overstating your case, boast a bit about why people need to read your paper.

Briefly describe the implications and importance of your findings. You can also point out any further research that is needed concerning this topic.

Did you choose the most appropriate keywords?

Including keywords is useful for indexing if your paper is eventually included in a database. Choose keywords that are relevant to the paper and as specific as possible.

For example, if your paper is about signs of learning disabilities in elementary-age children, your keyword list might include:

Learning disability symptoms

Elementary education

Language-based learning disabilities

Any other terms discussed in the paper

• How to format an APA abstract

Use standard APA formatting with double spacing, 12pt Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins.

Place a running head at the top left-hand side of the page. This is an abbreviated version of the paper's title. Use all capital letters for the running header. This is not usually required for academic papers but is essential if you are submitting the paper for publication. The page number “2” should follow the running header (Page 1 is the title page).

Just under the running head, in the center, place the word "abstract."

Place your list of keywords at the end. The list should be indented and, according to APA guidelines, contain three to five keywords.

• What are the 3 types of abstracts?

There are certain variations in different types of APA abstracts. Here are three of the most common ones.

Experimental or lab report abstracts

An abstract for an experimental or lab report needs to communicate the key purpose and findings of the experiment. Include the following:

Purpose and importance of the experiment

Hypothesis of the experiment

Methods used to test the hypothesis

Summary of the results of the experiment, including whether you proved or rejected the hypothesis

Literature review abstracts

A literature review is a survey of published work on a work of literature. It may be part of a thesis, dissertation, or research paper .

The abstract for a literature review should contain:

A description of your purpose for covering the research topic

Your thesis statement

A description of the sources used in the review

Your conclusions based on the findings

Psychology lab reports

Psychology lab reports are part of the experiment report category. Psychology experiments, however, may contain distinctive elements.

Describe the goal or purpose of the experiment

If the experiment includes human subjects, describe them. Mention the number of participants and what demographic they fit

Describe any tools, equipment, or apparatus you used for the experiment. For example, some experiments use electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain waves. You may have also used tools such as questionnaires , case studies , or naturalistic observation. Describe the procedure and parameters of the experiment.

Summarize your conclusions

• What not to include in an APA abstract

As this section is 250 words maximum, it's important to know what should not be included.

Avoid the following in an APA abstract:

Jargon, acronyms, or abbreviations

Citations. These should appear in the body of the paper.

Lengthy or secondary information. Keep it brief and stick to the main points. Readers should want to read your paper for more detailed information.

Opinions or subjective comments

Anything not covered in the paper

• Guidelines for writing an APA abstract

While an abstract is the shortest section of your paper, it is nevertheless one of the most important parts. It determines whether or not someone decides that the paper is worth reading or not. What follows are some guidelines to keep in mind when creating your APA abstract. 

Focus on your main point. Don't try to fit in multiple conclusions. The idea is to give readers a clear idea of what your main point or conclusion is. On a similar note, be explicit about the implications and significance of your findings. This is what will motivate people to read your paper.

Write the abstract last. Ensure the abstract accurately conveys the content and conclusions of your paper. You may want to start with a rough draft of the abstract, which you can use as an outline to guide you when writing your paper. If you do this, make sure you edit and update the abstract after the full paper is complete.

Proofread your abstract. As the abstract is short and the first part of the paper people will read, it's especially important to make it clear and free of spelling, grammatical, or factual errors. Ask someone in your field to read through it.

Write the abstract for a general audience. While the paper may be aimed at academics, scientists, or specialists in your field, the abstract should be accessible to a broad audience. Minimize jargon and acronyms. This will make the paper easier to find by people looking for information on the topic.

Choose your keywords with care. The more relevant keywords you include, the more searchable your paper will be. Look up papers on comparable topics for guidance.

Follow any specific guidelines that apply to your paper. Requirements for the abstract may differ slightly depending on the topic or guidelines set by a particular instructor or publication.

APA style is commonly used in the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and education.

If you’re writing an abstract in APA style, there are certain conventions to follow. Your readers and people in your industry will expect you to adhere to particular elements of layout, content, and structure.

Follow our advice in this article, and you will be confident that your APA abstract complies with the expected standards and will encourage people to read your full paper.

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How to Write an Abstract (With Examples)

Sarah Oakley

Table of Contents

What is an abstract in a paper, how long should an abstract be, 5 steps for writing an abstract, examples of an abstract, how prowritingaid can help you write an abstract.

If you are writing a scientific research paper or a book proposal, you need to know how to write an abstract, which summarizes the contents of the paper or book.

When researchers are looking for peer-reviewed papers to use in their studies, the first place they will check is the abstract to see if it applies to their work. Therefore, your abstract is one of the most important parts of your entire paper.

In this article, we’ll explain what an abstract is, what it should include, and how to write one.

An abstract is a concise summary of the details within a report. Some abstracts give more details than others, but the main things you’ll be talking about are why you conducted the research, what you did, and what the results show.

When a reader is deciding whether to read your paper completely, they will first look at the abstract. You need to be concise in your abstract and give the reader the most important information so they can determine if they want to read the whole paper.

Remember that an abstract is the last thing you’ll want to write for the research paper because it directly references parts of the report. If you haven’t written the report, you won’t know what to include in your abstract.

If you are writing a paper for a journal or an assignment, the publication or academic institution might have specific formatting rules for how long your abstract should be. However, if they don’t, most abstracts are between 150 and 300 words long.

A short word count means your writing has to be precise and without filler words or phrases. Once you’ve written a first draft, you can always use an editing tool, such as ProWritingAid, to identify areas where you can reduce words and increase readability.

If your abstract is over the word limit, and you’ve edited it but still can’t figure out how to reduce it further, your abstract might include some things that aren’t needed. Here’s a list of three elements you can remove from your abstract:

Discussion : You don’t need to go into detail about the findings of your research because your reader will find your discussion within the paper.

Definition of terms : Your readers are interested the field you are writing about, so they are likely to understand the terms you are using. If not, they can always look them up. Your readers do not expect you to give a definition of terms in your abstract.

References and citations : You can mention there have been studies that support or have inspired your research, but you do not need to give details as the reader will find them in your bibliography.

Good writing = better grades

ProWritingAid will help you improve the style, strength, and clarity of all your assignments.

If you’ve never written an abstract before, and you’re wondering how to write an abstract, we’ve got some steps for you to follow. It’s best to start with planning your abstract, so we’ve outlined the details you need to include in your plan before you write.

Remember to consider your audience when you’re planning and writing your abstract. They are likely to skim read your abstract, so you want to be sure your abstract delivers all the information they’re expecting to see at key points.

1. What Should an Abstract Include?

Abstracts have a lot of information to cover in a short number of words, so it’s important to know what to include. There are three elements that need to be present in your abstract:

Your context is the background for where your research sits within your field of study. You should briefly mention any previous scientific papers or experiments that have led to your hypothesis and how research develops in those studies.

Your hypothesis is your prediction of what your study will show. As you are writing your abstract after you have conducted your research, you should still include your hypothesis in your abstract because it shows the motivation for your paper.

Throughout your abstract, you also need to include keywords and phrases that will help researchers to find your article in the databases they’re searching. Make sure the keywords are specific to your field of study and the subject you’re reporting on, otherwise your article might not reach the relevant audience.

2. Can You Use First Person in an Abstract?

You might think that first person is too informal for a research paper, but it’s not. Historically, writers of academic reports avoided writing in first person to uphold the formality standards of the time. However, first person is more accepted in research papers in modern times.

If you’re still unsure whether to write in first person for your abstract, refer to any style guide rules imposed by the journal you’re writing for or your teachers if you are writing an assignment.

3. Abstract Structure

Some scientific journals have strict rules on how to structure an abstract, so it’s best to check those first. If you don’t have any style rules to follow, try using the IMRaD structure, which stands for Introduction, Methodology, Results, and Discussion.

Following the IMRaD structure, start with an introduction. The amount of background information you should include depends on your specific research area. Adding a broad overview gives you less room to include other details. Remember to include your hypothesis in this section.

The next part of your abstract should cover your methodology. Try to include the following details if they apply to your study:

What type of research was conducted?

How were the test subjects sampled?

What were the sample sizes?

What was done to each group?

How long was the experiment?

How was data recorded and interpreted?

Following the methodology, include a sentence or two about the results, which is where your reader will determine if your research supports or contradicts their own investigations.

The results are also where most people will want to find out what your outcomes were, even if they are just mildly interested in your research area. You should be specific about all the details but as concise as possible.

The last few sentences are your conclusion. It needs to explain how your findings affect the context and whether your hypothesis was correct. Include the primary take-home message, additional findings of importance, and perspective. Also explain whether there is scope for further research into the subject of your report.

Your conclusion should be honest and give the reader the ultimate message that your research shows. Readers trust the conclusion, so make sure you’re not fabricating the results of your research. Some readers won’t read your entire paper, but this section will tell them if it’s worth them referencing it in their own study.

4. How to Start an Abstract

The first line of your abstract should give your reader the context of your report by providing background information. You can use this sentence to imply the motivation for your research.

You don’t need to use a hook phrase or device in your first sentence to grab the reader’s attention. Your reader will look to establish relevance quickly, so readability and clarity are more important than trying to persuade the reader to read on.

5. How to Format an Abstract

Most abstracts use the same formatting rules, which help the reader identify the abstract so they know where to look for it.

Here’s a list of formatting guidelines for writing an abstract:

Stick to one paragraph

Use block formatting with no indentation at the beginning

Put your abstract straight after the title and acknowledgements pages

Use present or past tense, not future tense

There are two primary types of abstract you could write for your paper—descriptive and informative.

An informative abstract is the most common, and they follow the structure mentioned previously. They are longer than descriptive abstracts because they cover more details.

Descriptive abstracts differ from informative abstracts, as they don’t include as much discussion or detail. The word count for a descriptive abstract is between 50 and 150 words.

Here is an example of an informative abstract:

A growing trend exists for authors to employ a more informal writing style that uses “we” in academic writing to acknowledge one’s stance and engagement. However, few studies have compared the ways in which the first-person pronoun “we” is used in the abstracts and conclusions of empirical papers. To address this lacuna in the literature, this study conducted a systematic corpus analysis of the use of “we” in the abstracts and conclusions of 400 articles collected from eight leading electrical and electronic (EE) engineering journals. The abstracts and conclusions were extracted to form two subcorpora, and an integrated framework was applied to analyze and seek to explain how we-clusters and we-collocations were employed. Results revealed whether authors’ use of first-person pronouns partially depends on a journal policy. The trend of using “we” showed that a yearly increase occurred in the frequency of “we” in EE journal papers, as well as the existence of three “we-use” types in the article conclusions and abstracts: exclusive, inclusive, and ambiguous. Other possible “we-use” alternatives such as “I” and other personal pronouns were used very rarely—if at all—in either section. These findings also suggest that the present tense was used more in article abstracts, but the present perfect tense was the most preferred tense in article conclusions. Both research and pedagogical implications are proffered and critically discussed.

Wang, S., Tseng, W.-T., & Johanson, R. (2021). To We or Not to We: Corpus-Based Research on First-Person Pronoun Use in Abstracts and Conclusions. SAGE Open, 11(2).

