Writing an abstract for your project or research is quite important because it’s highly probable that your supervisor will first read it. Consider an abstract to be the “window” through which your whole project is perceived. Just as people state that “first impressions count,” trust me, that’s especially true in this situation. Basically, an abstract is a brief and comprehensible summary of your whole project, article, or paper. When you present it, you are to summarize the main points from each chapter and merge them in a way that is easy to understand and concise. Your supervisor will first read the abstract in your project defense or presentation and decide whether your work is worth reading the rest.

Most students struggle to write a good abstract. To get it right, you need to know what a good abstract should look like.

Here’s what all good abstracts contain:

  1. A short introduction or background on the research
  2. A summary of the research methods used
  3. The key findings or outcomes
  4. Your conclusions and recommendations

Introduction or Background
This is where you start. Tell us what your research was about, what you were attempting to find the answer to, and what you were looking for. Keep it basic and straightforward " no jargon sentences, just get to the point.

Research Method
Next, tell us how you carried out your research. Explain how you gathered your data, who or what you were observing, and how you analyzed it all.

Results and Findings
Then, share the major things you learned. Keep it brief but ensure that you highlight the major findings.

Conclusions and Recommendations
Finally, conclude with what you learned from your findings and any recommendations you have. This section is important since it suggests what you learned and what you think ought to be done next based on your findings.

One super-duper-critical trick: always write the abstract last, when you’ve finished doing your research. If you write it first, you’ll probably write something that isn’t true in the rest of the project.

Here is a good abstract:

“This research explored the impact of staff motivation on productivity in a small factory business.”. Motivation is a critical concern since it affects the quality of work produced by employees, which in turn affects the performance of the company. To delve into that, the study focused on 40 workers in ABC Manufacturing. Surveys and interviews were conducted to collect data, with 25 workers randomly selected to participate. Basic statistics and correlation tests were employed to analyze the data. The results indicated a strong level of positive correlation between higher levels of motivation and higher productivity. Based on the results, the research indicates that ABC Manufacturing invest more in employee motivation programs to enhance performance and realize better outcomes.