Academic English

1
Academic English
2

• Writing is necessary for all students in higher
  education. Academic writing is clearly defined by
  having a clear purpose, either an exam question
  to answer or a research project to report on.  

3

• Academic writing in English is linear, which
  means it has one central point or theme with
  every part contributing to the main line of
  argument, without digressions or repetitions. Its
  objective is to inform rather than entertain. As
  well as this it is in the standard written form
  of the language.There are six main features of
  academic writing that are often discussed.
  Academic writing is to some extent complex,
  formal, objective, explicit, hedged, and
  responsible.
• Complexity
• Written language is relatively more complex than
  spoken language. Written language has longer
  words, it is lexically more dense and it has a
  more varied vocabulary. It uses more noun-based
  phrases than verb-based phrases. Written texts
  are shorter and the language has more grammatical
  complexity, including more subordinate clauses
  and more passives.
• Formality
• Academic writing is relatively formal. In general
  this means that in an essay you should avoid
  colloquial words and expressions.
• Objectivity
• Written language is in general objective rather
  than personal. It therefore has fewer words that
  refer to the writer or the reader. This means
  that the main emphasis should be on the
  information that you want to give and the
  arguments you want to make, rather than you.
• Explicitness
• Academic writing is explicit about the
  relationships int he text. Furthermore, it is the
  responsibility of the writer in English to make
  it clear to the reader how the various parts of
  the text are related. These connections can be
  made explicit by the use of different signalling
  words.
• Hedging
• In any kind of academic writing you do, it is
  necessary to make decisions about your stance on
  a particular subject, or the strength of the
  claims you are making. Different subjects prefer
  to do this in different ways.
• A technique common in certain kinds of academic
  writing is known by linguists as a hedge.
• Responsibility
• In academic writing you must be responsible for,
  and must be able to provide evidence and
  justification for, any claims you make. You are
  also responsible for demonstrating an
  understanding of any source texts you use.

4
The most common pieces of writing in the academic
world are essays and reports.

• Essays in English
• Almost all students will at some time be expected
  to write an essay, or some other kind of
  argument, e.g. a review or discussion section, in
  a longer piece of writing. In English, an essay
  is a piece of argumentative writing several
  paragraphs long written about one topic, usually
  based on your reading. The aim of the essay
  should be deduced strictly from the wording of
  the title or question, and needs to be defined at
  the beginning. The purpose of an essay is for you
  to say something for yourself using the ideas of
  the subject, for you to present ideas you have
  learned in your own way. The emphasis should be
  on working with other peoples ideas, rather than
  reproducing their words, but your own voice
  should show clearly. The ideas and people that
  you refer to need to made explicit by a system of
  referencing.

5
Your essay should have the following sections

• 1. Preliminaries Title page
• 2. Main text Introduction
• Main body Conclusion
• 3. End matter References

6
1. Preliminaries

• Before you start the main part of your essay or
  assignment, there should be a title page. The
  title page should contain information to enable
  your lecturer and departmental office to identify
  exactly what the piece of work is. It should
  include your name and course the title of the
  assignment and any references the lecturer it is
  for etc.

7
2. Main text

• English essays are linear
• - they start at the beginning and finish at the
  end, with every part contributing to the main
  line of argument, without digressions or
  repetition. Writers are responsible for making
  their line of argument clear and presenting it in
  an orderly fashion so that the reader can follow.
  Each paragraph discusses one major point and each
  paragraph should lead directly to the next. The
  paragraphs are tied together with an introduction
  and a conclusion.

8

• The main text of the essay has three main parts
• An introduction
• A main body
• A conclusion

9
I. The introduction.

• The introduction consists of two parts
• It should include a few general statements about
  the subject to provide a background to your essay
  and to attract the readers attention. It should
  try to explain why you are writing the essay. It
  may include a definition of terms in the context
  of the essay, etc.
• It should also include a statement of the
  specific subdivisions of the topic and/or
  indication of how the topic is going to be
  tackled in order to specifically address the
  question.
• It should introduce the central idea or the main
  purpose of the writing.

