How to Write an Abstract (2024)

PhilipKoopman, Carnegie Mellon University
October, 1997

Abstract

Because on-line search databases typically contain only abstracts, it isvital to write a complete but concise description of your work to enticepotential readers into obtaining a copy of the full paper. This articledescribes how to write a good computer architecture abstract for bothconference and journal papers. Writers should follow a checklist consisting of:motivation, problem statement, approach, results, and conclusions. Followingthis checklist should increase the chance of people taking the time to obtainand read your complete paper.

Introduction

Now that the use of on-line publication databases is prevalent, writing areally good abstract has become even more important than it was a decade ago.Abstracts have always served the function of "selling" your work. Butnow, instead of merely convincing the reader to keep reading the rest of theattached paper, an abstract must convince the reader to leave the comfort of anoffice and go hunt down a copy of the article from a library (or worse, obtainone after a long wait through inter-library loan). In a business context, an"executive summary" is often the only piece of a report readby the people who matter; and it should be similar in content if not tone to ajournal paper abstract.

Checklist: Parts of an Abstract

Despite the fact that an abstract is quite brief, it must do almost as muchwork as the multi-page paper that follows it. In a computer architecture paper,this means that it should in most cases include the following sections. Eachsection is typically a single sentence, although there is room for creativity.In particular, the parts may be merged or spread among a set of sentences. Usethe following as a checklist for your next abstract:

Other Considerations

An abstract must be a fully self-contained, capsule description of thepaper. It can't assume (or attempt to provoke) the reader into flipping throughlooking for an explanation of what is meant by some vague statement. It mustmake sense all by itself. Some points to consider include:

Meet the word count limitation. If your abstract runs too long, either itwill be rejected or someone will take a chainsaw to it to get it down to size.Your purposes will be better served by doing the difficult task of cuttingyourself, rather than leaving it to someone else who might be more interestedin meeting size restrictions than in representing your efforts in the bestpossible manner. An abstract word limit of 150 to 200 words is common.
Any major restrictions or limitations on the results should be stated, ifonly by using "weasel-words" such as "might","could", "may", and "seem".
Think of a half-dozen search phrases and keywords that people looking foryour work might use. Be sure that those exact phrases appear in your abstract,so that they will turn up at the top of a search result listing.
Usually the context of a paper is set by the publication it appears in (forexample, IEEE Computer magazine's articles are generally about computertechnology). But, if your paper appears in a somewhat un-traditional venue, besure to include in the problem statement the domain or topic area that it isreally applicable to.
Some publications request "keywords". These have two purposes.They are used to facilitate keyword index searches, which are greatly reducedin importance now that on-line abstract text searching is commonly used.However, they are also used to assign papers to review committees or editors,which can be extremely important to your fate. So make sure that the keywordsyou pick make assigning your paper to a review category obvious (for example,if there is a list of conference topics, use your chosen topic area as one ofthe keyword tuples).

Conclusion

Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but will repay you withincreased impact on the world by enticing people to read your publications.Make sure that all the components of a good abstract are included in the nextone you write.