Teaching and Learning about Writing Abstracts: Viable Tools to Kick-Start a Research Activity

Abstract

In virtually all research works undertaken, an abstract of the work is required as a starting point before the research work is written out in details. Abstract mirrors what is expected to be found in the main work. It is a summary of the whole work written in 250 to 350 words depending on the house style or requirement of the journal or the institution that it will be submitted to. In most cases, before a full paper is submitted for a review, editors usually require that an abstract of the paper should be written and submitted for purposes of adjudication in order to know whether the topic being researched falls within the themes and ambits of the journal or conference. Against this backdrop, many abstracts have been rejected due to insufficient and shallow information presented in the abstract. Sometimes, the abstract written will be at variance with the topic thereby creating confusion. For these reasons and other reasons that will unfold in this article, some abstracts have been rejected and this has halted the possibility of a researcher progressing with the research works. This paper explains how to write an acceptable abstract and the components thereof.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n3p678