Here is an example of a descriptive abstract:

From the 1850s to the present, considerable criminological attention has focused on the development of theoretically-significant systems for classifying crime. This article reviews and attempts to evaluate a number of these efforts, and we conclude that further work on this basic task is needed. The latter part of the article explicates a conceptual foundation for a crime pattern classification system, and offers a preliminary taxonomy of crime.

Farr, K. A., & Gibbons, D. C. (1990). Observations on the Development of Crime Categories. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 34(3), 223–237.

If you want to ensure your abstract is grammatically correct and easy to read, you can use ProWritingAid to edit it. The software integrates with Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and most web browsers, so you can make the most of it wherever you’re writing your paper.

Before you edit with ProWritingAid, make sure the suggestions you are seeing are relevant for your document by changing the document type to “Abstract” within the Academic writing style section.

You can use the Readability report to check your abstract for places to improve the clarity of your writing. Some suggestions might show you where to remove words, which is great if you’re over your word count.

We hope the five steps and examples we’ve provided help you write a great abstract for your research paper.

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How to Write an Abstract

An abstract of a work, usually of an essay, is a concise summary of its main points. It is meant to concentrate the argument of a work, presenting it as clearly as possible.

The abstract often appears after the title and before the main body of an essay. If you are writing an abstract as part of an assignment, you should check with your instructor about where to place it.

Here are a few guidelines to follow when composing an abstract:

• In general, avoid too much copying and pasting directly from your essay, especially from the first paragraph. An abstract is often presented directly before an essay, and it will often be the first thing readers consult after your title. You wouldn’t repeat your ideas verbatim in the body of your essay, so why would you do that in an abstract? Consider the abstract part of the work itself. 
• Start off strong. An abstract should be a mini essay, so it should begin with a clear statement of your argument. This should be the first sentence or two.
• Abstracts vary in length. But a good rule is to aim for five to seven sentences. The bulk of the abstract will review the evidence for your claim and summarize your findings.
• Avoid complicated syntax. Long sentences and intricate phrasing have their place in essays, but the abstract should be concise. It is not the place for ambitious grammar.
• The last sentence or two should point to any conclusions reached and the direction future research might take. Like the first sentence, the last should be provocative and direct. Leave your readers wanting to read your essay.

In what follows, the authors have written an effective abstract that adheres to the basic principles above:

Literary critics have long imagined that T. S. Eliot’s The Sacred Wood (1920) shaped the canon and methods of countless twentieth-century classrooms. This essay turns instead to the classroom that made The Sacred Wood : the Modern English Literature extension school tutorial that Eliot taught to working-class adults between 1916 and 1919. Contextualizing Eliot’s tutorial within the extension school movement shows how the ethos and practices of the Workers’ Educational Association shaped his teaching. Over the course of three years, Eliot and his students reimagined canonical literature as writing by working poets for working people—a model of literary history that fully informed his canon reformation in The Sacred Wood . This example demonstrates how attention to teaching changes the history of English literary study. It further reveals how all kinds of institutions, not just elite universities, have shaped the discipline’s methods and canons. (Buurma and Heffernan)

This abstract uses the first two sentences to establish the essay’s place in its field of study and to suggest how it intervenes in existing scholarship. The syntax is direct and simple. The third sentence begins to outline how the authors will support their argument. They aim to demonstrate the relevance of Eliot’s teaching to his ideas about literature, and so they move next to discuss some of the details of that teaching. Finally, the abstract concludes by telling us about the consequences of this argument. The conclusion both points to new directions for research and tells us why we should read the essay. 

Buurma, Rachel Sagner, and Laura Heffernan. Abstract of “The Classroom in the Canon: T. S. Eliot’s Modern English Literature Extension Course for Working People and  The Sacred Wood. ”  PMLA , vol. 133, no. 2, Mar. 2018, p. 463.

Estate Best 18 July 2021 AT 05:07 AM

Please how will I write an abstract for my own poem collections?

Your e-mail address will not be published

Marc Simoes 01 April 2022 AT 04:04 PM

I am teaching students how to format and write an abstract, but I find no precise guidelines in the MLA Handbook. Should the first word of the abstract body text begin with the word "Abstract" followed by a period or colon and then the abstract content? Should the word "Abstract" be underlined? Over the years, I was taught both of these ways by different instructors, but I haven't found any definitive instructions, and now my students are asking me the correct format. Please help! Thank you!

Joseph Wallace 12 April 2022 AT 01:04 PM

Although publishers like the MLA will use their own house style guidelines for abstracts in published material, there is no one correct way for students to format their abstracts. Instructors should decide what works best for their classes and assignments.

Lorraine Belo 17 April 2022 AT 10:04 PM

Can you write a brief abstract about your MLA writing

Subrata Biswas 13 July 2023 AT 10:07 AM

Generally, the abstract is written in Italics. Is there any rule as such?

Joseph Wallace 31 July 2023 AT 10:07 AM

Thanks for your question. There is no rule saying that abstracts need to be written in italics. Some publications use italics for abstracts and some do not.

Dhan 07 January 2024 AT 12:01 PM

Should I write key words at the end of the abstract of Phd dissertation?

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Home » Research Paper Abstract – Writing Guide and Examples

Research Paper Abstract – Writing Guide and Examples

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Research Paper Abstract

Research Paper Abstract is a brief summary of a research pape r that describes the study’s purpose, methods, findings, and conclusions . It is often the first section of the paper that readers encounter, and its purpose is to provide a concise and accurate overview of the paper’s content. The typical length of an abstract is usually around 150-250 words, and it should be written in a concise and clear manner.

Research Paper Abstract Structure

The structure of a research paper abstract usually includes the following elements:

• Background or Introduction: Briefly describe the problem or research question that the study addresses.
• Methods : Explain the methodology used to conduct the study, including the participants, materials, and procedures.
• Results : Summarize the main findings of the study, including statistical analyses and key outcomes.
• Conclusions : Discuss the implications of the study’s findings and their significance for the field, as well as any limitations or future directions for research.
• Keywords : List a few keywords that describe the main topics or themes of the research.

How to Write Research Paper Abstract

Here are the steps to follow when writing a research paper abstract:

• Start by reading your paper: Before you write an abstract, you should have a complete understanding of your paper. Read through the paper carefully, making sure you understand the purpose, methods, results, and conclusions.
• Identify the key components : Identify the key components of your paper, such as the research question, methods used, results obtained, and conclusion reached.
• Write a draft: Write a draft of your abstract, using concise and clear language. Make sure to include all the important information, but keep it short and to the point. A good rule of thumb is to keep your abstract between 150-250 words.
• Use clear and concise language : Use clear and concise language to explain the purpose of your study, the methods used, the results obtained, and the conclusions drawn.
• Emphasize your findings: Emphasize your findings in the abstract, highlighting the key results and the significance of your study.
• Revise and edit: Once you have a draft, revise and edit it to ensure that it is clear, concise, and free from errors.
• Check the formatting: Finally, check the formatting of your abstract to make sure it meets the requirements of the journal or conference where you plan to submit it.

Research Paper Abstract Examples

Research Paper Abstract Examples could be following:

Title : “The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Treating Anxiety Disorders: A Meta-Analysis”

Abstract : This meta-analysis examines the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating anxiety disorders. Through the analysis of 20 randomized controlled trials, we found that CBT is a highly effective treatment for anxiety disorders, with large effect sizes across a range of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder. Our findings support the use of CBT as a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders and highlight the importance of further research to identify the mechanisms underlying its effectiveness.

Title : “Exploring the Role of Parental Involvement in Children’s Education: A Qualitative Study”

Abstract : This qualitative study explores the role of parental involvement in children’s education. Through in-depth interviews with 20 parents of children in elementary school, we found that parental involvement takes many forms, including volunteering in the classroom, helping with homework, and communicating with teachers. We also found that parental involvement is influenced by a range of factors, including parent and child characteristics, school culture, and socio-economic status. Our findings suggest that schools and educators should prioritize building strong partnerships with parents to support children’s academic success.

Title : “The Impact of Exercise on Cognitive Function in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”

Abstract : This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the existing literature on the impact of exercise on cognitive function in older adults. Through the analysis of 25 randomized controlled trials, we found that exercise is associated with significant improvements in cognitive function, particularly in the domains of executive function and attention. Our findings highlight the potential of exercise as a non-pharmacological intervention to support cognitive health in older adults.

When to Write Research Paper Abstract

The abstract of a research paper should typically be written after you have completed the main body of the paper. This is because the abstract is intended to provide a brief summary of the key points and findings of the research, and you can’t do that until you have completed the research and written about it in detail.

Once you have completed your research paper, you can begin writing your abstract. It is important to remember that the abstract should be a concise summary of your research paper, and should be written in a way that is easy to understand for readers who may not have expertise in your specific area of research.

Purpose of Research Paper Abstract

The purpose of a research paper abstract is to provide a concise summary of the key points and findings of a research paper. It is typically a brief paragraph or two that appears at the beginning of the paper, before the introduction, and is intended to give readers a quick overview of the paper’s content.

The abstract should include a brief statement of the research problem, the methods used to investigate the problem, the key results and findings, and the main conclusions and implications of the research. It should be written in a clear and concise manner, avoiding jargon and technical language, and should be understandable to a broad audience.

The abstract serves as a way to quickly and easily communicate the main points of a research paper to potential readers, such as academics, researchers, and students, who may be looking for information on a particular topic. It can also help researchers determine whether a paper is relevant to their own research interests and whether they should read the full paper.

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Writing an abstract - a six point checklist (with samples)

Posted in: abstract , dissertations

The abstract is a vital part of any research paper. It is the shop front for your work, and the first stop for your reader. It should provide a clear and succinct summary of your study, and encourage your readers to read more. An effective abstract, therefore should answer the following questions:

• Why did you do this study or project?
• What did you do and how?
• What did you find?
• What do your findings mean?

So here's our run down of the key elements of a well-written abstract.

• Size - A succinct and well written abstract should be between approximately 100- 250 words.
• Background - An effective abstract usually includes some scene-setting information which might include what is already known about the subject, related to the paper in question (a few short sentences).
• Purpose  - The abstract should also set out the purpose of your research, in other words, what is not known about the subject and hence what the study intended to examine (or what the paper seeks to present).
• Methods - The methods section should contain enough information to enable the reader to understand what was done, and how. It should include brief details of the research design, sample size, duration of study, and so on.
• Results - The results section is the most important part of the abstract. This is because readers who skim an abstract do so to learn about the findings of the study. The results section should therefore contain as much detail about the findings as the journal word count permits.
• Conclusion - This section should contain the most important take-home message of the study, expressed in a few precisely worded sentences. Usually, the finding highlighted here relates to the primary outcomes of the study. However, other important or unexpected findings should also be mentioned. It is also customary, but not essential, to express an opinion about the theoretical or practical implications of the findings, or the importance of their findings for the field. Thus, the conclusions may contain three elements:
• The primary take-home message.
• Any additional findings of importance.
• Implications for future studies.

Example Abstract 2: Engineering Development and validation of a three-dimensional finite element model of the pelvic bone.

Abstract from: Dalstra, M., Huiskes, R. and Van Erning, L., 1995. Development and validation of a three-dimensional finite element model of the pelvic bone. Journal of biomechanical engineering, 117(3), pp.272-278.

And finally...  A word on abstract types and styles

Abstract types can differ according to subject discipline. You need to determine therefore which type of abstract you should include with your paper. Here are two of the most common types with examples.

