Abstract Writing

All poster, oral, and film presentations at the UNH Manchester Undergraduate Research Conference events must include an abstract that is made available to judges prior to the public presentation of research. Copies of the abstracts are made available to the public on the day of the presentation.

Content
An abstract is a short summary of the research project. Its purpose is to make the reader want to learn more about your research. The abstract should make sense by itself.

Organization
There are five basic components of an abstract:
 * Motivation: What problem are we solving and why is it important? State the problem you are addressing and its importance. This component must hook the reader and make him/her read more with elevated interest!
 * Objectives: What will the project accomplish ? If the problem is important and your project is all set to solve it, what will the project actually do? List the objectives.
 * Approach/Methods: How did you go about solving the problem or making progress on the problem? What did you actually do to arrive at a solution and get the final results?
 * Results: What are results? Be specific about what the project has accomplished.
 * Conclusion: What are the implications of your results? Highlight the benefits of these results.

Size
The size of the abstract is restricted to 250 words. That is no more than exactly 250 words.

Formatting

 * The abstract must start with title of the project and list the authors of the project
 * Watch the word count constraint.
 * Use paragraphs to the abstract components or groups of components.

Style

 * Be specific, direct, and assertive. No big or vague statements, no figures of speech, no salesperson pitch. Make your point, stay on the topic, know what you are talking about.
 * Be concise, but precise. Distill the essence. Cut the fluff.
 * Use present tense in the motivation and objectives sections.
 * Be consistent about the "subject" of the abstract sentences. The subject refer to the authors of the project, "we". Or, the subject can refer to the project itself and its "derivatives" (objectives, results, etc.). Either way, stick with the same kind of subject.
 * Use the active voice: "We designed a layered architecture to decouple system's interface, the application logic, and storage mechanisms." Or, "The system decomposition uses a layered architecture ..."

Abstract Evaluation
The main criteria for evaluation fall in three categories: content, organization, and style/language.

Depth of Content

 * Accomplished: Research project deals with an important issue in the field of study; includes motivation questions and project objectives to provide the reader with a good sense of the project's purpose and scope. Information is accurate and includes competent explanation of key concepts, theoretical framework, and methodology. There is a clear description of results and importance of results.

Organization

 * Accomplished: All required sections are present, are easily identifiable, carry an adequate weight, and follow a logical order. Organization improves overall quality.

Style and Formatting

 * Accomplished: Language is always direct and consistent. There are no ambiguities and vagueness. There are no grammatical and typo errors, run-off sentences, and negligent phrasing. All formatting requirements are met.

Good Practice

 * Use paragraphs for the abstract components (or groups of components). One big blob does not do it.


 * Eliminate sentences that are too long. If a sentence is longer than 30-40 words, split it in two. If you list clauses that are too long (more than 10 words each), you separate them with ; (instead of ,).


 * Do not include acronyms in the abstract unless they are used later on in the text of the abstract.


 * Watch the word count.


 * All five components are important. Size-wise, however, the only component that can be bigger than the others is Methods/Approach and/or Results. Motivation cannot be almost half of the abstract.


 * Use a professional, not informal tone. Avoid a chatty style in which you have a laid back conversation with the reader.


 * Substance over style! Or, show me the evidence, method, technique, tool, preliminary result.


 * The abstract is a concise lesson for the reader in which they learn about new things: ,
 * what you’ve achieved,
 * why is your work professional,
 * what are the underlying theories, tools, techniques
 * how you did it.


 * Read and critique abstracts of the other teams' projects.


 * Most important aspect that must be improved is the substance of the methods/approach and results you describe.

Resources

 * UNHM URC Guidelines for writing abstracts, Annie Donahue, Library Director and Chair of the Humanities Division. http://unhm.unh.edu/pdf/urc/Undergraduate%20Research%20Conference%20Abstract%20Guidelines.pdf. Accessed March 25, 2011.


 * How to write an abstract, Philip Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University, 1997. http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html. Accessed March 25, 2011.


 * Writing a smashing abstract takes practice! Barry Costa-Pierce, University of California, Irvine. http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/Abstract.html. Accessed March 25, 2011.


 * Sample abstracts. University of California, Irvine, 2003. http://www.sccur.uci.edu/sampleabstracts.html. Accessed March 25, 2011.


 * How to write an abstract: Tips, Links, and Sample abstracts. University of California Berkeley. http://research.berkeley.edu/ucday/abstract.html. Accessed March 25, 2011.


 * Examples of good and poor executive summaries or abstracts, UniLearning at UOW.EDU. http://unilearning.uow.edu.au/report/2bii1.html. Accessed March 25, 2011.