Abstracts

These resources examine how to write abstracts for academic and professional audiences.

General Resources

Writing Abstracts [e-guide]
Writing Studio – Colorado State University
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/documents/abstract/

A writing guide from the Colorado State University Writing Studio on writing abstracts.  The guide includes information on purposes of abstracts, types of abstracts, how to cite abstracts, key issues in preparing abstracts, and even provides examples of abstracts writing in specific disciplines:  Civil Engineering, English, Neurobiology, and Geology. 

Writing Report Abstracts [e-handout]
Purdue OWL
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/656/01/

This e-handout comes from the acclaimed Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) and presents the key features of informational and descriptive abstracts as well as steps for writing abstracts.

Abstracts [e-handout]
The Writing Center -University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/abstracts.html

This e-handout gives an overview of abstract writing by addressing the following questions:  What is an abstract?  Why and when write an abstract? The types of abstacts? And finally how to write an abstract?  This e-handout also includes sample abstracts from the sciences and the humanities.

Discipline Specific Resources

Engineering

How to Write an Abstract [e-handout]
Philip Koopman – Carnegie Mellon University
http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html

This one page handout defines how and why abstracts are used in Engineering and includes a checklist of the essential parts of an abstract

Writing Scientific Abstracts Presentation  [PowerPoint presentation]
Purdue University OWL
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/706/01/

This short PowerPoint presentation comes from the acclaimed Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) and acquaints the novice writer in Engineering on how to compile a scientific abstract