Abstract in international students’ dissertation can play the role of letting readers quickly understand the content and structure of your essay at the first time.
Carole Slade, a famous scholar, points out that the writing of abstract should pay attention to three points as follows
1. The function of abstract should be to describe the article, not to make evaluation of the article.
2. It should start with a short and accurate statement of the problem or issue, and then describe the research methodology and design, the main findings and conclusions drawn.
3. The abstract should contain the most important keywords for methodology and content: these keywords help to help the reader decide whether to read the whole paper or not.
☀ In general, the number of words (120-500 words) for an abstract is allocated as follows:
25% of the text should be devoted to the purpose and importance of the study.
25% to describe the methods of the paper
35% of the text should be devoted to the results of the paper.
15% for the significance/impact of the study
What to avoid
Don’t be too broad, just state the direction of the study
Incorrect model: This report examines the causes of oversleeping. (What exactly are the causes?)
Correct Demonstration:Individuals oversleep because they go to bed too late, forget to set their alarms, and keep their rooms dark.
Provide specific details about the findings
Incorrect Demonstration: The study draws conclusions about which variables are most important in choosing a movie theatre. (What specifically are these variables)
The study concludes that the most important variables in choosing a movie theatre are comfortable seats and high-quality popcorn.
.
