Abstracts and Summaries

An abstract is a brief (usually no more than 200 words) overview of an essay, article or piece of research. It is useful to think of the abstract as an essay in one paragraph. Abstracts are meant to:

• introduce the reader to the topic
• briefly note the literature, theories and methods consulted (where relevant)
• state the findings, argument and/or conclusions
• be no longer than 200 words (unless otherwise specified).

A good way to write an abstract of an article is to sum up each paragraph in a sentence. You then have to make sense of the sentences and link them together. In many cases, one sentence per paragraph will give you too much information for an abstract. You will then need to cut out what is unnecessary by determining what the key theme or argument of the article is and only including the sentences that are relevant.

A summary serves the same purpose as an abstract, but is often greater in length. You will normally be asked to write summaries of articles or chapters. A summary is a descriptive piece of writing which should cover the main content, argument and methodology (where relevant) and theoretical perspective (if applicable) of the work being summarised. Summaries tend to be used as a minor assessment task to enforce subject reading requirements and to give evidence that you understand the reading and can express the important points in a concise manner. When writing a summary, summarise the information in your own words and avoid using direct quotes.