5 Things You Don’t Want To Find In A Sample Dissertation Abstract

Writing an abstract can be tricky as you have to give a summary, yet try not to reveal too much information to the readers. You can read a dozen of instructions on how to do this, but nothing will help you understand this better than actually seeing some high quality samples. Therefore, you should start with looking for samples.

It’s imperative that the examples you study is of the highest quality, or you will just end up copying someone else’s mistakes. Here is a list of the most common problems you can encounter in abstracts. Study it carefully and check the sample for them.

1. There is no background information.

An abstract must include not only a short overview of your work, but also an explanation of the reasons that make this work relevant. The writer should include a little background information on the subject so that the readers can see the significance of solving the problem you focus your dissertation on.

2. There is no clear hypothesis and/or rationale.

Hypothesis is your idea that you will try to prove with the research and describe the process in your dissertation. Rationale is explanation of why you take the steps you do in order to prove your hypothesis.

Both must be stated clearly in the very beginning of the abstract.

3. Present tense in the methods section.

In this part of the paper, you describe the steps you too to prove your hypothesis. It must be written using past tense to show that the actions already took place.

4. “Dramatic” results section.

There shouldn’t be any words like “drastic” or “dramatic” used in the results section of the paper. This only ads drama, which is unacceptable for an academic paper.

The results of the research must be stated clearly and formally. If they are indeed dramatic, your readers should be able to understand this from studying your research.

5. Conclusions don’t explain the impact of the research.

The end of your abstract must not only include the logical conclusions derived from your research, but also the effect these conclusions will have on the field of study as a whole.

Study the sample abstracts you find very carefully and if you see any of the aforementioned mistakes there, discard it and look for a new one. You also need to remember the format requirements that your paper must meet. Don’t forget to set the right margins as you can lose important points because of this simple thing.