Informative Abstract

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 researcher presents and explains all the main arguments and the important results and evidence in the paper. An informative abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract [purpose, methods, scope] but it 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 usually no more than 300 words in length.

Descriptive Abstract A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work. It makes no judgements 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 only describes the work being summarised. Some researchers consider it an outline of the work, rather than a summary. Descriptive abstracts are usually very short, 100 words or less.

Adapted from Andrade C. How to write a good abstract for a scientific paper or conference presentation. Indian J Psychiatry. 2011 Apr;53(2):172-5. doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.82558. PMID: 21772657; PMCID: PMC3136027 .

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How to Write an APA Abstract

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emily is a board-certified science editor who has worked with top digital publishing brands like Voices for Biodiversity, Study.com, GoodTherapy, Vox, and Verywell.

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• Writing Your Abstract
• How to Use Keywords

An APA abstract is a concise but comprehensive summary of a scientific paper. It is typically a paragraph long, or about 150 to 250 words. The goal of the abstract is to provide the reader with a brief and accurate idea of what a paper is about.

The APA abstract should appear on a separate page immediately after the title page and before the main content of your paper. While professional papers that appear in scientific journals and other publications require an APA abstract, they may not be required for student papers. However, you should always check with your instructor for specific requirements.

What Is APA Format?

APA format is the official style of the American Psychological Association. It is used in writing for psychology and other social sciences. These style guidelines specify different aspects of a document's presentation and layout, including how pages are structured, how references are organized, and how sources are cited.

This article explains how to create an abstract in APA format for your psychology papers or other types of scientific writing. It covers the basic rules you should follow as well as specific guidelines for writing abstracts for experimental reports, literature reviews, and other articles.

What Is an Abstract in APA Format?

In addition to providing guidance for the general style and organization of a paper, APA format also stipulates using an abstract designed to briefly summarize the key details in a paper.

While it is sometimes overlooked or only an afterthought, an abstract is an integral part of any academic or professional paper. The abstract is a critical component of an APA-formatted paper. This brief overview summarizes what your paper contains. It should succinctly and accurately represent what your paper is about and what the reader can expect to find.

Following a few simple guidelines, you can create an abstract following the format. Done well, an abstract generates interest in your work and helps readers learn if the paper will interest them.

APA Format Abstract Basics

The abstract is the second page of a lab report or APA-format paper and should immediately follow the title page . Think of an abstract as a highly condensed summary of your entire paper.

The purpose of your abstract is to provide a brief yet thorough overview of your paper. It should function much like your title page—it should allow the person reading it to quickly determine what your paper is all about. Your abstract is the first thing that most people will read, and it is usually what informs their decision to read the rest of your paper.

The abstract is the single most important paragraph in your entire paper, according to the APA Publication Manual. A good abstract lets the reader know that your paper is worth reading.

According to the official guidelines of the American Psychological Association, an abstract should be brief but packed with information. Each sentence must be written with maximum impact in mind. To keep your abstract short, focus on including just four or five of the essential points, concepts, or findings.

An abstract must also be objective and accurate. The abstract's purpose is to report rather than provide commentary. It should accurately reflect what your paper is about. Only include information that is also included in the body of your paper.

Key Elements of an APA Abstract

Your abstract page should include:

• A running head , which is a shortened version of your title that appears in all caps at the top left of each page of your paper
• A section label , which should be the word "Abstract" centered and bolded at the top of the page
• A page number , which should be the second page of your paper (the title page should be page 1)
• A double-spaced paragraph of about 150 to 250 words
• An indented list of keywords related to your paper's content. Include the label "Keywords:" in italics and list three to five keywords that are separated by commas

How to Write an Abstract in APA Format

Before you write your abstract, you first need to write your paper in its entirety. In order to write a good abstract, you need to have a finished draft of your paper so you can summarize it accurately.

While the abstract will be at the beginning of your paper, it should be the last section you write.

Once you have completed the final draft of your psychology paper , use it as a guide for writing your abstract.

• Begin your abstract on a new page . Place your running head and page number 2 in the top right-hand corner. Center the word "Abstract" at the top of the page.
• Know your target word count . An abstract should be between 150 and 250 words. Exact word counts vary from journal to journal . If you are writing your paper for a psychology course, your professor may have specific word requirements, so be sure to ask. The abstract should be written as only one paragraph with no indentation.
• Structure the abstract in the same order as your paper . Begin with a brief summary of the introduction , and then continue on with a summary of the method , results , and discussion sections of your paper.
• Look at other abstracts in professional journals for examples of how to summarize your paper . Notice the main points that the authors chose to mention in the abstract. Use these examples as a guide when choosing the main ideas in your own paper.
• Write a rough draft of your abstract . Use the format required for your type of paper (see next sections). While you should aim for brevity, be careful not to make your summary too short. Try to write one to two sentences summarizing each section of your paper. Once you have a rough draft, you can edit for length and clarity.
• Ask a friend to read over the abstract . Sometimes, having someone look at your abstract with fresh eyes can provide perspective and help you spot possible typos and other errors.

The abstract is vital to your paper, so it should not be overlooked or treated as an afterthought. Spend time writing this section carefully to ensure maximum readability and clarity.

It is important to remember that while the abstract is the last thing you write, it is often the most read part of your paper.

Experimental Report Abstracts

The format of your abstract also depends on the type of paper you are writing. For example, an abstract summarizing an experimental paper will differ from that of a meta-analysis or case study . For an experimental report, your abstract should:

• Identify the problem . In many cases, you should begin by stating the question you sought to investigate and your hypothesis .
• Describe the participants in the study . State how many participants took part and how they were selected. For example: "In this study, 215 undergraduate student participants were randomly assigned to [the experimental condition] or [the control condition]."
• Describe the study method . For example, identify whether you used a within-subjects, between-subjects, or mixed design.
• Give the basic findings . This is essentially a brief preview of the results of your paper. 
• Provide any conclusions or implications of the study . What might your results indicate, and what directions does it point to for future research?

Literature Review Abstracts

If your paper is a meta-analysis or literature review, your abstract should:

• Describe the problem of interest . In other words, what is it that you set out to investigate in your analysis or review?
• Explain the criteria used to select the studies included in the paper . There may be many different studies devoted to your topic. Your analysis or review probably only looks at a portion of these studies. For what reason did you select these specific studies to include in your research?
• Identify the participants in the studies . Inform the reader about who the participants were in the studies. Were they college students? Older adults? How were they selected and assigned?
• Provide the main results . Again, this is essentially a quick peek at what readers will find when they read your results section. Don't try to include everything. Just provide a very brief summary of your main findings. 
• Describe any conclusions or implications . What might these results mean and what do they reveal about the body of research that exists on this particular topic?

Lab Reports and Articles

Psychology papers such as lab reports and APA format articles also often require an abstract. In these cases as well, the abstract should include all of the major elements of your paper, including an introduction, hypothesis, methods, results, and discussion.

Remember, although the abstract should be placed at the beginning of your paper (right after the title page), you will write the abstract last after you have completed a final draft of your paper.

To ensure that all of your APA formatting is correct, consider consulting a copy of the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association .

Keywords in an APA Abstract

After the paragraph containing the main elements of your abstract, you can also include keywords related to your paper. Such keywords are used when indexing your paper in databases and can help researchers and students locate your paper when searching for information about those topics.

Because keywords help people find your paper, it is essential to choose the right ones. The APA suggests including between three and five keywords.

You can identify keywords by thinking about what your paper is about. For example, if your paper focuses on how social media use is related to depression in teenagers, you might include the keywords: social media, mood, depression, adolescents, social networking sites 

A Word From Verywell

The abstract may be very brief, but it is so important that the official APA style manual identifies it as the most important paragraph in your entire paper. Careful attention to detail can ensure that your abstract does a good job representing the contents of your paper. If possible, take your paper to your school's writing lab for assistance.

Nagda S. How to write a scientific abstract. J Indian Prosthodont Soc. 2013;13(3):382–383. doi:10.1007/s13191-013-0299-x

Kumar A. Writing an abstract: Revealing the essence with eloquence .  J Indian Soc Periodontol . 2022;26(1):1-2. doi:10.4103/jisp.jisp_634_21

American Psychological Association. APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards: Reporting Standards for Studies With an Experimental Manipulation .

American Psychological Association. APA Style Journal Article Reporting Standards: Quantitative Meta-Analysis Article Reporting Standards .

Tullu MS. Writing the title and abstract for a research paper: Being concise, precise, and meticulous is the key .  Saudi J Anaesth . 2019;13(Suppl 1):S12-S17. doi:10.4103/sja.SJA_685_18

American Psychological Association. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). American Psychological Association; 2019.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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• How to Write an Abstract | Steps & Examples

How to Write an Abstract | Steps & Examples

Published on 1 March 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 10 October 2022 by Eoghan Ryan.

An abstract is a short summary of a longer work (such as a dissertation or research paper ). The abstract concisely reports the aims and outcomes of your research, so that readers know exactly what your paper is about.

Although the structure may vary slightly depending on your discipline, your abstract should describe the purpose of your work, the methods you’ve used, and the conclusions you’ve drawn.

One common way to structure your abstract is to use the IMRaD structure. This stands for:

• Introduction

Abstracts are usually around 100–300 words, but there’s often a strict word limit, so make sure to check the relevant requirements.

In a dissertation or thesis , include the abstract on a separate page, after the title page and acknowledgements but before the table of contents .

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Table of contents

Abstract example, when to write an abstract, step 1: introduction, step 2: methods, step 3: results, step 4: discussion, tips for writing an abstract, frequently asked questions about abstracts.

Hover over the different parts of the abstract to see how it is constructed.

This paper examines the role of silent movies as a mode of shared experience in the UK during the early twentieth century. At this time, high immigration rates resulted in a significant percentage of non-English-speaking citizens. These immigrants faced numerous economic and social obstacles, including exclusion from public entertainment and modes of discourse (newspapers, theater, radio).

Incorporating evidence from reviews, personal correspondence, and diaries, this study demonstrates that silent films were an affordable and inclusive source of entertainment. It argues for the accessible economic and representational nature of early cinema. These concerns are particularly evident in the low price of admission and in the democratic nature of the actors’ exaggerated gestures, which allowed the plots and action to be easily grasped by a diverse audience despite language barriers.

Keywords: silent movies, immigration, public discourse, entertainment, early cinema, language barriers.

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You will almost always have to include an abstract when:

• Completing a thesis or dissertation
• Submitting a research paper to an academic journal
• Writing a book proposal
• Applying for research grants

It’s easiest to write your abstract last, because it’s a summary of the work you’ve already done. Your abstract should:

• Be a self-contained text, not an excerpt from your paper
• Be fully understandable on its own
• Reflect the structure of your larger work

Start by clearly defining the purpose of your research. What practical or theoretical problem does the research respond to, or what research question did you aim to answer?

You can include some brief context on the social or academic relevance of your topic, but don’t go into detailed background information. If your abstract uses specialised terms that would be unfamiliar to the average academic reader or that have various different meanings, give a concise definition.

After identifying the problem, state the objective of your research. Use verbs like “investigate,” “test,” “analyse,” or “evaluate” to describe exactly what you set out to do.

This part of the abstract can be written in the present or past simple tense  but should never refer to the future, as the research is already complete.

