How to Write an Abstract
By Melissa Williams
**Don’t forget! CSUDH Student Research Day 2016 abstracts are due December 10,
2015!!!**
An abstract is a summary of research, and is typically produced to submit
research for a conference presentation. The abstract should be a concise, focused
description of your research, some background information about your topic, your
results, and your conclusions. Abstracts are typically limited to 250-300 words, so
concision and focus are the most crucial aspects of a successful abstract.
Most writers know that the first sentence, or “hook,” of an essay is key to
catching a reader’s attention. An abstract is no different. In fact, since the goal of an
abstract is to convince a conference committee to accept your project, the hook is
even more important in an abstract than an essay you submit for a class. The first
sentence of your abstract should sum up your topic in a way that both hints at your
approach or conclusions, and catches the reader’s attention.
Here are some examples of strong opening sentences from previous CSUDH Student
Research Day winners:
1. The misuse of forensic evidence is the second leading cause of wrongful
convictions in the United States, and false or misleading expert testimony is the fifth.
(Debiasing Perceptions of Forensic Evidence Sophia DeLaTorre, Claudia Aguilar, Oswaldo Carvajal, Tanya Kaplan,
and Bray Chadrick, Psychology)
2. June 2011 marked the 40-year anniversary of President Nixon’s declaration of a
“war on drugs.”
(Marijuana Legalization: California’s Turn Joel Klingenberg, Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peace-building)
3. Lack of parental communication about sex influences a child’s sexual attitudes and
behaviors.
(Parent-Child Communication and Sexual Behavior in Adulthood Chelsea McElwee, Psychology)
These opening sentences give some background and context for the research that was
conducted, and they include compelling facts or conclusions to draw readers in. The
topics are relevant to current events, which gives readers further reasons to keep reading.
After you have grabbed readers’ attention with your opening sentence, give
any additional background or context necessary for understanding your research. It
may be useful to briefly explain what other scholars or researchers have concluded,
or what the general conclusions about this topic are in your field. You should also
describe your research question and explain why your approach is unique or how it
fills a need in your field. This should be brief, no more than 4-5 sentences.
Once you have provided background and context, describe your research.
What approach did you take? Did you have to use any specialized research
techniques? Briefly describe your evidence or the assumptions you based your
research on.
Finally, describe your results and the conclusions you drew from the results.
Were you able to answer your research question? How does your research
contribute to your field? Did it make you look at any key concepts in your field in a
new way?
Make sure you share your abstract with your mentor before you submit it. Leave
enough time for your mentor to read and comment on it, and to make necessary
changes in time for the December 10 submission deadline.
You can read abstracts for the winning Student Research Day 2015 presentations
here:
http://www4.csudh.edu/gsr/research/student-research/student-researchday/student-research-day-session-winners/index
The page is arranged by each of the subject categories we use for Student Research
Day:
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Biological and Agricultural Sciences
Business, Economics and Public Administration
Computer Science
Creative Arts
Education
Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Science
Humanities and Letters
Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Poster Presentations
Look down the page until you see the subject category in which you want to submit
your work, then read the abstracts in that category to determine what last year’s
Student Research Day judges thought were the best presentations.