10
The main body

• The main body consists of one or more paragraphs
  of ideas and arguments. Each paragraph develops a
  subdivision of the topic. The paragraphs of the
  essay contain the main ideas and arguments of the
  essay together with illustrations or examples.
  The paragraphs are linked in order to connect the
  ideas. The purpose of the essay must be made
  clear and the reader must be able to follow its
  development.

11
III. The conclusion.

• The conclusion includes the writers final
  points.
• It should recall the issues raised in the
  introduction and draw together the points made in
  the main body
• and explain the overall significance of the
  conclusions. What general points can be drawn
  from the essay as a whole?
• It should clearly signal to the reader that the
  essay is finished and leave a clear impression
  that the purpose of the essay has been achieved.

12
(No Transcript)
13
3. End Matter

• At the end of the essay, there should be a list
  of references. This should give full information
  about the materials that you have used in the
  assignment.

14
Writing paragraphs

• Introduction
• Essays are divided into paragraphs. If your essay
  is one continuous piece of text, it will be very
  difficult for any reader to follow your argument.
  Therefore essays need paragraphs.
• Essays are divided into paragraphs in a
  meaningful way. A paragraph is a group of
  sentences that develop one topic or idea. The
  topic of one paragraph should follow logically
  from the topic of the last paragraph and should
  lead on to the topic of the next paragraph. The
  paragraphs have different functions, but all
  develop an idea - that is, they add information,
  explanation, examples and illustrations to the
  central theme or idea until the theme is fully
  developed.

15
EXERCISEDivide the following text into
paragraphs. Remember that each paragraph should
develop a particular theme.

• How to stop yourself snoring.
• Snoring is caused when the airway at the back of
  the nose and throat becomes partially obstructed.
  This is usually due to the loosening of the
  surrounding oropharyngeal muscles, but the
  reasons why this should occur are varied. The
  most common are smoking, obesity and the
  consumption of relaxants such as alcohol and
  sleeping pills. As with any common ailment, there
  are a host of "miracle" cures advertised - but
  you should first try a few simple steps to see if
  you can halt the snoring before adopting more
  drastic measures. Lifestyle changes can be the
  most effective. If you are overweight, a loss of
  weight will help to reduce the pressure on your
  neck. You should also stop smoking and try not to
  drink alcohol at least four hours before you go
  to bed. Beyond this, try to change your regular
  sleeping position. Raise the head of your bed
  with a brick, or tie something uncomfortable into
  the back of your pyjamas to encourage you to
  sleep on your side. Both of these will help to
  alter the angle of your throat as you sleep, and
  may thus make breathing easier for you. It is
  also important to keep your nasal passage clear
  and unblocked. Allergies, colds and hay fever can
  temporarily cause you to snore nasal
  decongestants may help, but you are not advised
  to use such remedies for long periods. Nasal
  strips, as worn by sportspeople, have been proven
  to reduce nasal airway resistance by up to 30 per
  cent, so consider these as a long-term
  alternative. If this fails, then you may wish to
  look at the varied snoring aids that are on the
  market. They range from neck collars that stop
  your neck tilting, through to mandibular-advanceme
  nt devices (such as gumshields) which reduce
  upper airway resistance, and tongue-retaining
  devices. You can also buy essential-oil products
  that are added to warm water and infused or
  consumed before bedtime. They claim to tone up
  your palate and unblock your nasal passage.
  Finally, if your symptoms persist, visit your GP
  or contact the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea
  Association (01737 557 997) for advice. If you do
  not, your partner might.

