How to make a good abstract of a text
If you are looking for information about how to make a good abstract, in this article we will tell you. Continue reading!
You have been asked to write an abstract and you are probably wondering what it is, what information it should contain, how long it should be? You even may have a desire to ask for essay assistance because you don’t know how to write it? But don’t worry. In this article we will answer these questions and, what’s more, we will provide you with a series of steps so that you can create your own. Let’s start!
What is an abstract?
First of all, it is worth mentioning that the abstract is an extremely brief text. That is the main thing you should take into account when writing it. It is usually characterized by being approximately 25% of the original text. Sometimes it is much smaller, since it does not usually exceed one page or A4 size page, but this will depend on the type of summary. However, it is normal that in bachelor, master, or doctoral theses, or any other research work, the abstract is limited to 200 or 300 words maximum. So, depending on what you want to summarize, the length of the abstract will depend on what you want to summarize. Logically, it should be noted that summarizing a book is not the same as summarizing an academic text.
However, a common characteristic of all summaries is that they are texts that contain the key points of the original writings. In short, they are abridgments of the larger texts, which compile the most important, vital, and central content of the writing and discard everything that is considered supplementary, superfluous, or merely decorative.
How to elaborate on a good abstract?
Let’s proceed with how you should make an abstract. You have to take into account that a summary can be made with different intentions, such as, for example, the following ones:
- It provides samples of the content of any book (such as the back cover text).
- It enables researchers to understand the key points of the article (such as the abstract of an academic article).
- Summarize the information in the text in a series of notes for later reading (such as a class notebook).
- Provides basic information that is generated over a long period (such as bank statements).
- It tests and evaluates, as an exercise, the student’s reading ability.
In turn, the presentation of the summary is usually a basic learning technique, since it allows us to verify that we fully understood the text because we can choose and distinguish which are the main ideas and which are secondary and even discardable. For you to be able to optimally prepare a summary, here are a series of steps or tips that can serve as a guide:
Tips to not fail in the attempt
- Read the original text in its entirety. This is essential for the abstract, since you cannot summarize the unknown, nor can you summarize the text as you read it. Because it will not allow you to distinguish which are the main ideas and which are the secondary ones.
- Divide the text into paragraphs. After the separation, you can mark the main, secondary, and complementary ideas in each paragraph. We recommend using a different highlighter for each category. If necessary and useful, you can make notes in the margins or on another sheet of paper.
- Make a transcription of what you have underlined. Copy only the main ideas and, perhaps, the secondary ones in a notebook and try to organize them in a paragraph.
- Rewrite that paragraph. I rewrote the paragraphs you jotted down in order with primary and secondary ideas, but this time try to do it in your words.
- Review what you have written. Reread your final text and delete any information that seems redundant. You can add a title and the summary book information (author, title, publisher). To remember what the summary is about without having to reread it (usually this information goes in the heading of the resulting text).
Structure and parts of the abstract
In addition to this, the abstract is a very good way to obtain information. We can mention some of its advantages: it is useful for understanding and revealing ideas. Also to highlight significant relationships, make literature reviews easier. To check the relevance of the article and also to be able to easily remember complex texts when researching. Generally speaking, the structure and parts of abstracts are as follows:
- Title: the upper part of the abstract should be composed in order: the title of the main text, document, or book. The author of the text or book requested the publisher, city, and year of the text or book must be entered.
- Introduction: it is the opening part that presents the development of the contents of the text.
- Development: it is, specifically, the development of the important part of the body or structure, which should be based on the main ideas of the text or book to be summarized.
- Conclusion: it is the last part of the work, which explains the main ideas or the results of the research.
- Bibliography: it is the recognition of the type of text.
How to make a good abstract of a text
The importance of this type of text is that it is easier to understand when analyzing a topic in depth. But always using some tools for such ease, such as, for example, reading the text very well to make the most of it. Besides this, detecting the main idea is fundamental. Due to this process, it makes the understanding of the subject more secure and complete.
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To make a summary, you must stick to what is stated in the text and only summarize the main ideas expressed by the author. You must avoid subjectivities, opinions, personal appreciations, or any information that is not actually detailed in the text you will summarize. If, on the contrary, you must make an interpretation, stick to the model of a synthesis.
We hope that this article has been useful for you to know the differences between these texts and that you will be able to summarize in an optimal way without falling into easily avoidable confusion and mistakes.
How to make a good abstract of a text