ABSTRACTS

1
ABSTRACTS

• Apparently, there are two types of abstract
• An indicative abstract.
• An informative abstract.

2

• An indicative abstract
• Tells what you ARE GOING TO DO and HOW YOU WILL
  DO IT (my paraphrase).
• It does NOT give results!

3

• An informative abstract
• Tells the same information and DOES give results.
• When would one use either?

4

• An indicative abstract is often used in the
  scientific community when submitting an abstract
  for a conference or a workshop.
• In this case, many of us know we want to attend
  and present at a meeting, but the research may
  not be complete (so we dont have any results
  yet!)

5

• Example
• Intrinsic Variability in Dust Deflation Potential
  in Multi-Annual MGCM Simulations. A.F.C. Bridger
  (Meteorology Dept., San Jose State Univ.) R.M.
  Haberle (NASA Ames Research Center)
• Multi-annual simulations with the NASA Ames Mars
  General Circulation Model (MGCM) show significant
  year-to-year variability in various atmospheric
  measures. Bla bla bla.
• We will discuss deflation results from
  multi-annual simulations. We will focus on the
  following questions (a) How large is the
  year-to-year variability in deflation both at
  specific locations (e.g., Hellas), and globally?
  (b) Is the year-to-year variability confined to
  certain locations and seasons? (c) What are the
  possible impacts of this instrinsic variability
  in dust deflation when trying to account for
  year-to-year variations in Global Dust Storm
  (GDS) activity?

6

• An informative abstract is the type used at the
  start of a thesis, proposal, technical report
  etc.
• It is a high-level summary of the report.
• It covers very briefly
• What you did.
• How you did it.
• What results you got.
• The significance of your work.
• This is what YOU NEED TO DO for your senior
  thesis.

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• Dos and donts about the informative abstract.
• Do write it carefully!
• You write your title carefully to catch the
  attention of the reader.
• The abstract allows you to include a little more
  information and detail beyond the title.
• Your goal is to get the reader to read your paper
  (and bring fame, fortune, more grants, prestige
  etc. to you and/or your company!)

8

• Do think about keywords and phrases to include.
• These will be picked up by Google etc!
• Exampledont write an abstract about El Nino
  without the words El Nino in the abstract!

9

• Do include
• An introduction why you did this study.
• A methods section how you did this study.
• A results section your main result(s).
• A conclusion why this is so important
• See examples in a minute.

10

• Do make it available to a wide audience (while
  being technically sound).
• Abstracts are now widely available because of the
  internet. Make sure yours can be read (i.e.,
  understood, i.e., jargon-free) by many!
• Do pay attention to length guidelines.
• SJSU guidelines for an MS thesis are 150 words
  maximum!!!

11

• Dos and donts about the informative abstract.
• Do not
• Use jargon
• Acronyms?
• Speak in the future tense!
• We are going to (future tense) analyze data to
  show that rainfall in Reno, NV will be extinct in
  50 years.
• Using analysis of rainfall data over the past 50
  years, together with regional WRF simulations, we
  show (present tense) that rainfall in Reno, NV
  will fall to below four inches per year in the
  next 50 years.