Types of scientific abstract
An abstract is an important source of information and knowledge about the whole paper. An abstract is the first thing that causes impact among readers. It is an incisive summary of the whole academic paper so it must convey the right message.
An abstract is a significant part of the research paper. Types of scientific abstract are,
- Descriptive
- Informative
- Structured
- Semi-structured
- Non-structured
Descriptive abstract:
It is the type of abstract that makes no judgements about the work, nor does provide a conclusion of the research. It includes keywords, text, purpose statement, methods and scope of the study. The ultimate aim is to state the work being abstracted. This type of abstract is short, which includes 50 to 100 words. The key parts of descriptive abstract include,
- Background
- Purpose
- the central focus of the paper
- Overview of overall content
This abstract does not include a detailed presentation of results only present numerical and statistical output of the research.
Informative abstract:
The most used type of abstract is an informative abstract. A good informative abstract carries the main arguments, important results and evidence to prove those results. It includes all the information needed to write in the descriptive abstract and also include the conclusion and future research on the topic. The length of the informative type varies according to the research work you are engaged. Rarely informative abstract is 10% length of entire work. This part includes Background, purpose statement, and Method uses Findings and conclusion.
Structured abstract:
It is the abstract used to write an abstract for review articles and clinical practice guidelines. Structured abstract helps in summarizing the content and key findings and also helps in computerized literature searching. A structured abstract consists of a paragraph for each section even for the objective section. This kind usually follows an informative abstract.