Writing Report Abstracts
Summary:
This handout discusses how to write good abstracts for reports. It covers informational and descriptive abstracts and gives pointers for success.
Contributors:Dana Lynn Driscoll
Last Edited: 2013-03-12 09:58:07
Types of abstracts
There are two types of abstracts: informational and descriptive.
Informational abstracts
- Communicate contents of reports
- Include purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendations
- Highlight essential points
- Are short—from a paragraph to a page or two, depending upon the length of the report (10% or less of the report)
- Allow readers to decide whether they want to read the report
Descriptive abstracts
- Tell what the report contains
- Include purpose, methods, scope, but NOT results, conclusions, and recommendations
- Are always very short— usually under 100 words
- Introduce subject to readers, who must then read the report to learn study results
Qualities of a good abstract
An effective abstract
- Uses one or more well-developed paragraphs, which are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone
- Uses an introduction-body-conclusion structure in which the parts of the report are discussed in order: purpose, findings, conclusions, recommendations
- Follows strictly the chronology of the report
- Provides logical connections between material included
- Adds no new information but simply summarizes the report
- Is intelligible to a wide audience
Steps for writing effective report abstracts
To write an effective report abstract, follow these four steps.
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Reread your report with the purpose of abstracting in mind. Look specifically for these main parts: purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendations.
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After you have finished rereading your report, write a rough draft without looking back at your report. Consider the main parts of the abstract listed in step #1. Do not merely copy key sentences from your report. You will put in too much or too little information. Do not summarize information in a new way.
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Revise your rough draft to
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Correct weaknesses in organization and coherence,
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Drop superfluous information,
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Add important information originally left out,
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Eliminate wordiness, and
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Correct errors in grammar and mechanics.
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Carefully proofread your final copy.