16

• How to stop yourself snoring. Snoring is caused
  when the airway at the back of the nose and
  throat becomes partially obstructed. This is
  usually due to the loosening of the surrounding
  oropharyngeal muscles, but the reasons why this
  should occur are varied. The most common are
  smoking, obesity and the consumption of relaxants
  such as alcohol and sleeping pills.
• As with any common ailment, there are a host of
  "miracle" cures advertised - but you should first
  try a few simple steps to see if you can halt the
  snoring before adopting more drastic measures.
  Lifestyle changes can be the most effective. If
  you are overweight, a loss of weight will help to
  reduce the pressure on your neck. You should also
  stop smoking and try not to drink alcohol at
  least four hours before you go to bed.
• Beyond this, try to change your regular sleeping
  position. Raise the head of your bed with a
  brick, or tie something uncomfortable into the
  back of your pyjamas to encourage you to sleep on
  your side. Both of these will help to alter the
  angle of your throat as you sleep, and may thus
  make breathing easier for you.
• It is also important to keep your nasal passage
  clear and unblocked. Allergies, colds and hay
  fever can temporarily cause you to snore nasal
  decongestants may help, but you are not advised
  to use such remedies for long periods. Nasal
  strips, as worn by sportspeople, have been proven
  to reduce nasal airway resistance by up to 30 per
  cent, so consider these as a long-term
  alternative.
• If this fails, then you may wish to look at the
  varied snoring aids that are on the market. They
  range from neck collars that stop your neck
  tilting, through to mandibular-advancement
  devices (such as gumshields) which reduce upper
  airway resistance, and tongue-retaining devices.
  You can also buy essential-oil products that are
  added to warm water and infused or consumed
  before bedtime. They claim to tone up your palate
  and unblock your nasal passage.
• Finally, if your symptoms persist, visit your GP
  or contact the British Snoring and Sleep Apnoea
  Association (01737 557 997) for advice. If you do
  not, your partner might.

17
Exercise 2

• Look at the following text about growing cotton
  in India. The paragraphs have not been printed in
  the correct order. Arrange the paragraphs in the
  correct order. Remember that the topic of one
  paragraph should follow logically from the topic
  of the last paragraph and should lead on to the
  topic of the next paragraph.

18

• Pesticide suicide
• Most of the farmers are extremely poor. Attracted
  by cheap loans from pesticides traders and the
  prospect of a quick buck, they borrowed heavily
  to raise cotton on small plots of land.
• According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the
  crop losses and destruction in Andhra Pradesh
  arose from the repeated application of excessive
  amounts of chemicals - a practice actively
  encouraged by pesticides traders. The suicide of
  Samala Mallaiah in Nagara village grabbed media
  headlines. He owned one acre of land, leased two
  more and grew cotton on all three. After making a
  loss in the first year, he leased yet more land
  in an attempt to recover. Confronted with falling
  prices, mounting debts and pest attacks, he
  committed harakiri. Cotton has given us
  shattered dreams, said one old farmer in Nagara
  village.
• As many as 60,000 small farmers in the region of
  Andhra Pradesh, southern India, have taken to
  farming cotton instead of food crops. Some 20 of
  them have recently committed suicide by eating
  lethal doses of pesticide.
• Whitefly, boll weevils and caterpillars
  multiplied and destroyed their crops, despite the
  constant application of pesticides. The average
  yield of cotton fields in Andhra Pradesh fell by
  more than half in just one year. Now the farmers
  are in no position to repay the loans or feed
  their families.
• Nearly half the pesticides used in India go into
  protecting cotton, the most important commercial
  crop in the country. However, pests have shown
  increased immunity to a range of pesticides. Last
  year there were heavy crop losses due to
  leaf-curl, which is caused by the dreaded
  whitefly. This nondescript, milky-white fly sucks
  sap from the cotton leaves, making them curl and
  dry up. The fly struck first in Pakistan and
  north-western India. Then it turned south.

19
Key

• As many as 60,000 small farmers in the region of
  Andhra Pradesh, southern India, have taken to
  farming cotton instead of food crops. Some 20 of
  them have recently committed suicide by eating
  lethal doses of pesticide.
• Most of the farmers are extremely poor. Attracted
  by cheap loans from pesticides traders and the
  prospect of a quick buck, they borrowed heavily
  to raise cotton on small plots of land.
• Whitefly, boll weevils and caterpillars
  multiplied and destroyed their crops, despite the
  constant application of pesticides. The average
  yield of cotton fields in Andhra Pradesh fell by
  more than half in just one year. Now the farmers
  are in no position to repay the loans or feed
  their families.
• The suicide of Samala Mallaiah in Nagara village
  grabbed media headlines. He owned one acre of
  land, leased two more and grew cotton on all
  three. After making a loss in the first year, he
  leased yet more land in an attempt to recover.
  Confronted with falling prices, mounting debts
  and pest attacks, he committed harakiri. Cotton
  has given us shattered dreams, said one old
  farmer in Nagara village.
• Nearly half the pesticides used in India go into
  protecting cotton, the most important commercial
  crop in the country. However, pests have shown
  increased immunity to a range of pesticides. Last
  year there were heavy crop losses due to
  leaf-curl, which is caused by the dreaded
  whitefly. This nondescript, milky-white fly sucks
  sap from the cotton leaves, making them curl and
  dry up. The fly struck first in Pakistan and
  north-western India. Then it turned south.
• According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the
  crop losses and destruction in Andhra Padresh
  arose from the repeated application of excessive
  amounts of chemicals - a practice actively
  encouraged by pesticides traders.

