The Writing Center Guide to Writing an Abstract


  • An abstract is a short informative or descriptive summary of a longer report.

  • It is written after the report is completed, although it is intended to be read first.

  • In a technical report, the abstract appears on a separate page after the table of contents and list of illustrations.

  • In an essay written for a humanities class, it most likely should appear on a separate page, just after the title page and therefore just before the essay itself.

  • There are two distinct types of abstracts:

    • A DESCRIPTIVE abstract merely identifies the areas to be covered in the report. It is an extended statement of purpose or scope. Such an abstract is only useful for a very long report, because it demonstrates only the paper's organization, not its content.

    • An INFORMATIVE abstract summarizes the entire report and gives the reader an overview of the facts that will be laid out in detail in the paper itself. It is rarely longer than one page and should never exceed more than 10% of the length of the entire report; otherwise it defeats its own purpose.

  • Several potential uses for abstracts:

    • An executive preparing a comprehensive report might ask her assistant to abstract articles from different levels of periodicals to provide information quickly and to help her decide whether to read the complete articles.

    • A professional might read the abstract accompanying a journal article to decide if it is worth her time to read the full article.

    • Libraries subscribe to abstracting journals and series (including Dissertation Abstracts International) to provide an overview of content.

    • Certain congressional and association newsletters provide abstracts of newspaper articles that pertain to issues relevant to their memberships.

  • How to write an informative abstract:

    • Plan to write an abstract that is no more than 10% of the length of the essay.

    • In the first draft, note key facts, statistics, etc. that you need to include.

    • Do not include a statement of scope; a sentence like "this paper will look at...." is inappropriate in an informative abstract.

    • Be sure to omit or condense lengthy examples, tables, and other supporting detail.

    • Revise the draft into smooth, stand-alone prose; the abstract itself should be a mini-essay.

    • Edit the revision. Be sure that the abstract is complete and accurate. Double check that the abstract is written in the same voice as is the paper.




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