Useful Dissertation Abstract Writing Tips

A dissertation is never complete without an abstract. Therefore, it is important to look into this short, yet important part of your dissertation to write it effectively and serve its purpose within your paper. In an abstract, readers should be able to see the general summary of your dissertation and create a desire within them to proceed on to read the rest of the work. It is a section that comes at the beginning of your work and will give expectations to your readers as they prepare to go through your dissertation.

When writing a dissertation, it is important to make sure that it is accurately done. Most importantly, it should be brief and accurate, following the recommended format based on your field of study. It may be short but at the same time important to your writing process. It shouldn't sound vague but rather serve to ensure that readers get ideas of what to expect in the final dissertation. It is very important to always have this in mind.

Understanding Abstract Types

To serve its purpose and use, an abstract can either be informative or descriptive.

• Descriptive abstracts talk about the information that has been captured in your dissertation using specific phrases and words. In that case, there will be information related to the purpose of the work, the scope of your work and the methodology used in writing your dissertation. Therefore, readers will get to see what you have done to complete your dissertation. Since it is descriptive in nature, this type of abstract may only be around 100 words. Most important to note, these abstracts only give readers an outline to your dissertation.

• Informative abstracts are the more detailed ones and will most likely be the one to write in your dissertation. It is more than just an outline of your work. It gives enough details that still serve the same purpose of an abstract. In this type of abstract, you should put forward the main arguments of your paper. There should also be information on your findings through your research work and conclusions drawn from the same.

Getting your Abstract Right

The recommended word-count of an informative abstract is usually longer and can be up to 350 words and not less than 250 words. Even though an abstract comes in the first pages, it is usually written as the last part of your dissertation. This is so because it depends on the already written work. You cannot start writing your abstract until you have covered every other part of your dissertation. You must do this because it prepares your readers to go through your entire research work.

Final Thoughts

Understanding the procedure of writing a dissertation is very vital to your success. There are a lot of things to remember and part of them includes an abstract for your work. It is not just a mere summary of your work. It seeks to highlight important information that is used to tell readers what to expect to see in your already completed dissertation.