20
Reporting - paraphrase, summary synthesis

• One of the most important aspects of academic
  writing is making use of the ideas of other
  people. This is important as you need to show
  that you have understood the materials and that
  you can use their ideas and findings in your own
  way. In fact, this is an essential skill for
  every student. Spack (1988, p. 42) has pointed
  out that the most important skill a student can
  engage in is "the complex activity to write from
  other texts", which is "a major part of their
  academic experience." It is very important when
  you do this to make sure you use your own words,
  unless you are quoting. You must make it clear
  when the words or ideas that you are using are
  your own and when they are taken from another
  writer. You must not use another person's words
  or ideas as if they were your own this is
  Plagiarism and plagiarism is regarded as a very
  serious offence.
• Plagiarism is taking another person's words or
  ideas and using them as if they were your own. It
  can be either deliberate or accidental.
  Plagiarism is taken very seriously in UK Higher
  Education. If even a small section of your work
  is found to have been plagiarised, it is likely
  that you will be assigned a mark of '0' for that
  assignment.
• The object of academic writing is for you to say
  something for yourself using the ideas of the
  subject, for you to present ideas you have
  learned in your own way. You can do this by
  reporting the works of others in your own words.
  You can either paraphrase if you want to keep the
  length the same, summarise if you want to make
  the text shorter or synthesise if you need to use
  information from several sources. In all cases
  you need to acknowledge other people's work.

21
Paraphrase

• Paraphrasing is writing the ideas of another
  person in your own words. You need to change the
  words and the structure but keep the meaning the
  same. Please remember, though, that even when you
  paraphrase someone's work, you must acknowledge
  it. See Citation.
• Look at this example
• Source
• It has long been known that Cairo is the most
  populous city on earth, but no-one knew exactly
  how populous it was until last month.
• Paraphrase
• Although Cairo has been the world's most heavily
  populated city for many years, the precise
  population was not known until four weeks ago.

22
Summary

• A summary is a shortened version of a text. It
  contains the main points in the text and is
  written in your own words. It is a mixture of
  reducing a long text to a short text and
  selecting relevant information. A good summary
  shows that you have understood the text. Please
  remember, though, that even when you summarise
  someone's work, you must acknowledge it. See
  Citation.
• Look at this example
• Source
• The amphibia, which is the animal class to which
  our frogs and toads belong, were the first
  animals to crawl from the sea and inhabit the
  earth.
• Summary
• The first animals to leave the sea and live on
  dry land were the amphibia.

23
Steps in the Writing Process

• Prewriting
• Gather Information And Thoughts.
• Determine A Purpose For Writing.
• Analyze The Audience.
• Write A Topic Sentence Or Thesis Statement.
• Choose An Organizational Structure - Outline.

24

• Writing (Drafting)
• Let Thoughts Flow.
• Use Supporting Detail.
• Stick To The Subject.
• Analyze The Audience.

