Abstracts
There are actually two types of abstract; a descriptive abstract and an informative abstract. A descriptive abstract is much shorter than...
Question
What needs to be included in an abstract?
Answer
There are actually two types of abstract; a descriptive abstract and an informative abstract. A descriptive abstract is much shorter than an informative abstract; a descriptive abstract will typically only be one or two sentences long, whereas an informative abstract would be a fully formed paragraph. A descriptive abstract just needs to include the main topic of the paper and an overview of the contents of the paper. For example, ‘This research analyses use of social media marketing in the UK and provides conclusions and recommendations for the future of its use in the UK’. On the other hand, an informative abstract needs to be provide more detail about the research paper. An informative abstract needs to include a couple of sentences providing background information such as the context of the study, the aims of the study, a couple of sentences explaining the methods used, a couple of sentences explaining the main findings of the research and finally, the abstract should end with a couple of sentences explaining the main conclusion from the research.