Having an abstract presented is the only way many investigators can obtain permission and/or institutional support for attending an important professional meeting. Now that the use of online publication databases is prevalent, writing a really good abstract has become even more important. But now, instead of merely convincing the reader to keep reading the rest of the attached paper, an abstract must convince the reader to leave the comfort of an office and go hunt down a copy of the article from a library. If you are working for your graduation paper, you’re usually required to accomplish an abstract for your paper. Above all, if you want to get your research paper published, you must provide a good abstract.

Activity 1-1: Identifying types of academic abstracts

Below are the most common types of academic abstracts. Read the samples and identify what components ticked above have been addressed and complete the table below with the information you read from the sample abstract.

Sample 1:

Narratives of “Green” Consumers—the Antihero, the Environmental Hero and the Anarchist

Abstract

(1) Environmental policy makers and marketers are attracted by the notion of green consumerism. (2)Yet, green consumerism is a contested concept, allowing for a wide range of translations in everyday discursive practices. (3)This paper examines how young consumers construct their images of green consumerism. (4)It makes a close reading of three narratives reflecting available subject positions for young green consumers: the Antihero, the Environmental Hero and the Anarchist. (5)It reveals problems in the prevailing fragmented, gendered and individualistic notions of green consumerism, and discusses implications for policy and marketing practitioners.

Key Words: green consumerism; environmental policy maker and marketer

Sample 2:

Framing Collaborative Behaviors: Listening and Speaking in Problem-based Learning

Louisa Remedios David Clarke Lesleyanne Hawthorne

Abstract

(1) Problem-based Learning (PBL) is described as small-group collaborative learning; however, literature on how collaboration is enacted in PBL contexts is limited.(2)A two-year ethnographic study examined the experiences and responses of Asian students to the obligations of PBL in a Western context. (3) Participant-observation, videotape data, and video-stimulated recall interviews provided insights into collaborative behaviors in PBL classrooms. (4)Even though students recognized that listening and speaking were important to collaboration, speaking was clearly privileged over listening in this PBL setting. (5)A framework was developed that incorporated both collaborative and non-collaborative listening and speaking behaviors. (6)This Collaborative Listening/Speaking (CLS) framework provides a structure for tutors to scaffold the novice learners’ collaborative skills, and therefore more effectively facilitate the group’s learning through collaboration. (7) This study offers teachers alternative methods to improve their teaching effect in the future.

Key Words: Problem-based Learning; collaborative learning

Sample abstract 3:

(1) This dissertation examines the role of newspaper editors in the political turmoil and strife that characterized late First Empire Rio de Janeiro (1827-1831). (2) Newspaper editors and their journals helped change the political culture of late First Empire Rio de Janeiro by involving the people in the discussion of state. (3)This change in political culture is apparent in Emperor Pedro I’s gradual loss of control over the mechanisms of power.(4) As the newspapers became more numerous and powerful, the Emperor lost his legitimacy in the eyes of the people. (5)To explore the role of the newspapers in the political events of the late First Empire, this study analyzes all available newspapers published in Rio de Janeiro from 1827 to 1831.

Key Words: newspaper editor; First Empire Rio de Janeiro; political culture

Sample abstract 4:

The Commemoration and Memorialization of the American Revolution

(1) This project involves discovering how the American Revolution was remembered during the nineteenth century. (2)The goal is to show that the American Revolution was memorialized by the actions of the United States government during the 1800s. (3)This has been done by examining events such as the Supreme Court cases of John Marshall and the Nullification Crisis. (4)Upon examination of these events, it becomes clear that John Marshall and John Calhoun (creator of the Doctrine of Nullification) attempted to use the American Revolution to bolster their claims by citing speeches from Founding Fathers.(5)Through showing that the American Revolution lives on in memory, this research highlights the importance of the revolution in shaping the actions of the United States government.

Key Words: American Revolution; actions of the U.S. government

Notes

The first two samples are informative abstracts, one common kind of abstracts in academic writings, which are usually accomplished after the whole academic paper is done. They are the indispensible part of graduation papers of university students and the published articles in academic journals.

The last two samples are descriptive abstracts, another kind of abstracts commonly written for academic conferences.

Activity 1-2: Recognizing structural components of abstracts

(1) Work in groups to summarize the structural components for the above abstracts.

(2) Find some academic conference abstracts and abstracts for academic journals(or abstracts for college students’ academic papers), and then examine their structural components.