• This study will investigate the relationship between coffee consumption and productivity.
• This study investigates the relationship between coffee consumption and productivity.

Next, indicate the research methods that you used to answer your question. This part should be a straightforward description of what you did in one or two sentences. It is usually written in the past simple tense, as it refers to completed actions.

• Structured interviews will be conducted with 25 participants.
• Structured interviews were conducted with 25 participants.

Don’t evaluate validity or obstacles here — the goal is not to give an account of the methodology’s strengths and weaknesses, but to give the reader a quick insight into the overall approach and procedures you used.

Next, summarise the main research results . This part of the abstract can be in the present or past simple tense.

• Our analysis has shown a strong correlation between coffee consumption and productivity.
• Our analysis shows a strong correlation between coffee consumption and productivity.
• Our analysis showed a strong correlation between coffee consumption and productivity.

Depending on how long and complex your research is, you may not be able to include all results here. Try to highlight only the most important findings that will allow the reader to understand your conclusions.

Finally, you should discuss the main conclusions of your research : what is your answer to the problem or question? The reader should finish with a clear understanding of the central point that your research has proved or argued. Conclusions are usually written in the present simple tense.

• We concluded that coffee consumption increases productivity.
• We conclude that coffee consumption increases productivity.

If there are important limitations to your research (for example, related to your sample size or methods), you should mention them briefly in the abstract. This allows the reader to accurately assess the credibility and generalisability of your research.

If your aim was to solve a practical problem, your discussion might include recommendations for implementation. If relevant, you can briefly make suggestions for further research.

If your paper will be published, you might have to add a list of keywords at the end of the abstract. These keywords should reference the most important elements of the research to help potential readers find your paper during their own literature searches.

Be aware that some publication manuals, such as APA Style , have specific formatting requirements for these keywords.

It can be a real challenge to condense your whole work into just a couple of hundred words, but the abstract will be the first (and sometimes only) part that people read, so it’s important to get it right. These strategies can help you get started.

Read other abstracts

The best way to learn the conventions of writing an abstract in your discipline is to read other people’s. You probably already read lots of journal article abstracts while conducting your literature review —try using them as a framework for structure and style.

You can also find lots of dissertation abstract examples in thesis and dissertation databases .

Reverse outline

Not all abstracts will contain precisely the same elements. For longer works, you can write your abstract through a process of reverse outlining.

For each chapter or section, list keywords and draft one to two sentences that summarise the central point or argument. This will give you a framework of your abstract’s structure. Next, revise the sentences to make connections and show how the argument develops.

Write clearly and concisely

A good abstract is short but impactful, so make sure every word counts. Each sentence should clearly communicate one main point.

To keep your abstract or summary short and clear:

• Avoid passive sentences: Passive constructions are often unnecessarily long. You can easily make them shorter and clearer by using the active voice.
• Avoid long sentences: Substitute longer expressions for concise expressions or single words (e.g., “In order to” for “To”).
• Avoid obscure jargon: The abstract should be understandable to readers who are not familiar with your topic.
• Avoid repetition and filler words: Replace nouns with pronouns when possible and eliminate unnecessary words.
• Avoid detailed descriptions: An abstract is not expected to provide detailed definitions, background information, or discussions of other scholars’ work. Instead, include this information in the body of your thesis or paper.

If you’re struggling to edit down to the required length, you can get help from expert editors with Scribbr’s professional proofreading services .

Check your formatting

If you are writing a thesis or dissertation or submitting to a journal, there are often specific formatting requirements for the abstract—make sure to check the guidelines and format your work correctly. For APA research papers you can follow the APA abstract format .

Checklist: Abstract

The word count is within the required length, or a maximum of one page.

The abstract appears after the title page and acknowledgements and before the table of contents .

I have clearly stated my research problem and objectives.

I have briefly described my methodology .

I have summarized the most important results .

I have stated my main conclusions .

I have mentioned any important limitations and recommendations.

The abstract can be understood by someone without prior knowledge of the topic.

You've written a great abstract! Use the other checklists to continue improving your thesis or dissertation.

An abstract is a concise summary of an academic text (such as a journal article or dissertation ). It serves two main purposes:

• To help potential readers determine the relevance of your paper for their own research.
• To communicate your key findings to those who don’t have time to read the whole paper.

Abstracts are often indexed along with keywords on academic databases, so they make your work more easily findable. Since the abstract is the first thing any reader sees, it’s important that it clearly and accurately summarises the contents of your paper.

An abstract for a thesis or dissertation is usually around 150–300 words. There’s often a strict word limit, so make sure to check your university’s requirements.

The abstract is the very last thing you write. You should only write it after your research is complete, so that you can accurately summarize the entirety of your thesis or paper.

Avoid citing sources in your abstract . There are two reasons for this:

• The abstract should focus on your original research, not on the work of others.
• The abstract should be self-contained and fully understandable without reference to other sources.

There are some circumstances where you might need to mention other sources in an abstract: for example, if your research responds directly to another study or focuses on the work of a single theorist. In general, though, don’t include citations unless absolutely necessary.

The abstract appears on its own page, after the title page and acknowledgements but before the table of contents .

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How to Write an Abstract for a Research Paper | Examples

What is a research paper abstract?

Research paper abstracts summarize your study quickly and succinctly to journal editors and researchers and prompt them to read further. But with the ubiquity of online publication databases, writing a compelling abstract is even more important today than it was in the days of bound paper manuscripts.

Abstracts exist to “sell”  your work, and they could thus be compared to the “executive summary” of a business resume: an official briefing on what is most important about your research. Or the “gist” of your research. With the majority of academic transactions being conducted online, this means that you have even less time to impress readers–and increased competition in terms of other abstracts out there to read.

The APCI (Academic Publishing and Conferences International) notes that there are  12 questions or “points” considered in the selection process  for journals and conferences and stresses the importance of having an abstract that ticks all of these boxes. Because it is often the ONLY chance you have to convince readers to keep reading, it is important that you spend time and energy crafting an abstract that faithfully represents the central parts of your study and captivates your audience.

With that in mind, follow these suggestions when structuring and writing your abstract, and learn how exactly to put these ideas into a solid abstract that will captivate your target readers.

Before Writing Your Abstract

How long should an abstract be.

All abstracts are written with the same essential objective: to give a summary of your study. But there are two basic styles of abstract: descriptive and informative . Here is a brief delineation of the two:

Of the two types of abstracts, informative abstracts are much more common, and they are widely used for submission to journals and conferences. Informative abstracts apply to lengthier and more technical research and are common in the sciences, engineering, and psychology, while descriptive abstracts are more likely used in humanities and social science papers. The best method of determining which abstract type you need to use is to follow the instructions for journal submissions and to read as many other published articles in those journals as possible.

Research Abstract Guidelines and Requirements

As any article about research writing will tell you, authors must always closely follow the specific guidelines and requirements indicated in the Guide for Authors section of their target journal’s website. The same kind of adherence to conventions should be applied to journal publications, for consideration at a conference, and even when completing a class assignment.

Each publisher has particular demands when it comes to formatting and structure. Here are some common questions addressed in the journal guidelines:

• Is there a maximum or minimum word/character length?
• What are the style and formatting requirements?
• What is the appropriate abstract type?
• Are there any specific content or organization rules that apply?

There are of course other rules to consider when composing a research paper abstract. But if you follow the stated rules the first time you submit your manuscript, you can avoid your work being thrown in the “circular file” right off the bat.

Identify Your Target Readership

The main purpose of your abstract is to lead researchers to the full text of your research paper. In scientific journals, abstracts let readers decide whether the research discussed is relevant to their own interests or study. Abstracts also help readers understand your main argument quickly. Consider these questions as you write your abstract:

• Are other academics in your field the main target of your study?
• Will your study perhaps be useful to members of the general public?
• Do your study results include the wider implications presented in the abstract?

Outlining and Writing Your Abstract

What to include in an abstract.

Just as your  research paper title  should cover as much ground as possible in a few short words, your abstract must cover  all  parts of your study in order to fully explain your paper and research. Because it must accomplish this task in the space of only a few hundred words, it is important not to include ambiguous references or phrases that will confuse the reader or mislead them about the content and objectives of your research. Follow these  dos  and  don’ts  when it comes to what kind of writing to include:

• Avoid acronyms or abbreviations since these will need to be explained in order to make sense to the reader, which takes up valuable abstract space. Instead, explain these terms in the Introduction section of the main text.
• Only use references to people or other works if they are well-known. Otherwise, avoid referencing anything outside of your study in the abstract.
• Never include tables, figures, sources, or long quotations in your abstract; you will have plenty of time to present and refer to these in the body of your paper.

Use keywords in your abstract to focus your topic

A vital search tool is the research paper keywords section, which lists the most relevant terms directly underneath the abstract. Think of these keywords as the “tubes” that readers will seek and enter—via queries on databases and search engines—to ultimately land at their destination, which is your paper. Your abstract keywords should thus be words that are commonly used in searches but should also be highly relevant to your work and found in the text of your abstract. Include 5 to 10 important words or short phrases central to your research in both the abstract and the keywords section.

For example, if you are writing a paper on the prevalence of obesity among lower classes that crosses international boundaries, you should include terms like “obesity,” “prevalence,” “international,” “lower classes,” and “cross-cultural.” These are terms that should net a wide array of people interested in your topic of study. Look at our nine rules for choosing keywords for your research paper if you need more input on this.

Research Paper Abstract Structure

As mentioned above, the abstract (especially the informative abstract) acts as a surrogate or synopsis of your research paper, doing almost as much work as the thousands of words that follow it in the body of the main text. In the hard sciences and most social sciences, the abstract includes the following sections and organizational schema.

Each section is quite compact—only a single sentence or two, although there is room for expansion if one element or statement is particularly interesting or compelling. As the abstract is almost always one long paragraph, the individual sections should naturally merge into one another to create a holistic effect. Use the following as a checklist to ensure that you have included all of the necessary content in your abstract.

1) Identify your purpose and motivation

So your research is about rabies in Brazilian squirrels. Why is this important? You should start your abstract by explaining why people should care about this study—why is it significant to your field and perhaps to the wider world? And what is the exact purpose of your study; what are you trying to achieve? Start by answering the following questions:

• What made you decide to do this study or project?
• Why is this study important to your field or to the lay reader?
• Why should someone read your entire article?

In summary, the first section of your abstract should include the importance of the research and its impact on related research fields or on the wider scientific domain.

2) Explain the research problem you are addressing

Stating the research problem that your study addresses is the corollary to why your specific study is important and necessary. For instance, even if the issue of “rabies in Brazilian squirrels” is important, what is the problem—the “missing piece of the puzzle”—that your study helps resolve?

You can combine the problem with the motivation section, but from a perspective of organization and clarity, it is best to separate the two. Here are some precise questions to address:

• What is your research trying to better understand or what problem is it trying to solve?
• What is the scope of your study—does it try to explain something general or specific?
• What is your central claim or argument?

