学术英语写作Unit 5 Abstract

What is an abstract?
An abstract is a stand-alone statement that briefly conveys the essential information of a paper, article, document or book; presents the objective, methods, results, and conclusions of a research project; has a brief, non-repetitive style. An abstract is a summary of a body of information. Sometimes, abstracts are in fact called summaries-sometimes, executive summaries or executive abstracts. There are different kinds of abstracts— your technical report uses two types: the descriptive abstract and the informative abstract.
Descriptive Abstracts
In this type of abstract, you don't summarize any of the facts or conclusions of the report. The descriptive abstract does not say something like this: Problem: Based on an exhaustive review of currently available
1. Identifying information (bibliographic citation or other identification of the document) 2. Concise restatement of the main point, including the initial problem or other background 3. Methodology (for experimental work) and key findings 4. Major conclusions
Descriptive abstracts
The descriptive abstract provides a description of the report's main topic and purpose as well an overview of its contents. It is very short—usually a brief one- or two-sentence paragraph. You may have noticed something similar to this type of abstract at the beginning of journal articles. In this type of abstract, you don't summarize any of the facts or conclusions of the report. The descriptive abstract does not say something like this:
Types of abstracts
1. descriptive abstracts: mainly direct to the original document and simply identifies basic subject of article. 2. informative abstracts: give much information about the original, summarizing the principal arguments and giving the principal arguments and summarizing the principal data. 3. evaluative abstracts: comment on the worth of the original are included. Difference between descriptive abstracts and informative abstracts The first two types of abstracts are typically used :
descriptive abstracts说明性摘要
A descriptive abstract—a summary of someone else’s paper or book—is often required by professors to give you practice in summarizing and responding to sources. The descriptive abstract, also known as the limited abstract or the indicative abstract, provides a description of what the paper covers without delving into its substance. A descriptive abstract is similar a table of contents in paragraph form.
Informative Abstracts
o communicate specific information from the report, article, or paper. o include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper. o provide the report, article, or paper's results, conclusions, and recommendations. o are short -- from a paragraph to a page or two, depending upon the length of the original work being abstracted. Usually informative abstracts are 10% or less of the length of the original piece. allow readers to decide whether they want to read the report, article, or paper.
Unit 5 Abstract
What is an abstract? Types of abstracts Why write an abstract? What should the abstract include? How do you write an abstract? What is the style of an abstract? An outline for writing an abstract Common problems in writing an abstract Difference between an abstract and an introduction The Tricks, Conclusion of the lecture
Informative abstracts
An informative abstract provides detail about the substance of a piece of writing because readers will sometimes rely on the abstract alone for information. Informative abstracts typically follow this format:
Descriptive Abstracts
•
• • • •
tell readers what information the report, article, or paper contains. include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper. do not provide results, conclusions, or recommendations. are always very short, usually under 100 words. introduce the subject to readers, who must then read the report, article, or paper to find out the author's results, conclusions, or recommendations.
the grammar-checking software that is currently available.
Read sample descriptive abstract:
Sample descriptive abstract
Descriptive abstracts are not much preferred for academic writing assignments as they are rather vague in nature.
products, this report concludes that none of the available grammar-checking software products provides any useful function to writers.
This is the style of summarizing you find in the informative abstract. Instead, the descriptive abstract says something like this: Revision: This report provides conclusions and recommendations on
Informative abstracts资料性摘要
The informative abstract, also known as the complete abstract, is a compendious summary of a paperts background, purpose, methodology, results, and conclusion. Usually between 100 and 200 words, the informative abstract summarizes the paper's structure, its major topics and key points. A format for scientific short reports that is similar to an informative abstract has been proposed in recent years. Informative abstracts may be viewed as standalone documents.