S In Research Papers

Then revise or add connecting phrases or words to make the narrative flow clearly and smoothly. "Criteria for Acceptable Abstracts: A Survey of Abstracters' Instructions." 14 (April 1963): 149-160; Abstracts. "Common Weaknesses in Traditional Abstracts in hte Social Sciences." 115 (January 2015 ): 41-47; Writing Report Abstracts. 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].

Note that statistical findings should be reported parenthetically [i.e., written in parentheses]. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. 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.

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.

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. A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work.

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.

Essentially, the descriptive abstract only describes the work being summarized.

Some researchers consider it an outline of the work, rather than a summary.