3) Discuss your research approach

Your specific study approach is detailed in the Methods and Materials section .  You have already established the importance of the research, your motivation for studying this issue, and the specific problem your paper addresses. Now you need to discuss  how  you solved or made progress on this problem—how you conducted your research. If your study includes your own work or that of your team, describe that here. If in your paper you reviewed the work of others, explain this here. Did you use analytic models? A simulation? A double-blind study? A case study? You are basically showing the reader the internal engine of your research machine and how it functioned in the study. Be sure to:

• Detail your research—include methods/type of the study, your variables, and the extent of the work
• Briefly present evidence to support your claim
• Highlight your most important sources

4) Briefly summarize your results

Here you will give an overview of the outcome of your study. Avoid using too many vague qualitative terms (e.g, “very,” “small,” or “tremendous”) and try to use at least some quantitative terms (i.e., percentages, figures, numbers). Save your qualitative language for the conclusion statement. Answer questions like these:

• What did your study yield in concrete terms (e.g., trends, figures, correlation between phenomena)?
• How did your results compare to your hypothesis? Was the study successful?
• Where there any highly unexpected outcomes or were they all largely predicted?

5) State your conclusion

In the last section of your abstract, you will give a statement about the implications and  limitations of the study . Be sure to connect this statement closely to your results and not the area of study in general. Are the results of this study going to shake up the scientific world? Will they impact how people see “Brazilian squirrels”? Or are the implications minor? Try not to boast about your study or present its impact as  too  far-reaching, as researchers and journals will tend to be skeptical of bold claims in scientific papers. Answer one of these questions:

• What are the exact effects of these results on my field? On the wider world?
• What other kind of study would yield further solutions to problems?
• What other information is needed to expand knowledge in this area?

After Completing the First Draft of Your Abstract

Revise your abstract.

The abstract, like any piece of academic writing, should be revised before being considered complete. Check it for  grammatical and spelling errors  and make sure it is formatted properly.

Get feedback from a peer

Getting a fresh set of eyes to review your abstract is a great way to find out whether you’ve summarized your research well. Find a reader who understands research papers but is not an expert in this field or is not affiliated with your study. Ask your reader to summarize what your study is about (including all key points of each section). This should tell you if you have communicated your key points clearly.

In addition to research peers, consider consulting with a professor or even a specialist or generalist writing center consultant about your abstract. Use any resource that helps you see your work from another perspective.

Consider getting professional editing and proofreading

While peer feedback is quite important to ensure the effectiveness of your abstract content, it may be a good idea to find an academic editor  to fix mistakes in grammar, spelling, mechanics, style, or formatting. The presence of basic errors in the abstract may not affect your content, but it might dissuade someone from reading your entire study. Wordvice provides English editing services that both correct objective errors and enhance the readability and impact of your work.

Additional Abstract Rules and Guidelines

Write your abstract after completing your paper.

Although the abstract goes at the beginning of your manuscript, it does not merely introduce your research topic (that is the job of the title), but rather summarizes your entire paper. Writing the abstract last will ensure that it is complete and consistent with the findings and statements in your paper.

Keep your content in the correct order

Both questions and answers should be organized in a standard and familiar way to make the content easier for readers to absorb. Ideally, it should mimic the overall format of your essay and the classic “introduction,” “body,” and “conclusion” form, even if the parts are not neatly divided as such.

Write the abstract from scratch

Because the abstract is a self-contained piece of writing viewed separately from the body of the paper, you should write it separately as well. Never copy and paste direct quotes from the paper and avoid paraphrasing sentences in the paper. Using new vocabulary and phrases will keep your abstract interesting and free of redundancies while conserving space.

Don’t include too many details in the abstract

Again, the density of your abstract makes it incompatible with including specific points other than possibly names or locations. You can make references to terms, but do not explain or define them in the abstract. Try to strike a balance between being specific to your study and presenting a relatively broad overview of your work.

Wordvice Resources

If you think your abstract is fine now but you need input on abstract writing or require English editing services (including paper editing ), then head over to the Wordvice academic resources page, where you will find many more articles, for example on writing the Results , Methods , and Discussion sections of your manuscript, on choosing a title for your paper , or on how to finalize your journal submission with a strong cover letter .    

Apr 27, 2024

How to Write an Abstract for Your Research Paper

Did you know that many people decide whether or not to read your entire research paper based on the abstract alone? Make sure yours packs a punch!

This guide will break down the elements of an effective abstract, helping you showcase your research and attract the right readership.

Purpose of an Abstract

Think of your abstract as a multi-purpose tool:

Snapshot for Readers:

Quick Overview: Potential readers can get the gist of your research (problem, methods, results, significance) in a matter of minutes.

Decision-Making Tool: They can quickly decide if your paper goes deep enough into their area of interest to warrant reading it in full.

Discoverability Beacon:

Keywords: Strategic keywords increase the chance of your paper appearing in relevant database searches.

Indexing: Abstracts play a role in how journals index your research, improving its visibility within your field.

Crafting a Research Paper Abstract

While brief, a well-written abstract packs a punch. Here's what to include:

Research Problem: Briefly state the question, issue, or gap in knowledge that your research addresses.

Methodology : Summarize your approach in a sentence or two (e.g., experimental design, survey, qualitative analysis).

Main Results: Highlight your most important findings or key discoveries.

Conclusion/Significance: Concisely explain the impact or implications of your findings for the field.

Be Specific: Avoid vague or overly general statements.

Self-Contained: A reader should understand the abstract without having read the whole paper.

Word Count Matters: Follow any guidelines on word limits (typically around 150-250 words).

IMPORTANT: Abstracts often have strict formatting requirements (no citations, headings, etc.). Always consult the specific instructions from your instructor or publication.

Types of Abstracts

The two primary types of abstracts differ in their level of detail:

Descriptive Abstract

Purpose: Outlines the main purpose, scope, and focus of your research.

Omissions: Does NOT include specific results, conclusions, or recommendations.

Best For: Papers where the research question and methodology are the most interesting, or when the findings are complex and would be overwhelming to fully summarize in a short abstract.

Informative Abstract

Purpose: Acts as a mini version of your paper, including all major elements.

Includes: Problem statement, methods, key results, conclusions, and potential implications.

Best For: Empirical studies with straightforward results and clear conclusions, or papers where the findings are themselves the main contribution.

How to Write Each Type

Descriptive Abstract:

State the research problem/question

Briefly outline your methods

Highlight the type of data examined or the theoretical perspective used

Indicate the scope or focus of the research

All the elements of the descriptive abstract

Succinctly present your key findings

Conclude with significance or recommendations

Is an Informative Abstract Suitable for All Types of Research Papers?

No. Here's why:

Length: Informative abstracts can become lengthy. Some publications have stricter word limits.

Complexity: Papers with nuanced results or less conclusive findings might be better served by a descriptive abstract that focuses on the motivation of the research.

Audience: Consider who the likely readers are. A highly specialized audience might appreciate a detailed informative abstract, while a wider readership might find a descriptive abstract less intimidating.

Note: Always follow guidelines provided by your instructor or target publication. Some disciplines have strong preferences for one type of abstract over the other.

Structuring Your Abstract

While there's no single "perfect" structure, a common approach is to mirror the organization of the paper itself, presenting elements in a condensed form:

Problem Statement (1-2 sentences): Clearly outline the research question, the gap in the literature, or the specific issue addressed.

Methodology (1-2 sentences): Briefly describe the approach (experimental design, survey type, qualitative methodology, etc.).

Results (2-3 sentences): Present your most important or significant findings.

Conclusion/Significance (1-2 sentences): Summarize the main takeaway and the implications of your work for the field.

Should an Abstract Always Follow a Standard Structure?

No. While a standard structure provides familiarity, prioritizing the most compelling aspects of your research is key. Consider:

Groundbreaking Results: If your findings offer a significant breakthrough, it may be worth leading with those to immediately capture attention, even if it means slightly deviating from the standard structure.

Unique Methodology: If your research employs a novel or innovative methodology, highlighting this upfront can draw in readers intrigued by your approach.

Key Components to Include

While the order might shift slightly, make sure you touch on all of these:

Purpose: The "why" of your research. What were you aiming to achieve?

Method: How did you go about answering your question or exploring the issue?

Results: What did you find? (This should be the most substantial part of your abstract)

Significance: Why does your research matter? What does it contribute to the field?

Adapt Based on Type: A descriptive abstract might omit specific results, while an informative one must have them.

Word Count Matters: Strive for conciseness. Avoid wordiness or unnecessary jargon.

Abstract Writing Tips

Write it Last: It's often easier to write a strong abstract once you've finished your paper and can distill the most important points.

Keywords Carefully: Choose keywords that accurately reflect your research focus to increase discoverability in databases.

Get Feedback: Ask a peer, instructor, or mentor to read your abstract. They can ensure it makes sense even to someone unfamiliar with your specific topic.

Revise, Revise, Revise: Don't settle for your first draft. Refine your word choices for clarity and maximum impact within the word limit.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Too Much Jargon: Keep your language accessible to a broader audience within your field. Overuse of discipline-specific terminology can make your work seem inaccessible.

Excessive Detail: An abstract should entice the reader to explore your full paper for the details. Don't try to cram everything in.

Vagueness: Use specific terms and phrases. Avoid generic statements that could apply to any research paper.

Introducing New Material: Your abstract should summarize existing content from your paper, not introduce entirely new arguments or data.

Can Using Technical Jargon in an Abstract Benefit the Reader's Understanding?

Rarely. Here's why excessive jargon is detrimental:

Alienates Readers: Even within a field, readers have varying levels of specialization. Jargon creates a barrier and might discourage potential readers who could otherwise benefit from your work.

Obscures the Core Ideas: Jargon sometimes masks imprecise thinking. Plain language forces you to articulate complex concepts clearly.

Limits Reach: Using accessible language makes your research discoverable by a wider audience, potentially increasing citations and sparking interdisciplinary discussions.

When Jargon is Necessary:

Define Your Terms: If a technical term is unavoidable, provide a brief, clear definition the first time it's used.

Strike a Balance: Maintain a focus on readability while showcasing your grasp of the field's terminology.

Evaluating Abstract Quality

Ask yourself these key questions:

Does it accurately reflect the paper? Anyone reading your abstract should have a clear idea of what your full paper will contain, with no misleading promises.

Is it self-contained? The abstract should make sense on its own, without forcing the reader to consult your paper for clarification.

Is it engaging? Does your opening sentence grab attention? Does the abstract leave the reader curious to learn more?

Is it free of errors? A polished abstract signals attention to detail and professionalism. Proofread carefully!

Does it follow guidelines? Adherence to word limits and any formatting requirements mandated by your instructor or publisher is essential.

How Abstract Quality Impacts Reception

Your abstract has these important functions:

Gatekeeper: Researchers will often decide whether to read your full paper based on the abstract alone. A weak abstract means lost potential readers.

Search Optimizer: Your abstract, with its keywords, plays a crucial role in whether your paper surfaces when people search databases relevant to your field.

First Impression: The abstract sets the reader's expectations for the entire paper. A well-crafted abstract creates a positive anticipation for your work.

Feedback and Revisions

Here's how to strategically use feedback:

Multiple Readers: Get feedback from people with varying levels of familiarity with your topic. This helps you assess clarity for a wider audience.

Specific Questions: Ask your reviewers:

Did the abstract make you want to read the full paper?

Were any parts confusing or overly technical?

Does it accurately represent the paper's focus and conclusions?

Open to Change: Don't be afraid to significantly revise your abstract based on feedback. Sometimes a fresh opening sentence or rephrased result statement makes a world of difference.

