How to Write a Great Abstract for Your Manuscript

Condensing a manuscript into a single paragraph is a challenging—and important—task. The abstract will be the first (and sometimes only) part of your paper that people will read, so you want to write a great abstract.

The abstract gives your reader an overview of your paper. This overview should cover the main story and a few essential details of the work so that your readers get a clear preview or summary of your paper.

Structure of an Abstract

A good abstract aligns with your manuscript and can also stand alone. Its structure is much like the IMRAD format of a manuscript.

Purpose

Start with a sentence or two of background information. This information will help the reader understand your rationale and the importance of your research.

Aims

Concisely state the aims of your research. Describe the problem your research responds to, or the research question you aimed to answer. If you asked more than one question or tested more than one hypothesis, you may only have enough room to include the most important one.

Methods

Describe how you answered your question in just one or two sentences. Include details about the cell type, species, or population that you studied. Include any important details, such as the independent and dependent variables and controls.

Results

Summarize the main research results. You may not have enough room to share all of your data, so only share key data that support your most important results.

Conclusions

State the main conclusion of your research. Give enough detail that the reader will clearly understand the central point that your research proved or argued.

Implications

Describe the implications of your results. Explain how your research may impact your field, or suggest any recommendations based on your findings.

Tips for Writing an Abstract

Draft the abstract last

Writing the abstract is easier after you’ve written the manuscript. To ease the process, you can pull key sentences from your paper as a starting point. 

Write clearly and concisely

A good abstract is clear, concise, and compelling. Make sure that every word you use does important work. Avoid unnecessary words, abstract nouns, and obscure jargon. Use passive voice carefully. Vary the sentence length to engage your reader. And if you are struggling to reduce your abstract to the required length, here are ten tips to help you cut the length of your text.

Reach readers outside of your field

Your abstract will be the most read part of your manuscript. Even readers who are not familiar with your topic will read your abstract. You want to write your abstract in a way that readers outside of your field will understand it.

Focus on your own work

You have limited space to work with, so avoid discussing others’ work. You may need to summarize others’ work for background or context, but you do not need to mention specific studies. And don’t include any citations in your abstract.

Check the guidelines

Make sure that your abstract fits the requirements of the agency. Remember to follow all formatting guidelines and keep your text within the word limit.