How to Write an Abstractâ€Complete Guide (With Examples)

Writing an abstract is one of the skills you need to master if you want to succeed in your studies. Even if it seems minor compared to an essay, research paper, or case study, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of an abstract. In fact, it’s a vital part of all the written works that we’ve just mentioned. But what does abstract mean anyway? An abstract is a short summary of a thesis, article, review, analysis, or any other in-depth academic work or writing. Its main purpose is to help readers understand what a particular paper is about and what its purpose is. An abstract usually goes at the very beginning, before the actual work it describes. It serves as a sort of introduction to the paper. What is an abstract good for? Apart from what we’ve mentioned in the definition, an abstract can act as an independent piece of work instead of a complete paper. It’s especially helpful in situations where a certain type of research paper or other writing needs to be selected, but there’s no time to look through the whole thing. There are even whole databases that index abstracts only. Because most of the time, scientific works fall under a certain copyright. And having abstracts really helps students and researchers find them without violating any laws or rights.