The abstract provides a concise description of the objective of the study, the methods used, the primary findings, and the chief conclusions. The purpose of the abstract is to summarize the article in sufficient detail so that the reader can decide whether to read the entire article. The article itself must be read to determine the soundness of the methodology and the validity of the conclusions.
The abstract precedes the body of the paper. Because of length restrictions, each word of the abstract is chosen with utmost care. The abstract is often provided, wholly or in part, with the citation in online databases such as MEDLINE and CINAHL. Not all articles have abstracts, including news items, editorials, letters-to-the-editor, and some review articles.
Many journals require "structured abstracts", which are written in a standardized format, often patterned after the IMRaD format. This further aids the reader in rapidly finding the critical elements.
⇒The sample article by Villamil-Gomez, et al., provides an example of a very brief abstract, consisting of only three sentences, written in paragraph form.
⇒ In contrast, the sample article by Warren, et al., provides an excellent example of a structured abstract.
- What are the seven sections of this structured abstract?
Some journals ask the authors to provide keywords to describe their article. These are generally listed directly after the abstract at the beginning of the article. The keywords may be drawn from the MEDLINE or CINAHL subject heading lists (thesauri), or they may be commonly used terms chosen by the author.
- For the sample article by Warren, et al., what five keywords are listed?
