Abstracting

Inf6350 Information Resources and Information Literacy

October 2013Sheila Webber

Copyright Sheila Webber and Sheffield University Information School

Objectives

• Understand the nature and utility of an abstract• Understand the difference between an

indicative, an informative and a structured abstract

• Develop ability to evaluate abstracts

Sheila Webber, 2013

AbstractA concise and accurate representation of

the contents of a document

Concise: short, clear sentencesAccurate representation: should convey what the

document is about, without misrepresenting the author(s) and their views

Sheila Webber, 2013

Not the same as …

• Indexing: representing the subject of a document by keywords/phrases

• Extract: direct lifting of one or more portions of text, unchanged

• Paraphrase: interpretation of the ideas in a document, in the language of the interpreter

• Annotation or review – where you will be giving your opinion on an article’s usefulness, reliability etc.

Sheila Webber, 2013

Why have abstracts?

• Saves the time of the reader• Acts as substitute for document• May be more accessible than original (e.g.

employing less specialist jargon)• Can use to assess relevance of original

document (is it worth going on to read the whole thing?)

Sheila Webber, 2013

Why are they relevant to you?• A number of modules require an abstract of your

essay, dissertation etc.• In workplace: ability to identify and convey key

points of a document important: most managers do not like long documents

• There are also still some information and library jobs where producing abstracts is a key part of the job

Sheila Webber, 2013

Where do you often find abstracts?

• With the documents themselves e.g. at the start of an article

• In abstracting journals/databases e.g. Library and Information Science Abstracts

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Problems with abstracts written by the author him/herself

• May be badly written• May give an unbalanced view of the paper• May reflect what author wished he/she had

written• May be copyright restrictions concerning how

the abstract can be used

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Ways abstracts vary

• Audience they are aimed at (abstract may be slanted to suit their interests)

• Nature of original document (e.g. scholarly research article, opinion piece, lengthy report)

• Indicative or informative• Ordinary or Structured abstract

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Indicative• Tells you the overall scope

and purpose of the document

• Indicates key themes, methods, conclusions

• Enough information to tell you what it is about, not usually enough to substitute for document

• Tells you the overall scope and purpose of the document

• Informs you about key themes, methods, conclusions

• May substitute for document if you only need the most important data

• Usually takes longer to write

Informative

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Structured abstracts• Use headings to give the abstract a more obvious structure

(though all abstracts should have a clear structure)• Normally informative• Research has shown that structured abstracts are quicker

to read and understand• When you are writing for a journal, then you will be told

which headings to use• We in the Information School will also normally give you a

list of headings for structured abstracts (e.g. for your dissertation)

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Informative & Structured – when?• Informative and structured abstracts are most

appropriate– when the original document is well structured e.g. an

article reporting on research results and/or– when the audience will derive significant benefit from

having something close to a substitute for the document (e.g. saving time or money) The audience may have to pay extra for this benefit

• Informative and structured abstracts are less appropriate for opinion pieces, longer items, less formal writing

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Which should you use?

• In this Department: your assignment briefing should tell which is required! If it doesn’t, then ask the module coordinator

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Abstract• Makes sense by itself• Gives an overview of key

points from the whole document and includes aims & conclusions

• Only mentions points made in the document

• Cites no references & includes no quotes from other authors

• Provides an introduction to the work e.g. by explaining the aims, why the topic is interesting

• Forecasts the structure of the work but does not give you substance about key points or conclusions

• May include quotes and references

Introduction

Difference between an abstract & an introduction

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All abstracts should have a structuree.g. for a scholarly article, a common structure is:

Purpose and scope; Methodology; Results; Conclusions

• This structure is the same for indicative and informative abstracts

• Informative abstracts would have more detailed content

• A Structured Abstract would differ in having headings for each aspect, rather than being in ordinary paragraphs

• See examples on handout

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Abstracting a document

• Use grammatically correct sentences: short and clear, rather than long and intricate

• Make it readable (can do readability tests)• Avoid ambiguity• Use terminology appropriate to target audience• Do not add your own interpretation• The abstract should make sense on its own

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Process• Read the article.

– Try to avoid getting bogged down in detail at this point: you are identifying what the article is about

– The document’s introduction, conclusions and headings will normally give pointers to what is important

• Make notes on the key points• If you are producing a structured abstract, use whatever

headings given • Otherwise, use structure from the previous slide (if it is a

scholarly article) to make notes for your informative or indicative abstract

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Process II• Draft a rough abstract

– Summarise essential information about the purpose of the article in your first sentence. Do not duplicate the title.

– Do not lift sentences from the original article• Redraft the abstract until it is in its final form. • Unless it is a Structured Abstract, it will normally be

in one paragraph• Read through your abstract, then read through the

article again. Is your abstract a good representation of the article?

Sheila Webber, 2013

Sheila Webber Information School, University of Sheffield, UKs.webber@sheffield.ac.uk

http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber

Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa

Sheila Webber, 2013