25

• Revising (Rewriting)
• Check Organization.
• Check For Clear Topic Sentences.
• Check Paragraph And Sentence Structure.
• Check For Emphasis And Consistency.
• Check Usage, Grammar, Mechanics, Punctuation,
  Vocabulary, And Spelling. (Editing)

26
Definitions

• pre-writing - The planning stages of the writing
  process, which include defining a purpose for
  writing, selecting a topic, analyzing the
  audience, narrowing the focus of the topic,
  writing a thesis statement, choosing an
  organizational strategy for writing, gathering
  information, outlining (or some other form to aid
  development of the topic such as making lists and
  dividing information into categories).thesis
  statement - The thesis statement is a topic
  sentence that names and narrows the topic. The
  thesis statement specifies exactly what points
  will be discussed in the paper and in what
  order.drafting - Writing a draft of a paper or
  other type of document.supporting detail -
  Examples, explanations, definitions (etc.) that
  support or amplify a writer's pointsrevising -
  Rewriting or improving a draft in terms of its
  purpose, content, organization of ideas, and
  other aspects that may affect a reader's
  understanding of the material. Revising may also
  include some degree of editing.

27

• emphasis - Stressing important information or
  points by their placement in the paper, by
  repeating key phrases, or by writing more about
  some points than othersconsistency -
  Structuring points or ideas in a similar or
  comparative way Maintaining an objective or
  consistent perspective about a topic while
  writingeiting - Reworking a draft to improve
  style, which includes the type of language, the
  perspective the writer uses, how emphasis of
  important points is achieved, and other aspects
  of language that determine how the writer handles
  the topic. For most academic papers, a
  straightforward, factual, and objective style is
  appropriate.

28
Writing an abstract

• The abstract is the first section of the report.
  It usually comes after the title and before the
  introduction. In some subject areas, this section
  may be titled summary". The abstract provides an
  overview of the study based on information from
  the other sections of the report. The reader can
  read the abstract to obtain enough information
  about the study to decide if they want to read
  the complete report. Because it contains elements
  from the whole report, it is usually written last.

29
1. Ordering Your Information

• Abstracts from almost all fields of study are
  written in a very similar way. The types of
  information included and their order are very
  conventional.

30
The box that follows shows the typical
information format of an abstract

• ORDER OF  ELEMENTS INCLUDED IN AN ABSTRACT
• some background information
• the principal activity (or purpose) of the study
  and its scope
• some information about the methodology used in
  the study
• the most important results of the study
• a statement of conclusion or recommendation

31

• Analysis
• Read the following abstract carefully. It is
  taken from the field of computer assisted
  learning. Identify the sentences in the abstract
  that correspond to the elements in the preceding
  box.

32
Use Of A Writing Web-Site By Pre-Masters Students
On An English for Academic Purposes Course.A. J.
Gillett, University of Hertfordshire

• Abstract
• 1 During the last 10 years, use of the
  World-Wide-Web for educational purposes has
  increased dramatically.
• 2 However, very little empirical research has
  been carried out to determine the effectiveness
  of this use.
• 3 The aim of this study was therefore to
  investigate the effectiveness of using the
  World-Wide-Web on an EAP writing course.
• 4 Two groups of students were taught writing by
  two different methods one group was taught by a
  teacher in a traditional classroom, while a
  second group included use of an on-line web-site
  in their course.
• 5 The two groups were assessed in the same way
  after a twelve-week period of instruction.
• 6 Results of the assessment showed significant
  differences between the two groups, the group
  that used the on-line web-site performing much
  better on all aspects of the test.
• 7 This suggests that the use of computer assisted
  learning programmes for at least some of the
  teaching time available can be recommended for
  EAP writing courses.

33

• Exercise Answer
• Identify the information elements you find in
  each sentence of the text.
• Sentence 1 background
• Sentence 2 background
• Sentence 3 purpose
• Sentence 4 method
• Sentence 5 method
• Sentence 6 results
• Sentence 7 conclusion

34

• An abstract is a short informative or descriptive
  summary of a longer report.
• It is written after the report is completed,
  although it is intended to be read first.
• In a technical report, the abstract appears on a
  separate page after the table of contents and
  list of illustrations.
• In an essay written for a humanities class, it
  most likely should appear on a separate page,
  just after the title page and therefore just
  before the essay itself.

35

• Several potential uses for abstracts
• An executive preparing a comprehensive report
  might ask her assistant to abstract articles from
  different levels of periodicals to provide
  information quickly and to help her decide
  whether to read the complete articles.
• A professional might read the abstract
  accompanying a journal article to decide if it is
  worth her time to read the full article.
• Libraries subscribe to abstracting journals and
  series (including Dissertation Abstracts
  International) to provide an overview of content.
  
