How To Write A Useful Abstract By: Janis Ramey

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How To Write A Useful AbstractBy Janis Ramey

• Ryan Cartwright
• ENG 393

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Guide for Writing Abstracts

• Write a topic sentence
• Write two or three supporting sentences
• Tie everything together with logical order and
  good transition

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How To Do It

• Think about the whole document
• Think about its major ideas
• Think about its main conclusion or result
• Think about its primary purpose
• Think about what you expect the reader to do with
  the document
• Collect all of this together in your mind
• Write a sentence

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For Inspiration

• Sections to look at
• Recommendations
• Conclusions
• Summaries
• Results
• These sections are about the essence of the
  document

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Dont Depend on the Title

• Titles are too vague
• The title might serve as a modifier in your topic
  sentence
• Need to search beyond the title for inspiration

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Be Specific

• Make the topic sentence actually say specific
  things about the project
• Dont Write This"This report describes some
  general title.
• Write This"The results of this specific
  subject study show that actual result."

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Supporting Sentences Fill in Details

• Write two or three supporting sentences
• Each of these sentences should supply specific
  details about the ideas in the topic sentence
• Answer the famous questions Who? What? Where?
  When? Why? How? and How much?
• Limit yourself to two or three major supporting
  ideas

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Logic and Transition

• Arrange the supporting sentences in a logical
  sequence after the topic sentence
• Add necessary transitions where needed to connect
  the supporting sentences to the topic sentence
• Rewrite the sentences, if necessary, to improve
  the connections

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The Result

• An abstract that is truly a digest of the
  material
• This will be of some use to a reader
• This technique works for documents of any length
  from a couple of pages up to multi-volumes
• Also works for letters, reports, articles,
  manuals, books, speeches, scripts, etc.

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Tricks

• Write the abstract after the document is written
• Before starting the abstract, make a random list
  of thoughts about the document
• If you find that you can't write a topic
  sentence, write the supporting sentences first
• Choose words carefully

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Tricks (Contd)

• Write for an intelligent reader who's not
  necessarily up to speed in your subject area
• Define the scope of the project in the abstract
• Include the name of the contracting agency or
  client
• Reread your abstract after several days have
  passed