5 Dissertation Abstract Writing Rules You Need To Be Aware Of

When you’re writing your dissertation, at some point you will need to focus on the abstract. This is a component that goes at the beginning of your thesis and will probably be the first thing your examiner reads. You should be using this opportunity as a way to set appropriate expectations for your work. This summary will present every major element of your studies in a concise, condensed page. Don’t treat this part of the writing as merely an introduction; it should be the introduction but also functions as a substitution for your entire work.

Structure for abstract writing

This important piece of your education should be given its due attention. When you make sure that you follow these steps listed below, you can ace your defense. If you think about it, the professors reading your work have to read so many of these from different students, and they are looking for concise, to the point, and crystal clear writing. Think about how you can get your research across while at the same time being accurate, professional and respectful to the issues you have studied.

  1. Currently, the limits for length for a Masters thesis is 150 words, and for a Doctoral it is 350 words
  2. These are just the upper limits, and it is actually recommended that you limit your abstract to a single, double spaced page, or approximately 280 words
  3. Use the structure of your chapters in the main work to reflect the same order, focus and layout in your abstract
  4. Use one sentence for each chapter of your thesis
  5. Explaining your research questions is very important to ensure that your abstract is clear and coherent, include one to three questions here

Another tip that you need to do—not optional—is to present your results. This may seem like spoiling the ending of a movie, but your examiners do want spoilers. They need to know how things turned out at the start, and how you interpret the results that you got. Since each chapter should take about an equal amount of space in your abstract as the next, it’s easy to give the same weight to your results as your beginning chapters. After you have written this abstract, make sure you read it over or even have a friend’s help to check for errors and consistency.

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