Conclusion: Perfecting the Research Paper Abstract

Your abstract serves as a beacon, guiding readers to the heart of your research. It's a testament to the rigor of your study and a testament to your ability to synthesize complex ideas into a concise, compelling format. By carefully crafting your abstract, you showcase the following:

Understanding of Your Work: An effective abstract demonstrates that you have a strong grasp of your own research, its purpose, methodology, and key findings.

Communicative Clarity: The ability to articulate your research succinctly is a valuable skill across academic and professional settings.

Respect for Your Audience: A well-written abstract makes your work accessible to a broader readership, maximizing its potential impact within your field.

Remember, your abstract is often the first, and sometimes the only, encounter a potential reader will have with your research. Invest time and effort into refining this crucial component. In doing so, you open doors for meaningful engagement with your work, invite collaboration, and propel both your own scholarship and the broader scholarly landscape forward.

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Stop doing your research essay wrong way!

Writing a research paper: devil in details..

Another task from a professor made you devastated and lost? Of course, because it's something that no one likes to do. Especially a young student who obviously have dozens of other important things to do. What task we are talking about? The monotonous and long, time consuming and confusing one. Yes, it's all about writing a research paper! Why students don't like it? Well, let's see.

First, the job requires a lot of time necessary for searching, reading, comparing, analyzing and then put together. Finding a topic and the data to do a research is just 30% of the task. The major part is to put everything in a proper format. For example, create a suitable and captivating research paper introduction to arouse your professor interest.

Second, it's the efforts to make everything correct and according to requirements. You don't write make a composition with your thoughts and conclusions in chaotic way. You need to make APA research paper to show your knowledge and proficiency. It takes time as well.

Third, it's the amount of workload. Looking for data, then finding the necessary parts, trying to put everything in a proper order and format. Isn't it easier just to have someone doing it for you?

Research essay: 5 steps to success!

Everyone wants to be a great student. Taking major part in college life, getting straight As, being helpful and easy-going. But what if you need help yourself? For instance, with your research essay. How to get it done and not to be exhausted? Here are some tips to help you!

• Calculate you time right. You'll never be able to finish a task overnight, so don't attempt to make a worthy writing when the deadline is tomorrow. Usually the task to write a paper is given long before the actual deadline.
• Choose the topic correctly. You won't be enjoying your work if you don't like the subject. In every task, even the most boring one, there might be something interesting for you. Be creative. Think outside the box. It might be the key to tremendous success!
• Acknowledge that it's time to give in. If you tried and then you failed, there might be other solutions. Like typing in Google "write my paper for me" and be relieved of the burden of the task.
• Divide the whole work into small tasks and steps. Let's face the truth, no one is able to compose the whole essay at one try. Little by little you'll get to the end of the task, but doing it gradually. And keep in mind the advise number 1!
• Rest! Don't stay in front of your PC until your eyes are red, brain not working, coffee not helping. Have a little walk outside, distract yourself from constant work. After that you'll be able to come back to the task with a new wave of energy.

Always check your paper.

No matter what you decide - to make the writing yourself or use professional service to do the task - keep in mind one general rule! Always check the essay to make sure there are no mistakes. There would be a possibility to make edits after you hand the paper to your professor. Look for spelling mistakes, compare the topic and content, check the format.

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Physical Review Research

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Initial value formulation of a quantum damped harmonic oscillator

Nishant agarwal and yi-zen chu, phys. rev. research 6 , 023113 – published 1 may 2024.

• No Citing Articles
• INTRODUCTION
• IN-IN GENERATING FUNCTIONAL
• GREEN'S FUNCTIONS
• TIME-LOCAL DISSIPATION
• TIME-NONLOCAL DISSIPATION
• BEYOND GAUSSIAN INITIAL STATES
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The in-in formalism and its influence functional generalization are widely used to describe the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of unitary and open quantum systems, respectively. In this paper, we build on these techniques to develop an effective theory of a quantum damped harmonic oscillator and use it to study initial state-dependence, decoherence, and thermalization. We first consider a Gaussian initial state and quadratic influence functional and obtain general equations for the Green's functions of the oscillator. We solve the equations in the specific case of time-local dissipation and use the resulting Green's functions to obtain the purity and unequal-time two-point correlations of the oscillator. We find that the dynamics must include a nonvanishing noise term to yield physical results for the purity and that the oscillator decoheres in time such that the late-time density operator is thermal. We show that the frequency spectrum or unequal-time correlations can, however, distinguish between the damped oscillator and an isolated oscillator in thermal equilibrium and obtain a generalized fluctuation-dissipation relation for the damped oscillator. We briefly consider time-nonlocal dissipation as well, to show that the fluctuation-dissipation is satisfied for a specific choice of dissipation kernels. Lastly, we develop a double in-out path integral approach to go beyond Gaussian initial states and show that our equal-time results for time-local dissipation are in fact nonperturbative in the initial state.

• Received 25 July 2023
• Accepted 27 March 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.6.023113

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

• Research Areas

Authors & Affiliations

• 1 Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, USA
• 2 Department of Physics, National Central University, Chungli 32001, Taiwan, Republic of China
• 3 Center for High Energy and High Field Physics (CHiP), National Central University, Chungli 32001, Taiwan, Republic of China
• * [email protected]
• † [email protected]

Article Text

Vol. 6, Iss. 2 — May - July 2024

Subject Areas

• Particles and Fields
• Quantum Physics
• Statistical Physics

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Equal-time two-point correlations 〈 X ̂ 2 ( t ) 〉 c (top, left), ( 1 / 2 ) 〈 { X ̂ ( t ) , P ̂ ( t ) } 〉 c (top, right), and 〈 P ̂ 2 ( t ) 〉 c (bottom, left) and purity (bottom, right) as a function of time for three different choices of initial state—(i) a coherent state with c x x = 1 / ( 2 ω ) ,   c x p = 0 , and c p p = ω / 2 ; (ii) a squeezed state with c x x = e − 2 r / ( 2 ω ) ,   c x p = 0 ,   c p p = e 2 r ω / 2 , and r = 1 ; and (iii) a thermal state with c x x = coth ( β ω / 2 ) / ( 2 ω ) ,   c x p = 0 ,   c p p = coth ( β ω / 2 ) ω / 2 , and β = 1 / ( 2 ω ) —in the presence of time-local dissipation with γ = ω / 2 and α = 10 ω 2 in each case and setting ω t 0 = 0 for simplicity. We also show the result for an isolated harmonic oscillator at temperature β = ( 2 / ω ) tanh − 1 ( 2 γ ω / α ) ≈ 0.2 / ω for comparison.

Unequal-time two-point correlations, symmetric (left) and antisymmetric (right), for a quantum DHO compared to an isolated harmonic oscillator in a thermal state. The DHO is initialized in a coherent state with c x x = 1 / ( 2 ω ) ,   c x p = 0 , and c p p = ω / 2 at ω t 0 = − 10 , and undergoes time-local dissipation with γ = ω / 2 and α = 10 ω 2 , while the isolated harmonic oscillator is at the temperature β = ( 2 / ω ) tanh − 1 ( 2 γ ω / α ) ≈ 0.2 / ω .

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Paper linking certain heart issues to mRNA vaccines was corrected in 2021 | Fact check

The claim: Paper shows mRNA COVID-19 vaccines ‘dramatically increase’ risk of certain heart problems

A June 9 Instagram post ( direct link , archive link ) shows excerpts from a document that makes claims about mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

"We conclude that the mRNA vacs dramatically increase inflammation on the endothelium and T cell infiltration of cardiac muscle and may account for the observations of increased thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and other vascular events following vaccination," reads one of several images in the post.

The post was liked more than 600 times in four days.

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Our rating: False

The post cites a research abstract that was corrected in 2021 by having all of the language used in the post and its conclusion removed. An expert told USA TODAY that the abstract's original conclusion "is no longer valid."

Original abstract saw numerous corrections

The post points to an abstract published Nov. 8, 2021, in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. It shows an excerpt from a document originally titled, "Mrna COVID Vaccines Dramatically Increase Endothelial Inflammatory Markers and ACS Risk as Measured by the PULS Cardiac Test: a Warning."

However, the American Heart Association published an expression of concern that same month, flagging multiple issues with the abstract, which was authored by Dr. Steven Gundry, a cardiac surgeon. On Dec. 21, 2021, a correction notice with multiple changes to the abstract was published in the journal. It included a new title, a change to the findings featured in the Instagram post, numerous typographical fixes and changes to eight other sentences.

"The original abstract is no longer valid." Dr. Mariell Jessup , the American Heart Association’s chief science and medical officer, said in an email.

The changes were needed for a number of reasons, Jessup said. The abstract did not have any data about myocardial T-cell infiltration, which is a marker necessary for a myocarditis diagnosis. It also relied on anecdotal evidence without being clear about it, and it lacked statistical analyses for significance, which is the standard needed to prove cause and effect.

The abstract also had typographical errors, including using the wrong name for the assessment tool used by the researchers to assess acute coronary syndrome.

Fact check : COVID-19 variants continue to emerge, no ties to biolabs in Ukraine

The revised title of the abstract, “Observational Findings of PULS Cardiac Test Findings for Inflammatory Markers in Patients Receiving mRNA Vaccines,” reflects the inability to make a cause-and-effect finding. That is also reflected in the new conclusion, which notes the increase of some inflammatory markers was "not statistically tested" and removed the language that explicitly said researchers concluded vaccines caused increased inflammation.

Dr. Christopher Kramer , chief of cardiovascular medicine at UVA Health, said the changes reflect the fact that "in the end, you could not conclude anything" from the research presented in the abstract.

A purported link between COVID-19 vaccines and cardiac issues is a frequent topic of misinformation online. USA TODAY has debunked claims that the FAA changed guidelines to account for the possibility of sudden incapacitation of vaccinated pilots, that COVID-19 vaccines caused five more times myocarditis than the virus itself and that the FDA acknowledged a link between vaccines and heart attacks and sudden deaths.

Kramer said the only statistically significant correlation he is aware of connecting COVID-19 vaccines to heart issues is an increased risk of myocarditis in young men. He added that the risk is less than the risk of developing myocarditis after contracting COVID-19.

USA TODAY reached out to Grundy and the social media user who shared the post for comments and did not immediately receive responses.

Our fact-check sources:

• Dr. Mariell Jessup , June 15, Email interview with USA TODAY
• Dr. Christopher Kramer , June 16, Phone interview
• Circulation, Dec. 21, 2021, Observational Findings of PULS Cardiac Test Findings for Inflammatory Markers in Patients Receiving mRNA Vaccines
• Circulation, Dec. 21, 2021, Correction to: Abstract 10712: Mrna COVID Vaccines Dramatically Increase Endothelial Inflammatory Markers and ACS Risk as Measured by the PULS Cardiac Test: a Warning
• Circulation, Nov. 24, 2021, Expression of Concern: Abstract 10712: Mrna COVID Vaccines Dramatically Increase Endothelial Inflammatory Markers and ACS Risk as Measured by the PULS Cardiac Test: a Warning

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here .

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

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Brief research report article, recent records of thermohaline profiles and water depth in the taam ja’ blue hole (chetumal bay, mexico).

