Abstracts I. ABSTRACTS A. Descriptive abstract —【T1】_____ of work you completed or you are proposing【T1】______ — Not a(n)【T2】___

Abstracts
Good morning, everyone. Today, we are going to talk about how to write an abstract. Humanities scholars and students aren’t usually taught to write abstracts like our friends in the natural and social sciences are. That’s because in the humanities, full pieces of discourse are preferred to short, condensed summaries. But in many cases you will need to write an abstract for your work—and a lot of what your colleagues in other disciplines know can help you. To guide you through the practice, let’s start with the basic questions about abstract.
First of all, what is a descriptive abstract?[1]A descriptive abstract is the summary of work you have already completed or work you are proposing.[2]It is not the same thing as the introduction to your work The abstract should give readers a short, concise snapshot of the work as a whole—not just how it starts. Remember that the readers of your abstract will sometimes not read the paper as a whole, so in this short document you need to give them an overall picture of your work. If you are writing an abstract as a proposal for your research—in other words, as a request for permission to write a paper—the abstract serves to predict the kind of paper you hope to write.
Secondly,[3]what’s different about a conference paper or informative abstract? A conference abstract is one you submit to have your paper considered for presentation at a professional conference. Its length will be specified by the conference organizer but will rarely be more than 500 words. In an ideal world, it is written after the actual paper is completed, but in some cases you’ll write an abstract for a paper you haven’t yet written—especially if the conference is some time away. Because the conference review committee will usually read the abstract and not your actual paper, you need to think of it as an independent document, aimed at that specific committee and connecting solidly with the theme of the conference.[4]Examine the call for papers carefully; it will specify the length of the abstract, special formatting requirements, whether the abstract will be published in the conference bulletin or proceedings, etc. Abstracts that do not meet the specified format are usually rejected early in the proceedings, so pay attention to each conference’s rules!
[5]Thirdly, what’s different about a thesis proposal or prospectus? A prospectus, which is a formal plan for your research, usually is the first part of a thesis/dissertation or a major research project that you will write.[6]This persuasive document must convince your director, committee, or graduate advisor that your topic and approach are sound, so that they will give you the green light to begin the actual research. The prospectus situates your work, showing what theories you will use, how your work connects to previous research on the subject, and where you think the research will take you.
Fourthly, how wedded are you to the abstract you submit? An abstract is a promissory note. That is, you are promising that you can and will produce the goods in the paper. Particularly in the case of a conference abstract, the organizers will make up a session based on the contents of the abstract. If you propose a paper that says you will use Foucault to comment on post-colonialism in "Heat and Dust" and then show up with a paper on "Metaphors for Spring in A Bend in the River," your paper may not fit the session where it was slotted, and you’ll look silly—and those organizers may not ask you back[7]While some divergence from the promised topic is acceptable, you need to produce a paper that’s within shouting distance of your original topic for the sake of keeping your promise.
After understanding these four questions, we may now talk about the length, content and organization of a descriptive abstract.
First, about length[8]Descriptive abstracts are usually only 100-250 words, so they must be pared down to the essentials.
That brings us to the content of the abstract. Typically, a descriptive abstract answers these questions: Why did you choose this study or project? What did/will you do and how? What did you/do you hope to find?[9]What do your findings mean?
[10]The title should be informative and focused, indicating the problem and your general approach. It’s very fashionable in the humanities to have titles featuring "post-colonic surge"—a catchy phrase, a colon, and then an explanation of the title. While snappy titles may help your abstract be noticed, it’s really what comes after the colon that sells the abstract, so pay attention to it "All the World’s a Ship: Race and Ethnicity in Moby Dick" catches the eye, but "Melville’s Deconstruction of Ethnicity in the ’Midnight, Forecastle’ Episode of Moby Dick" tells readers much more specifically what you’re promising to deliver.[11]In addition, don’t repeat or rephrase your title in the body of the abstract; usually it’s already provided in the heading. Summarize your thesis and conclusions in the abstract, as well as your goals, approach and main findings.[12]Keep bibliographic references to a minimum and embed them in the information in text; short abstracts don’t have Works Cited pages or footnotes.
Now, about organisation.[13]The abstract should begin with well-framed research questions. Often this is set up as a problem/solution strategy.[14]It always helps when you identify the theoretical or methodological school that you are using to approach your question or position yourself within an ongoing debate. This helps readers situate your ideas in the larger conversations of your discipline. Finally, briefly state your conclusion.
Before we conclude, a final note of warning for all of you. There’s an ongoing debate about how much jargon should be included in an abstract.[15]My best advice is to add any technical terms you need, but don’t put in .jargon for .jargon’s sake or just to make it look like you are an expert. With that, I have completed my brief introduction about abstracts and how to write a descriptive abstract. Next time, we shall discuss how to write a conference abstract and a prospectus.