When you are getting to the end of writing your thesis, you’ll need to start thinking about writing an abstract. But what is one? And how should you make sure it encourages readers to continue reading? Here are some top tips to help:
What is an Abstract?
An abstract is a brief summary of your thesis and appears at the beginning of the document, after the acknowledgements. It functions as a ‘blurb’ which tells the reader your main argument. You shouldn’t include any excerpts from your thesis in here or any of your findings. It should just be a broad overview of the question you are studying.
How Can you Make it Good?
The key to writing a good abstract is to make it clear and concise. Don’t use too many long or technical terms here if you can avoid it! The purpose is to get the reader to understand the subject of the thesis, not to begin telling them the intricacies of the problem.
Why you Should Use Keywords
If you are lucky enough to get your thesis published, you might find it included in an online database. To make sure it comes up in searches, you should add as many relevant keywords as possible. Try to make them precise. Adding words like ‘math’ may result in a lot of hits but probably won’t direct readers to your work.
How Should it Sound?
An abstract should be formal but readable. Try to avoid using the passive voice and definitely avoid any contractions (such as ‘can’t’) and the use of the first person (‘I’).