4.4 Summary and Abstract

A summary is a condensation of the main ideas in an article or in a section of someone else's writing. A summary may stand alone, for example as a similar piece of writing to an abstract. Or it may simply form a section within a longer piece of the writing. The aim of a summary is to give readers a clear, objective, accurate and balanced account of an article they may, or may not, have not read, and to put it into the context of your own work.

Most regular articles begin with an informative abstract. Abstracts are often called ‘summaries’ by some journals, though strictly speaking the terms are not exactly the same. A summary restates the main findings and conclusions of a paper and is written for people who have already read the whole thing. An abstract is a shortened version of the paper written for people who may never read the full version. Since abstracts are often reprinted in abstracting journals separated from the original paper, they need to be self-explanatory.

An abstract normally appears at the top of the page in front of the actual paper it outlines. The purpose is to inform readers as concisely as possible what is in the article so that they can decide whether to read it in detail

Unlike an indicative summary, which describes what will be covered in the paper (much like a table of contents), the abstract gives actual data.

There are two kinds of abstract:

- Descriptive abstract. This provides a kind of ‘contents list’ of what will be in the paper; what the writer will deal with or attempt to prove in the article, rather than a synopsis of the actual results. Since it contains general statements, it is more appropriate for longer papers, such as review articles, and can be written before the paper itself is drafted.

- Informative abstract. This does not simply describe what will be in the paper, but also gives a summary of the main factual information, such as methods and materials, results and conclusions. This type of abstract is more suited to papers or reports about original research. It is usually better to write an informative abstract when the writing of the complete paper is finished.

Thus, the abstract is a mini-paper that is understood on its own without reference to the paper proper. The abstract should provide maximum information with minimum words, covering the

Objective

Materials and Methods

Results

Conclusions

In other words, an abstract should answer the questions why, how and what. Why did you study it? How did you study it? What did you find and what does it mean?

Why can be omitted if the objective is clear in the title. How should be elaborated on only if it is a paper on methodology; otherwise, it should be very brief or even omitted if well-known. What should selectively include only the important findings and conclusions.

Most journals limit the abstract to 150 to 250 words or even less. Thus, there is no room to waste words. As a rough guideline, the abstract should be confined to within one double-spaced typed page on standard-size paper.

Avoid using abbreviations in the abstract unless a term, especially a long one, is used several times. In such cases it is usual to spell out the first occurrence of the term, followed by its abbreviation in parentheses:

The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

Where a name is better known by its abbreviation than its full spelling, the abbreviation becomes the standard and is preferred; DNA, RNA, and ATP are notable examples. The full spelling may be added in parentheses, especially if it is used elsewhere in the text:

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).

Citing references should be avoided in the abstract. It can distract the reader be­cause every citation in the abstract must provide complete bibliographic information, including the authors, publication date, journal, and pages.

One common mistake is to end the abstract with a reference to the main text, such as, "The results will be discussed," which really tells nothing and has no place in an abstract.

The informative abstract will contain a selection of these elements, depending on how you perceive the reader’s needs:

• an expansion or explanation of the title;

• the purpose of the research;

• how the research was conducted;

• what the main findings were;

• what the findings mean;

• what recommendations can be made, e.g. for further research;

• what the limitations of the research were.

Many journals require a list of three to five key words or short phrases for indexing. Some journals further specify that words already in the title not be included.