Write an abstract

Rules of thumb

→ Definition: an abstract is a short summary of your completed research, or what we call term paper (memoir), that concludes your studies. It describes the objectives of the study (that is, what hypothesis you were testing or what research question you were attempting to answer) and summarizes the methods used, the major results, their interpretation and their implications. It almost never includes bibliographic quotations. The usual abstract represents much work, and so it is most important that it be written so as to convey as much information as possible. An abstract should appear at the beginning of your full-length term paper. If done well, it makes the reader want to learn more about your work or research.

→ Length: an abstract should always be short, with a minimum of 100 words and a maximum of 250. This makes it difficult to write, because it needs to convey a lot of informations in a very small space. When you write it, proceed methodically, section by section, to make sure that it is complete. At this stage, don’t worry about any length requirements. After the first draft is written, check to see if it has the required length. If it is too long (which is usually the case), look it over to see where it could be more concise. For each word or phrase, ask yourself « Is this really necessary » and « Is there a simpler way I can convey the same meaning » Remove redundancies and unnecessary details. Keep working on it until you reach the required length. It is always helpful to have someone else look over your abstract before you are done. They can help pinpoint where the text is confusing or redundant. Finally, make sure to check spelling, grammar and sentence structure carefully. A sloppy abstract with mistakes will lead the reader to think that your research might not be neat!

→ Impact: the abstract should be a self-contained unit which can be understood without referring to the original text.

→ Structure of the abstract: the abstract should be structured around 4 elements, a title and keywords: title, introduction (background and objective), method (procedure/approach, participants), results (findings), Conclusion (discussion, implications), keywords.

Example of an english abstract « IMRAD »(1)

Title that gives a general view on the subject studied; you can make up your keywords from it. → Title: The Impact of Home Modification on the Identity of the Elderly.

This part indicates the observation that led you to deal with the subject, i.e., the starting point of the subject. → Background: In France, the rate of people above 60 keeps growing. In order to maintain them at home, modifications done by an occupational therapist are often required. However, the home is an intimate place in which life habits come about. This is not without consequences, and some people may react through identity strategies.

The objective indicates what you intend to prove or demonstrate from the study. It is the English version of « « Question » or “Piste” de recherche ». It is more usual in English to find the “Question de recherche” in the form of a statement. → Objective: This study aims at perceiving the kind of identity strategies that occupational therapists may encounter when they carry out home modification, but also the identity issues that may appear during the interview concerning the life habits of the individual.

NB: These two parts can constitute one paragraph entitled Background and Objective.

Here you will expose the manner in which you proceeded, the materials you used, the population you studied or recruited, the kind of study you carried out. → Methodology: This is done through the analysis of interviews concerning the life habits on how occupational therapists can identify and apprehend the personhood questions that may appear for the old people during home changing. In this objective, six occupational therapists were interviewed through semi-structured interviews.

You can make one part out of the two parts here, i.e., the Results and Conclusion, but in all cases, don’t say much about what your study resulted in and concluded by. The reader still has to have the desire to go and find more. → Result and Conclusion/Result and Discussion (Analysis of the findings and of the subject dealt): This study highlights modifications that can be brought to initial education and continuous training for occupational therapists but also the sensitization that can be done to the old people before modifications can be implemented.

Keywords should give an indication about the main ideas dealt with in the study, and have to give a look back at the title. Remark that in English the first letter of every word or expression is in capital. No final punctuation is used. → Keywords: Elderly, Life habits, Identity, Identity strategies, Hom.