• 1 Department of Observation and Study of the Land, the Atmosphere and the Ocean, Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías-El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (CONAHCYT-ECOSUR), Chetumal, Mexico
• 2 Department of Sustainability Sciences, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Chetumal, Mexico
• 3 Department of Observation and Study of the Land, the Atmosphere and the Ocean, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Chetumal, Mexico

Coastal karst structures have been recently explored and documented in Chetumal Bay, Mexico, at the southeast of the Yucatan Peninsula. These structures, recognized as blue holes, stand out for their remarkable dimensions within a shallow estuarine environment. Particularly the Taam Ja’ Blue Hole (TJBH), revealed a depth of ~274 mbsl based on echo sounder mapping, momentarily positioning it as the world's second-deepest blue hole. However, echo sounding methods face challenges in complex environments like blue holes or inland sinkholes arising from frequency-dependent detection and range limitations due to water density vertical gradients, cross-sectional depth variations, or morphometric deviations in non-strictly vertical caves. Initial exploration could not reach the bottom and confirm its position, prompting ongoing investigation into the geomorphological features of TJBH. Recent CTD profiler records in TJBH surpassed 420 mbsl with no bottom yet reached, establishing the TJBH as the deepest-known blue hole globally. Hydrographic data delineated multiple water layers within TJBH. Comparison with Caribbean water conditions at the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, reef lagoons, and estuaries suggests potential subterranean connections. Further research and implementation of underwater navigation technologies are essential to decipher its maximum depth and the possibilities of forming part of an interconnected system of caves and tunnels.

Introduction

Anchialine systems stand out as impressive and exciting environments to be explored across different disciplines. These systems provide a vast research field, from microbiology ( Benítez et al., 2019 ; Little et al., 2021 ; Sha et al., 2021 ), to sea-level dynamics or paleoclimate ( van Hengstum et al., 2011 ; Husson et al., 2018 ; van Hengstum et al., 2020 ; Wallace et al., 2021 ), stratigraphy ( Vimpere, 2017 ), physicochemical water properties ( Perry et al., 2002 , Perry et al., 2009 ), as well as groundwater hydrology ( Gondwe et al., 2010 ; Björnerås et al., 2020 ). However, a common basis across all disciplines is the need to understand the geomorphology and dimensions of the karst structures.

The Yucatan Peninsula, part of Central America's Maya block, lacks Paleozoic folds ( Weber et al., 2012 ). With dynamic diagenesis and gradual Pliocene emergence, it exhibits significant geological structures in vadose ( Perry et al., 2003 , Perry et al., 2009 ) and phreatic settings ( van Hengstum et al., 2010 , van Hengstum et al., 2011 ), as well as in coastal submarine environments ( Bauer-Gottwein et al., 2011a ). Moreover, the Yucatan Peninsula's northern side hosts the Ring of Cenotes Fault, a regional-scale structure formed by sinkholes, related to the Chicxulub meteorite impact 65 million years ago ( Bauer-Gottwein et al., 2011a ). Simultaneously, the world's most extensive subterranean cave system, shaped by glacio-eustatic sea-level changes, is found on the western side ( Supper et al., 2009 ; Kambesis and Coke, 2013 ). Across the eastern margin, parallel to the Caribbean coast, the Yucatan Peninsula features two regional fracture zones—the Holbox Fracture Zone to the north and the Rio Hondo Fault Zone to the south ( Bauer-Gottwein et al., 2011a ) with possible intersections and water exchange ( Gondwe et al., 2011 ). To the southeast, inland sinkholes and lagoons aligned with the Rio Hondo Fault Zone have been extensively studied (e.g. Gischler et al., 2011 ; Perry et al., 2021 ). Also, recent exploration in Chetumal Bay reported large coastal karstic formations recognized as blue holes ( Carrillo et al., 2009b ; Alcérreca-Huerta et al., 2023 ; Flórez-Franco et al., 2023 ). These blue holes represented an outstanding revelation, particularly that of the Taam-ja’ Blue Hole (TJBH), preliminarily recognized as the world's second-deepest, surpassing the depths of the Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas (~202 mbsl) ( Vimpere, 2017 ), the Dahab Blue Hole in Egypt (~130 mbsl) ( Li et al., 2018 ), or the Great Blue Hole in Belize (~125 mbsl) ( Schmitt et al., 2021 ).

The TJBH, first documented by Alcérreca-Huerta et al. (2023) , stands as a noteworthy geological feature. Bathymetric mapping employing echo sounder technology indicated an impressive maximum depth of 274.4 meters below sea level (mbsl). Echo sounding, serving as an indirect method, allowed a comprehensive 3D spatial coverage of the TJBH morphology. However, this method could grapple with constraints arising from frequency-dependent detection and range limitations ( Colbo et al., 2014 ). These challenges are usually accentuated in blue holes and inland sinkholes due to fluctuations in water density ( Cejudo et al., 2022 ) and cross-sectional variations in depth ( Li et al., 2018 ), particularly in non-strictly vertical caves where the blue hole structure deviates from their entrance position. Direct methods for depth measurement employed in TJBH relied on CTD profiling but encountered limitations with measurements being restricted to a maximum depth of 200 mbsl to safeguard against potential instrument damage ( Alcérreca-Huerta et al., 2023 ; Flórez-Franco et al., 2023 ). Notably, the measurements could not reach the bottom and confirm its position, leaving the depths of TJBH and the vertical thermohaline structure partially unresolved.

Therefore, recent direct methods for water depth measurement gathered with a SWiFT CTD Profiler reveal water depths within the TJBH that surpassed the previous reported records, but also the maximum water depth record held by the Sansha Yongle Blue Hole (SYBH) at ~301 mbsl in the South China Sea ( Li et al., 2018 ). This groundbreaking finding establishes the TJBH as the recently confirmed deepest-known blue hole globally. Additionally, the hydrographic data collected is also described to delineate the water temperature and salinity variations along the recent depths reached, the formation of previously unknown pycnoclines, and comparison of the thermohaline conditions in TJBH with those found in the literature for waters in the Caribbean at the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and coastal reef lagoons, as a proxy of possible hydraulic connectivity between them and the blue hole.

Cenotes, underground springs, freshwater inlets, and a complex lagoon and anchialine system develop at the southeastern region of the Yucatán Peninsula ( Figure 1A ). The system connects with Chetumal Bay, a semi-closed mesohaline tropical estuary developed over carbonated sedimentary deposits of the Miocene, Mio-Pliocene and Holocene ( Gondwe et al., 2010 ; Domínguez-Herrera et al., 2023 ), which hydrographic conditions are described in Carrillo et al (2009a ), Carrillo et al (2009b) and Ruíz-Pineda et al. (2016) .

Figure 1 (A) Location of the Taam ja’ Blue Hole (TJBH) in Chetumal Bay, Mexico, is presented alongside the CC and CSW data regions for further comparison of water temperature and salinity conditions. Regional fracture zones and geological faults in the Yucatán Peninsula are indicated ( INEGI, 2002 ), along with the locations of documented blue holes within Chetumal Bay. CB data was measured at sampling stations positioned at cardinal positions ~500 m apart of the TJBH (TJBH N , TJBH S , TJBH E and TJBH W ). Images from scuba explorations of the TJBH at depths (B) 5.0 mbsl, (C) 20 mbsl, and (D) 30 mbsl are also presented.

The TJBH (378823 m E, 2059390 m N, UTM 16Q) is located in the central portion of Chetumal Bay, within the Mexican State Reserve “Chetumal Bay-Manatee Sanctuary” (RESMBCH). It is ~4.5 km from Tamalcab island, and ~19.2 km from Chetumal, the most urbanized area. TJBH, Lool ja’ Blue Hole (LJBH), and Ch’och-ja’ Blue Hole (CJBH) are among the blue holes recently documented in Chetumal Bay ( Carrillo et al., 2009b ; Alcérreca-Huerta et al., 2023 ; Flórez-Franco et al., 2023 ) ( Figure 1A ), for which preliminary insights into their geomorphological features, and temporal variability of physicochemical properties have been provided.

Field work and data analysis

On December 6 th , 2023, a scuba diving expedition was conducted to identify the environmental conditions prevailing at the TJBH and related to factors such as visibility, substrate characteristics, and wall coverage within a depth range extending from 0 to 30 mbsl. Additionally, on December 6 th and 13 th , 2023, measurement of new CTD profiles was conducted within the TJBH aiming to reach its bottom and confirm the echo-sounding results described in Alcérreca-Huerta et al. (2023) . Employing a SWiFT CTD Profiler (Valeport UK), single profiles at each campaign with simultaneous measurements of water pressure, temperature, and conductivity were acquired throughout the water column of TJBH. The coordinates for the CTD profiles were 378830.7 m E and 2059383.6 m N (UTM 16Q), selected based on preliminary echo sounding measurements that indicated water depths surpassing 250 mbsl. The vessel was anchored to prevent drifting caused by waves and currents. In this specific location, the CTD instrument was lowered, utilizing ~500 m of cable down to the bottom, adhering to the maximum depth supported by the instrument.

Salinity and density values from CTD casts are computed employing the Chen and Millero/UNESCO international algorithm ( Chen and Millero, 1977 ; Fofonoff and Millard, 1983 ), leading to an accuracy of ±0.01 PSU and ±0.01 kg/m³, respectively. Temperature data from SWiFT CTD Profiler measurements has an accuracy of ±0.01 °C. Data was resampled to achieve a fixed depth resolution of 0.5 m for the calculation of temperature (∂T/∂z), salinity (∂S/∂z), and density (∂ρ/∂z) vertical gradients, to delineate variations in these parameters with depth. The vertical gradient resulted from the absolute difference in a variable quantity over the vertical distance between their resampled measurement locations. Pycnoclines, indicative of density variations, were estimated by considering the maximum vertical density gradient surpassing a defined threshold of δ 1  = 0.5 kg·m 4 ( Read et al., 2011 ; Flórez-Franco et al., 2023 ). Building upon the findings by Flórez-Franco et al. (2023) , density transition zones are identified assuming a density gradient of δ 2  ≥ 0.05 kg·m 4 .

A temperature-salinity diagram was also devised to identify a potential relationship between the waters of the TJBH and those in coastal and open-sea waters in the Caribbean. For this purpose, existing hydrographic data from the Caribbean Surface Water (CSW data) at the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (0-150 mbsl) delineated in Carrillo et al. (2016) was employed. Insights derived from data detailed in Tovar et al. (2009) , encompassing coastal reef lagoons within the Mexican Caribbean, were considered (CC data). Additionally, existing quarterly data measurements at stations ~500 m apart from the TJBH (i.e., TJBH N , TJBH S , TJBH E , TJBH W ) between March 2021 to December 2023, were used to describe the observed conditions within Chetumal Bay and in the vicinity of the TJBH (CB data). Location of the different comparative study areas (CB, CSW and CC) is depicted in Figure 1A .

The boundary of TJBH, clearly defined around 5.0 mbsl, features a soft substrate covered by biofilms, which extends across the upper walls of the blue hole ( Figure 1B ). The turbidity of Chetumal Bay's waters conceals this border from being visible at the surface. However, the border becomes clearly seen after a depth >4.0 mbsl The TJBH wall exhibits speleothem-like formations covered by biofilms, yet they are soft, fragile, and prone to collapse ( Figure 1C ). Beyond 25-30 mbsl, the wall steepens and develops a firm substrate. This substrate occasionally forms a tilted roof largely free of biofilms (i.e. 0-20% coverage), possibly due to limited natural light penetration ( Figure 1D ).

