Research Paper Abstracts

Academic journals are periodicals in which researchers publish articles on their work. Most often these articles discuss recent research. Journals also publish theoretical discussions and articles that critically review already published work.

Most articles start with a paragraph called the “abstract”, which very briefly summarizes the whole article.

A research paper (or journal) abstract (Ukr. анотація) is a short account of a research paper placed before it. The research article abstract is written by the author of a paper. The "relatives" of the journal abstract are: the summary, the conference abstract, and the synopsis – a shorter version of a document that usually mirrors the organization of the full text.

The journal abstract performs a number of important functions:

· it serves as a short version of the paper, which provides the most important information;

· it helps, therefore, the potential audience to decide whether to read the whole article or not;

· prepares the reader for reading a full text by giving an idea of what to expect;

· serves as a reference after the paper has been read.

Nowadays, abstracts are widely used in electronic storage and retrieval systems and by on-line information services.

The journal abstract has certain textual and linguistic characteristics:

· it consists of a single paragraph;

· it contains 4-10 full sentences;

· it tends to avoid the first person and to use impersonal active constructions (e.g., "This research shows …") or passive voice (e.g., "The data were analyzed …");

· it rarely uses negative sentences;

· it uses meta-text (reference to the text, e.g., "This paper investigates…"; "This paper reports…");

· it avoids using acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols (unless they are defined in the abstract itself);

· it does not cite by number or refer by number to anything from the text of the paper.

The most frequent tense used in abstracts is the present tense. It is used to state facts, describe methods, make comparisons, and give results. The past tense is preferred when reference is made to the author's own experiments, calculations, observations, etc.

Journal abstracts are often divided into informative and indicative abstracts.

The informative abstract includes main findings and various specifics such as measurements or quantities. This type of abstract often accompanies research reports and looks itself like a report in miniature.

Indicative abstracts indicate the subject of a paper. They provide a brief description without going into a detailed account. The abstracts of this type accompany lengthy texts or theoretical papers. The combination of both types of journal abstracts, however, also exists.

There is a conventional distinction between informative and indicative abstracts. Although a diversity of definitions can be found in the literature on abstracting and summarisation, the leading criterion used for this distinction is in the perspective. An informative abstract conveys in a reduced form the same message as the source text, as if it were a direct report of the research; an indicative abstract is an external account of what the source text is about. Informative abstracts are usually longer and may (for particular readers) serve as a substitute for the source text; indicative abstracts have a primary selection function.

Both types of abstracts are in some respect also suitable for the fulfilment of an orientation function. Indicative abstracts, describing the main steps in the source text, can serve as an orientation tool to gain insight into the global organisational coherence of the article. Informative abstracts lend themselves more easily to a more profound, content-oriented orientation.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 473