Lesson 5: Writing an Abstract or a Précis Flashcards
✓ aim to precisely condense a larger work and present only the KEY IDEAS
✓ tell the audience the GIST of what had been read,
listened to, or viewed
Abstract or précis
how long should be the information of the original text be condensed to?
15% of the original text
word count required when writing an abstract of a 6000 word research article
200-250 words
2 kinds of abstract:
- descriptive
- summary
- Do not give away the actual content of the material when they write abstract of materials.
- Its purpose is to pique the interest of the target audience.
Descriptive Abstract
Examples: publishing companies, libraries, and movie catalogues
- It readily present the key ideas and major finding of the study.
- It is more preferred in an academic setting.
Summative Abstract
Example: research papers
how many words does an abstract of a research paper usually contain?
150 to 300 words
TRUE OR FALSE
research abstract does not use any citation, does not include specific result statistics, and is last to be written.
TRUE
In terms of structure, a research abstract generally follows the given allocation of words:
- Rationale (around 20%)
- Research problems (around 10%)
- Methodology (around 20%)
- Major findings (around 40%)
- Conclusion and implications (around 10%)
The summary or précis for a non-research academic text generally condenses information into ____ percent of
the original text.
15 to 30 percent
It is achieved by getting the thesis statement of the text one cohesive paragraph using appropriate cohesive devices.
Summary for Expository Texts
When writing a précis or summary, what are the infomation indicated in the first sentence?
the name of the author and the title of the article are indicated in the first sentence.
