The A-Z of the PhD Trajectory by Eva O. L. Lantsoght

Author:Eva O. L. Lantsoght
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

11.5 Writing a Good Abstract

11.5.1 How to Write an Abstract in 30 Minutes

One of my most popular posts on PhD Talk is titled “How to write an abstract in 30 minutes” [7]. Surprisingly, it is a post that I typed out in less than ten minutes, simply documenting the technique I use for writing abstracts. The method is based on Koopman’s “How to write an abstract” [8] and elements from the course in Engineering Communications [9] I took with Dr. Rosenstein at Georgia Tech.

Starting to write an abstract is scary. The abstract is the very beginning of a new paper and a new writing project. Your acceptance for going to a conference will depend on it. For a journal paper, your abstract is an important element that will be duly studied by the reviewers and that will determine if a reviewer accepts or declines the invitation to review your paper. There can be a tremendous amount of pressure on you when you need to write an abstract. And all the while, a white page in your text processing software is staring you in the eye. You may start writing a few words, delete them again, decide you need some coffee, bring coffee, check Facebook, try a few words again, and keep fidgeting away for an entire afternoon.

To avoid the fear of the blank screen, I am using a method in which I use questions that I answer for myself. Instead of subdividing my abstract in the classical elements of background, problem statement, methods, results, and conclusions, and coming up with sentences that fall in each of these categories, I copy and paste a set of questions into the white page, and start typing out the answers to these questions. Sometimes I answer these questions by talking out loud, and then write down what I just said. Once I have answered all the questions, I remove the questions, and see how I need to modify the sentences for them to be joined together. Then, I proofread, check for style and grammar, and voila, the abstract is ready.

The questions that I use are based on Koopman’s description of the elements of an abstract [8]: Background: Why are the problem and the results important and why should they be studied?

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