• Certain congressional and association newsletters
  provide abstracts of newspaper articles that
  pertain to issues relevant to their memberships.

36

• There are two distinct types of abstracts
• A DESCRIPTIVE abstract merely identifies the
  areas to be covered in the report. It is an
  extended statement of purpose or scope. Such an
  abstract is only useful for a very long report,
  because it demonstrates only the paper's
  organization, not its content.
• An INFORMATIVE abstract summarizes the entire
  report and gives the reader an overview of the
  facts that will be laid out in detail in the
  paper itself. It is rarely longer than one page
  and should never exceed more than 10 of the
  length of the entire report otherwise it defeats
  its own purpose.

37

• How to write an informative abstract
• Plan to write an abstract that is no more than
  10 of the length of the essay.
• In the first draft, note key facts, statistics,
  etc. that you need to include.
• Do not include a statement of scope a sentence
  like "this paper will look at...." is
  inappropriate in an informative abstract.
• Be sure to omit or condense lengthy examples,
  tables, and other supporting detail.
• Revise the draft into smooth, stand-alone prose
  the abstract itself should be a mini-essay.
• Edit the revision. Be sure that the abstract is
  complete and accurate. Double check that the
  abstract is written in the same voice as is the
  paper.

38
Abstract

• Because on-line search databases typically
  contain only abstracts, it is vital to write a
  complete but concise description of your work to
  entice potential readers into obtaining a copy of
  the full paper.
• Writers should follow a checklist consisting of
  motivation, problem statement, approach, results,
  and conclusions. Following this checklist should
  increase the chance of people taking the time to
  obtain and read your complete paper.

39
Introduction

• Now that the use of on-line publication databases
  is prevalent, writing a really good abstract has
  become even more important than it was a decade
  ago. Abstracts have always served the function of
  "selling" your work. But now, instead of merely
  convincing the reader to keep reading the rest of
  the attached paper, an abstract must convince the
  reader to leave the comfort of an office and go
  hunt down a copy of the article from a library
  (or worse, obtain one after a long wait through
  inter-library loan). In a business context, an
  "executive summary" is often the only piece of a
  report read by the people who matter and it
  should be similar in content if not tone to a
  journal paper abstract.

40
Checklist Parts of an Abstract

• Despite the fact that an abstract is quite brief,
  it must do almost as much work as the multi-page
  paper that follows it.
• Use the following as a checklist for your next
  abstract

41

• MotivationWhy do we care about the problem and
  the results? If the problem isn't obviously
  "interesting" it might be better to put
  motivation first but if your work is incremental
  progress on a problem that is widely recognized
  as important, then it is probably better to put
  the problem statement first to indicate which
  piece of the larger problem you are breaking off
  to work on. This section should include the
  importance of your work, the difficulty of the
  area, and the impact it might have if successful.
  
• Problem statementWhat problem are you trying to
  solve? What is the scope of your work (a
  generalized approach, or for a specific
  situation)? Be careful not to use too much
  jargon. In some cases it is appropriate to put
  the problem statement before the motivation, but
  usually this only works if most readers already
  understand why the problem is important.
• ApproachHow did you go about solving or making
  progress on the problem? Did you use simulation,
  analytic models, prototype construction, or
  analysis of field data for an actual product?
  What was the extent of your work (did you look at
  one application program or a hundred programs in
  twenty different programming languages?) What
  important variables did you control, ignore, or
  measure?
• ResultsWhat's the answer? Specifically, most
  good computer architecture papers conclude that
  something is so many percent faster, cheaper,
  smaller, or otherwise better than something else.
  Put the result there, in numbers. Avoid vague,
  hand-waving results such as "very", "small", or
  "significant." If you must be vague, you are only
  given license to do so when you can talk about
  orders-of-magnitude improvement. There is a
  tension here in that you should not provide
  numbers that can be easily misinterpreted, but on
  the other hand you don't have room for all the
  caveats.
• ConclusionsWhat are the implications of your
  answer? Is it going to change the world
  (unlikely), be a significant "win", be a nice
  hack, or simply serve as a road sign indicating
  that this path is a waste of time (all of the
  previous results are useful). Are your results
  general, potentially generalizable, or specific
  to a particular case?