Profiles and vertical gradients of water temperature, salinity, and density are depicted in Figure 2 . The depths attained from CTD casts on both December 6 th and 13 th , 2023, recorded 416.0 and 423.6 mbsl, respectively. Consequently, these new findings unequivocally establish the Taam Ja’ Blue Hole (TJBH) as the world's deepest known blue hole, with its bottom still not reached.

Figure 2 Vertical profiles and gradients of (A) water temperature, (B) salinity, (C) density, and (D) sound speed measured on 06.12.2023 and 13.12.2023 in TJBH with a CTD profiler. Pycnoclines are given by the maximum density gradient above a threshold δ 1 =0.5 kg/m 4 . Regions next to the pycnoclines location with a density gradient δ 2 >0.05 kg/m 4 (TZ) are also shown.

The CTD measurements revealed a depth shorter than the cable length (~500 m) employed to lower the CTD profiler, indicating an oblique descent of the instrument at an angle of approximately 32.1-33.7° from the vertical. This deviation in orientation could be ascribed to either the specific geomorphology of the Taam Ja’ Blue Hole (TJBH) or the influence of prevailing underwater currents. Moreover, echo sounding data from prior investigations ( Alcérreca-Huerta et al., 2023 ) had reported a maximum depth of 274.4 mbsl, with the deeper regions of the TJBH concentrated predominantly on the northern side, where depths were in average 250 mbsl. This depth coincides with the location of a pycnocline, positioned at a depth of 246.1 mbsl. Consequently, it can be inferred that the echo sounding results reported by Alcérreca-Huerta et al. (2023) might have been affected by a possibly non-strictly vertical morphology of the TJBH or acoustic scattering given by fluctuations in water density ( Figure 2C, D ).

The development of four primary clines with density gradients exceeding 0.5 kg/m 4 is also shown in Figure 2A–C . Pycnoclines were delineated on average at 4.6-5.3 mbsl for the 1 st pycnocline, 246.1 mbsl for the 2 nd pycnocline, 323.3 mbsl for the 3 rd pycnocline, and 414.5 mbsl for the 4 th pycnocline. Transition zones (TZ) between layers above and below the pycnoclines are defined by gradients ∂ρ/∂z > 0.05 kg/m 4 .

The surface water layer (~0-4 mbsl) above the 1st pycnocline exhibits substantial variability in temperature (ranging from 24.9 to 27.9°C) and salinity (13.5-15.0 PSU) across measurements. Temperature and salinity variabilities decrease within the layers below the 1st pycnocline within the TJBH. On average, the layer between pycnoclines 1-2 describes an average temperature of 24.9±0.30 °C and salinity of 22.2±1.02 PSU within a depth range of 8 to 236 mbsl. In the layer encompassing depths of 249-313 mbsl (between pycnoclines 2-3), the average temperature decreases, while salinity increases, with values of 22.3±0.18 °C and 29.5±0.53 PSU, respectively. The layer below, spanning depths of 332-399 mbsl, registers an average salinity of 35.1±0.01 PSU and the lowest average temperature (19.8±0.01 °C). Beyond 400 mbsl, there is a significant increase in temperature within the transition zone, rising from 19.8 to 23.9 °C, accompanied by a salinity increase of up to 37.5 PSU and an average water density of 1027 kg/m 3 .

Possible hydrographic relationships across the TJBH, Chetumal Bay (CB), the Caribbean Surface Water (CSW) and Mexican Caribbean reef lagoons (CC) are explored in the temperature-salinity diagram in Figure 3 . The CB data presents a wide variability of temperature (>25°C) and salinity (<17 PSU) with water densities below 1010 kg/m 3 , similar to those observed in the surface layer above the entrance of TJBH. This reflects the influence of the estuarine Chetumal Bay water atop the TJBH entrance.

Figure 3 Temperature-salinity diagram for the water features corresponding to the TJBH. Water temperature and salinity from measured data in Chetumal Bay (CB) between 2021-2023 is also depicted together with data corresponding to the Caribbean Surface Water (CSW) for water depths 2-150 m ( Carrillo et al., 2016 ) and to reef lagoons in the Caribbean Coast (CC) ( Tovar et al., 2009 ). Curves show density in kilograms per cubic meter. Color bar refers to water depth in meters.

Beyond the depth of 400 mbsl within the TJBH, the water conditions gradually converge with those of in the Caribbean Sea (CSW and CC, Figure 3 ). Salinity levels in the Caribbean Surface Water reach up to 36.9 PSU, particularly at depths ranging from 115 to 150 mbsl, where the water densities are in average 1023±0.1 kg/m³ and reach up to 1026 kg/m³. These marine hydrographic values resemble the results obtained from CTD casts within TJBH at depths exceeding 400 mbsl with average salinity of 36.0±0.74 PSU and density of 1027±0.3 kg/m³. Similarly, data from the coastal reef lagoons of the Mexican Caribbean describe an average salinity value of 36.0±0.53 PSU, accompanied by water temperatures surpassing 18.3 °C and averaging approximately 27.9±2.48 °C. Coastal reef hydrographic data represents shallow areas (less than 9.5 mbsl) showing a wider range of density values between 1020 and 1026 kg/m³ with a mean value of 1023±0.8 kg/m³. This data alignment suggests a potential subterranean connection between these water bodies and the TJBH.

Discussion and concluding remarks

Hydrogeology and geomorphology of karst systems such as blue holes are highly valuable with implications for water resources, biodiversity, or physicochemical and geological processes. The initial results in Alcérreca-Huerta et al. (2023) yielded preliminary insights into the geomorphology, depths, and water properties of TJBH. Confirmation of the maximum depth was not possible due to instrumental limitations during the scientific expeditions in 2021, prompting the need for further exploration and analysis.

The recent records from CTD profiling in 2023 conclusively verifies that the TJBH is now the deepest blue hole discovered to date, exhibiting water depths surpassing 420 mbsl, with its bottom yet to be reached. In line with the approach undertaken by Li et al. (2018) , further investigations should incorporate advanced underwater navigation technologies in conjunction with CTD profilers. This integrated methodology would allow an accurate three-dimensional spatial representation of the TJBH leading to a detailed analysis on its geomorphological features and water depths.

CTD measurements provided valuable results into the temperature–salinity stratification of the TJBH, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of its hydrographical characteristics. Variations in temperature and salinity within the water layers of the TJBH and the pycnoclines development offered insights of TJBH in relation to surrounding marine environments. In this regard, the CTD measurements hint potential yet undiscovered connections with the seawater of either the coastal reef lagoons or deeper coastal zones of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System. The notable increase of temperature (~ΔT>4.0 °C) and salinity (up to 37.5 PSU) at depths beyond 400 mbsl could probably be related to these connections. The increase in salinity may stem from various mechanisms, as delineated by Fleury et al. (2007) . These mechanisms could include salinization processes triggered by the inflow of marine water through a Venturi effect, water density differences ( Mijatovic, 1962 ; Fleury et al., 2007 ), or the difference in hydraulic head as long as that of the seawater is higher than that of the freshwater ( Whitaker and Smart, 1997 ). Thermal specific features could also be related to geological, volcanic or tectonic processes in relation to water circulation ( Šušmelj et al., 2024 ). The increase in water temperature at depths >400 mbsl in TJBH could be hypothesized to resemble that observed in the Floridian aquifer ( Meyer, 1989 ; Fleury et al., 2007 ), where geothermal activity warms cold seawater at deep layers, prompting its upward movement through existing sinkholes or factures at confining units. Subsequent interaction with the aquifer and the presence of further hydraulic connections with seawater could occur at upper layers, resulting in a reduction of the water temperature. This geothermal activity and the recharging areas from seawater have been related with fracture and fault zones in Florida ( Whitaker and Smart, 1997 ) and the Northern Adriatic Sea ( Šušmelj et al., 2024 ).

Research on blue holes encompasses a series of ambitious and exploration projects, often spanning several years or even decades, as occurred for the SYBH (e.g. Li et al., 2018 ; He et al., 2019 ; Xie et al., 2019 ; He et al., 2020 ; Jinwei et al., 2022 ; Chen et al., 2023 ) or the Bahamian blue holes (e.g. Bottrell et al., 1991 ; Mylroie, 2008 ; Gonzalez et al., 2011 ; Vimpere, 2017 ; van Hengstum et al., 2020 ; Sha et al., 2021 ). Moreover, the exploration and research of inland vertical caves, such as the Krubera–Voronya, the world's deepest known cave with a depth of 2191 meters, has continually set successive new depth records since 1960s ( Klimchouk et al., 2009 ; Klimchouk, 2019 ). This evinces the needs of continuous exploration of these karst geological structures, their intricate geomorphology, and the development of cave branches. Delving into the underwater spatial geomorphology of TJBH, the focus is on deciphering its maximum depth and the possibilities of forming part of an underwater intricate and potentially interconnected system of caves and tunnels.

Therefore, the new findings and the discovered challenging depths of TJBH entails a multifaceted inquiry encompassing various scientific dimensions. Efforts should extend to unravel the hydrogeology, stratification, and mixing processes within TJBH, delineating their relationship with regional water bodies, hydraulic connections, water quality dynamics, and water residence times. Within the depths of TJBH could also lie a biodiversity to be explored and linked to physicochemical and geomorphological processes, forming a unique biotope. Geological studies should extend to understanding TJBH's relationship with the fault and fracture system of the region (i.e. the Rio Hondo Fault Zone), with implications for its origin. Analyses are needed to describe the stratigraphic sequence within TJBH and potential connections between TJBH, other blue holes and cenotes in or nearby Chetumal Bay. Thus, uncovering the challenges and mysteries concealed in TJBH urges further exploration, monitoring, and scientific inquiry.

Data availability statement

The datasets presented in this article are not readily available because the data belong to a project funded by the authors. Once published, data eventually will be shared on the institutional data reservoir. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to Laura Carrillo, [email protected].

Author contributions

JA: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft. OR: Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft. JS: Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. TÁ: Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation. LC: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing, Data curation, Formal analysis.

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The first author personally funded fieldwork expenses during the survey. The fifth author funded the acquisition of the SWiFT CTD Profiler for hydrographic measurements. APCs funded by El Colegio de la Frontera Sur.

Acknowledgments

The support of Mr. Jesús Artemio Poot Villa (COBIA Team) for their navigation services and support during field surveys is gratefully acknowledged. Technical support of Johnny Omar Valdez from UNAM-UMDI during the fieldwork and scuba-explorations in TJBH is highly appreciated and recognized. Permissions and collaboration with IBANQROO (Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas of the State of Quintana Roo) are accredited. Recognition is given to the CONAHCYT (Mexican National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies) program ‘Investigadoras e Investigadores por México’ (Project 761).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Keywords: coastal karst structures, underwater geomorphology, blue holes, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexican Caribbean, cave system, anchialine system

Citation: Alcérreca-Huerta JC, Reyes-Mendoza OF, Sánchez-Sánchez JA, Álvarez-Legorreta T and Carrillo L (2024) Recent records of thermohaline profiles and water depth in the Taam ja’ Blue Hole (Chetumal Bay, Mexico). Front. Mar. Sci. 11:1387235. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1387235

Received: 17 February 2024; Accepted: 15 April 2024; Published: 29 April 2024.

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Copyright © 2024 Alcérreca-Huerta, Reyes-Mendoza, Sánchez-Sánchez, Álvarez-Legorreta and Carrillo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Laura Carrillo, [email protected]