THE ABSTRACT IS USUALLY THE LAST THING
WE WRITE FOR A RESEARCH PAPER OR FOR
A RESEARCH THESIS BUT IT IS THE FIRST
THING THAT PEOPLE TEND TO READ SO LET'S
DO IT RIGHT HERE'S HOW TO WRITE AN
ABSTRACT FOR RESEARCH JOURNAL PAPERS
MOST RESEARCH JOURNALS REQUIRE THE
ABSTRACT TO BE WITHIN 150 WORDS GRANTED
SOME JOURNALS MIGHT PREFER FOR THE
ABSTRACT TO BE REALLY CONCISE SO MAYBE
WITHIN A HUNDRED WORDS OTHER
JOURNALS MIGHT ALLOW FOR LONGER
ABSTRACTS UP TO 200 OR EVEN 250 WORDS
BUT FOR MOST RESEARCH PAPERS THE
ABSTRACT SHOULD BE WITHIN 150 WORDS AND
THIS MEANS A TYPICAL ABSTRACT SHOULD BE
SOMETHING LIKE JUST FOUR OR FIVE
SENTENCES CONCISELY SUMMARIZING THE
RESEARCH STUDY NOW LET'S SEE HOW WE
SHOULD WRITE THESE FOUR OR FIVE
SENTENCES THE FIRST SENTENCE USUALLY
TELLS WHAT THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVE WAS
LET'S LOOK AT A FEW EXAMPLES
SO IN THIS PAPERS ABSTRACT WE WROTE THIS
ARTICLE EXAMINED HOW COMPANY RESTAURANTS
SERVICECAPE INFLUENCED PATRONS
EMOTIONAL STATES AND BEHAVIORAL
INTENTIONS HERE'S ANOTHER EXAMPLE WE
WROTE THIS STUDY EXAMINED HOW WORK
STRESS WAS RELATED TO EMPLOYEES UPWARD
INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR AND A THIRD EXAMPLE
THIS STUDY INVESTIGATED WHAT HOTEL
EMPLOYEES PREFERRED AS TEAM-BUILDING
ACTIVITIES SO IN ALL THREE EXAMPLES THE
FIRST SENTENCE IS JUST CLEARLY
DESCRIBING WHAT THE RESEARCH STUDY SET
OUT TO INVESTIGATE SO THAT'S THE FIRST
SENTENCE OF THE ABSTRACT THE SECOND
SENTENCE WOULD TYPICALLY DESCRIBE THE
RESEARCH METHOD THAT WAS USED IN THE
STUDY GENERALLY SPEAKING ONE OR TWO
SENTENCES WOULD BE ENOUGH TO CLEARLY
SUMMARIZE OR DESCRIBE THE RESEARCH
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH THAT WAS USED IN
A PARTICULAR STUDY LET'S LOOK AT THOSE
THREE EXAMPLES AGAIN WE STARTED WITH A
SERVICESCAPE PAPER USING DATA COLLECTED
FROM 149 GUESTS IN THE HAGUE IT WAS
FOUND THAT SO ON AND SO FORTH SO IN THIS
CASE IT IS ACTUALLY JUST HALF A SENTENCE
BRIEFLY DESCRIBING THE SOURCE OF THE
DATA THE SECOND EXAMPLE WAS ABOUT WORK
STRESS DATA WERE COLLECTED FROM A
HUNDRED AND SEVENTY EMPLOYEES IN A LARGE
LOGISTICS COMPANY IN CHINA AND THE THIRD
EXAMPLE ABOUT TEAM BUILDING DATA WERE
COLLECTED FROM A HUNDRED AND TWO
EMPLOYEES IN A FOUR STAR HOTEL
IN THE NETHERLANDS IN ALL THREE EXAMPLES
THE RESEARCH METHOD WAS VERY STANDARD
RELYING ON SELF-REPORT SURVEY DATA FROM
EMPLOYEES SO THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE
METHODS IN THESE EXAMPLES WERE ALL VERY
BRIEF BUT FOR STUDIES WITH A MORE
COMPLEX RESEARCH METHOD ONE MIGHT NEED
PERHAPS TWO LONGER SENTENCES TO PROPERLY
SUMMARIZE THE RESEARCH METHOD BUT
GENERALLY SPEAKING IF YOUR RESEARCH
METHOD IS STANDARD AND STRAIGHTFORWARD
THEN PROBABLY ONE SENTENCE IS ENOUGH SO
THAT'S TYPICALLY THE SECOND SENTENCE OF
THE ABSTRACT SUMMARIZING THE RESEARCH
METHOD AFTER THAT WE WILL PROBABLY NEED
A COUPLE OF SENTENCES TO SUMMARIZE KEY
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS LET'S GO TO THE
EXAMPLES IN OUR SERVICECAPE PAPER WE
WROTE USING THOSE DATA WE FOUND THAT
GUESTS PERCEPTION OF COMPANY RESTAURANTS
SERVICESCAPE INFLUENCED THEIR EMOTIONAL
STATES AND THEIR BEHAVIOR INTENTIONS
FURTHER FACTOR ANALYSIS AND STRUCTURAL
EQUATION MODELING SHOWED THIS AND THAT
IN THE STRESS PAPER WE WROTE RESULTS
SHOWED THAT STRESS WAS POSITIVELY
RELATED TO HARD UPWARD INFLUENCE TACTICS
FURTHERMORE CERTAIN EMPLOYEE
