Research Paper Abstract – Give a Summary of the Whole Work and not an Introduction

A research paper abstract is written to give an idea to the readers what the thesis paper is all about. It is actually a short summary of the thesis that is easily readable and understandable. This abstract will present the thesis statement to the reader and will also give information as to what the paper as a whole will cover without going into much details.

When writing the abstract, the writer will have to remember that though this is not an actual part of the main thesis, but it is similar to a research paper outline in many ways. The only difference being that the abstract is in the form of a paragraph, instead of being presented number wise like in a research outline. The most important thing to remember is that the abstract must be short and it should only give the summary of the research work. Abstracts are almost always of a certain, specified length and before starting with the writing ,one need to know this. Abstracts that are too long and exceed the maximum word limit are very often rejected because they cannot be used as databases for future referencing, to summarize conferences, presentations, thesis work etc.