Abstracting

This screencast was produced for the Inf6350 Information Resources and Information Literacy class in October 2013. This is a class in the Masters programme at Sheffield University's Information School. It describes what abstracts are and why they are useful, identifies different types of abstract, and describes a process for abstracting.

1. Abstracting
Inf6350 Information Resources and
Information Literacy
October 2013
Sheila Webber
Copyright Sheila Webber and Sheffield University Information School

2. 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

3. Abstract
A concise and accurate representation of
the contents of a document
Concise: short, clear sentences
Accurate representation: should convey what the
document is about, without misrepresenting the
author(s) and their views
Sheila Webber, 2013

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

8. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

9. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

10. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

11. 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)
Sheila Webber, 2013

12. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

13. Which should you use?
•In this Department: your assignment briefing
should tell which is required! If it doesn’t, then
ask the module coordinator
Sheila Webber, 2013

14. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

15. All abstracts should have a structure
e.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
Sheila Webber, 2013

16. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

17. 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
Sheila Webber, 2013

18. 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

19. Sheila Webber
Information School, University of Sheffield, UK
[email protected]
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber
Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa
Sheila Webber, 2013