Writing an abstract
The abstract should be kept as brief as possible without sacrificing important
content. Abstracts are made freely accessible on the Internet and will often be
read as stand-alone documents. They should, therefore, summarise the key
methods and content of the review and not contain any material that is not in
the review. The content must be consistent with the text, data and conclusions
of the review and not include references to any information outside the
abstract. A hypothetical example is included at the end of this section.
A concise and clear summary of:
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What you set out to do and why
How you did it
What you found
(recommendations)
. which is capable of being read independently of your report.
It is NOT:
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an introduction – its purpose is to summarise not introduce
a plan to which your report is written – it is written last to summarize
what your report contains.
An extract from your main report – it must stand alone.