42
Other Considerations

• An abstract must be a fully self-contained,
  capsule description of the paper. It can't assume
  (or attempt to provoke) the reader into flipping
  through looking for an explanation of what is
  meant by some vague statement. It must make sense
  all by itself. Some points to consider include
• Meet the word count limitation. If your abstract
  runs too long, either it will be rejected or
  someone will take a chainsaw to it to get it down
  to size. Your purposes will be better served by
  doing the difficult task of cutting yourself,
  rather than leaving it to someone else who might
  be more interested in meeting size restrictions
  than in representing your efforts in the best
  possible manner. An abstract word limit of 150 to
  200 words is common.
• Any major restrictions or limitations on the
  results should be stated, if only by using
  "weasel-words" such as "might", "could", "may",
  and "seem".
• Think of a half-dozen search phrases and keywords
  that people looking for your work might use. Be
  sure that those exact phrases appear in your
  abstract, so that they will turn up at the top of
  a search result listing.
• Usually the context of a paper is set by the
  publication it appears in (for example, IEEE
  Computer magazine's articles are generally about
  computer technology). But, if your paper appears
  in a somewhat un-traditional venue, be sure to
  include in the problem statement the domain or
  topic area that it is really applicable to.
• Some publications request "keywords". These have
  two purposes. They are used to facilitate keyword
  index searches, which are greatly reduced in
  importance now that on-line abstract text
  searching is commonly used. However, they are
  also used to assign papers to review committees
  or editors, which can be extremely important to
  your fate. So make sure that the keywords you
  pick make assigning your paper to a review
  category obvious (for example, if there is a list
  of conference topics, use your chosen topic area
  as one of the keyword tuples).

43
Conclusion

• Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but
  will repay you with increased impact on the world
  by enticing people to read your publications.
  Make sure that all the components of a good
  abstract are included in the next one you write.

44
Abstract worksheet example

• Use one or two concise sentences to summarize the
  most important aspects of your project for each
  section listed below.
• Project Title (the same as the title of your
  scientific paper)
• Introduction (What is this project about? Why is
  this project interesting or important?)
• Hypothesis (What did you think you would find?
  Why?)
• Methods (Briefly explain your procedure.)
• Results (What did you find when you performed
  your experiment?)
• Discussion (Are your results consistent with
  your initial hypothesis? Why or why not?)
• Conclusion (What is your interpretation of what
  these results mean? Why should anyone become
  excited about or interested in your findings?)

45

• How do you write an abstract?
• Writing an abstract involves boiling down the
  essence of a whole paper into a single paragraph
  that conveys as much new information as possible.
  One way of writing an effective abstract is to
  start with a draft of the complete paper and do
  the following
• Highlight the objective and the conclusions that
  are in the paper's introduction and the
  discussion.
• Bracket information in the methods section of the
  paper that contains keyword information.
• Highlight the results from the discussion or
  results section of the paper.
• Compile the above highlighted and bracketed
  information into a single paragraph.
• Condense the bracketed information into the key
  words and phrases that identify but do not
  explain the methods used.
• Delete extra words and phrases.
• Delete any background information.
• Rephrase the first sentence so that it starts off
  with the new information contained in the paper,
  rather than with the general topic. One way of
  doing this is to begin the first sentence with
  the phrase "this paper" or "this study."
• Revise the paragraph so that the abstract conveys
  the essential information.

46

• How to Write an Abstract
• The following is an outline for writing an
  abstract. Not all papers or instructors require
  abstracts. Abstracts and executive summaries are
  similar in structure and content.
• Statement of purpose of the research
• Scope of the research - what research consisted
  of
• Importance/significance of the research
• Major points of literature review
• Research method selected and why
• Objectives
• Proposed interventions
• Data collection method (questionnaires/interviews,
  etc.)
• Results summarized (in general)
• Conclusions (your interpretation)
• Recommendations