SATISFACTION DIMENSIONS WERE FOUND TO BE
MODERATORS THE LAST EXAMPLE OF
TEAM BUILDING WE WROTE RESULTS SHOWED
THAT SOCIALIZING WAS THE MOST PREFERRED
TEAM-BUILDING INTERVENTION WHEREAS
OUTDOOR FUN WAS THE LEAST PREFERRED BY
EMPLOYEES FURTHER FACTOR ANALYSES
REDUCED THE ELEVEN DIMENSIONS INTO FIVE
FACTORS SOMETHING LIKE THAT SO AS WE CAN
SEE ONE WOULD TYPICALLY DEVOTE TWO OR
PERHAPS THREE SENTENCES TO SUMMARIZE KEY
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS IN THE ABSTRACT
BECAUSE THOSE ARE PROBABLY AND ARGUABLY
THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF THE STUDY
IN ALL THREE EXAMPLES WE ENDED THE
ABSTRACT SIMPLY BY STATING THAT
THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS WERE
DISCUSSED BUT WE DID NOT SUMMARIZE OUR
DISCUSSION IN THE ABSTRACT THOUGH
NATURALLY BELOW THE ABSTRACT WE
PRESENTED THE KEY WORDS AND THAT'S THE
ABSTRACT FOR MOST RESEARCH PAPERS IN ITS
STANDARD FORMAT IT IS IMPORTANT TO
QUICKLY NOTE HOWEVER THAT DIFFERENT
JOURNALS REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ABSTRACT
COULD BE A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT FOR
EXAMPLE THIS JOURNAL JOURNAL OF
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENTS WHERE I RECENTLY
SUBMITTED A PAPER THEY REQUIRE THE
ABSTRACT TO LOOK A LITTLE BIT
DIFFERENTLY INSTEAD OF HAVING THE
ABSTRACT WRITTEN AS ONE
PARAGRAPH AS THE THREE EXAMPLES WE JUST
SAW THIS JOURNAL ASKS FOR THE ABSTRACT
TO COME WITH LITTLE SUBHEADINGS FIRST
THEY USE THE SUBHEADING PURPOSE FOR THE
AUTHORS TO PRESENT THE STUDY'S KEY
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND THEN USING THE
SUBHEADING DESIGN METHODOLOGY APPROACH
YOU SUMMARIZE YOUR RESEARCH
METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH AFTER THAT UNDER
THE SUBHEADING FINDINGS THAT'S WHERE WE
PRESENT OUR KEY FINDINGS AND RESULTS AND
THEN WE HAVE ORIGINALITY SLASH VALUE
THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE TO TELL HOW
VALUABLE OUR FINDINGS CONCLUSIONS AND
IMPLICATIONS ARE NOW FINALLY KEY WORDS
WHICH IS THE SAME AS BEFORE BUT EVEN IN
THIS CASE WHERE THE JOURNAL IS USING A
DIFFERENT FORMAT FOR THE ABSTRACT THE
GENERAL COMPONENTS OF THE ABSTRACT WOULD
ESSENTIALLY BE VERY SIMILAR TO THE FIRST
FORMAT WE TALKED ABOUT THE ABSTRACT IS
STILL A SUMMARY OF THE STUDY IN VERY
CLEAR AND CONCISE LANGUAGE THE ABSTRACT
NEEDS TO BE CAREFULLY WRITTEN GENERALLY
SPEAKING THE ABSTRACT IS THE LAST THING
WE WRITE BUT IT IS THE FIRST THING THAT
PEOPLE READ AS AN EXAMPLE WHEN I READ A
RESEARCH JOURNAL I FIRST READ THE
ABSTRACT OF A STUDY IN ORDER TO SEE
WHETHER OR NOT THIS STUDY IS OF
RELEVANCE OR INTEREST TO ME SO THAT I
COULD DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT I WILL
READ THE STUDY MORE CAREFULLY WHEN I
GRADE A STUDENT'S RESEARCH THESIS OR
RESEARCH PAPER FIRST
I READ THE ABSTRACT BECAUSE READING THE
ABSTRACT WOULD ENABLE ME TO QUICKLY
UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS RESEARCH STUDY IS
ALL ABOUT AND WHEN I'M BROWSING THROUGH
THE SEARCH RESULTS ON OUR UNIVERSITY'S
ACADEMIC DATABASES
I READ THE ABSTRACTS OF THE STUDIES
FOUND IN ORDER TO SEE WHICH ONE IS
USEFUL OR RELEVANT FOR MY RESEARCH SO
THIS GOES TO SHOW HOW IMPORTANT AN
ABSTRACT IS FOR A STUDY AND THAT'S WHY
WE SHOULD ALL WRITE OUR ABSTRACTS
PROPERLY AND CAREFULLY AND NOW YOU KNOW
HOW THE NEXT TIME YOU SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT
IT BETTER BE GOOD!
