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So imagine this. You are just about to start writing your Thesis. You got a structure of the Thesis Sections and though you have just collected some articles to get your Introduction going, you decide to begin filling out precursory sections. You get to the Abstract. You say to yourself “I already kind of have an idea of what I am going to do and what results I want, let me do the Abstract” Stop! Doing the Abstract at this stage will get you in trouble!
What kind of trouble? You will be wasting time. And time is a crucial thing when it comes to Thesis writing. If you write your Abstract before your Introduction, you may find the articles that you found changed the discussion and direction of the Thesis. Then you have to redo the Abstract. This applies to other sections as well; your methodology that you thought was genius may need to be redesigned, the recommendations you hoped for may be not relevant because your results were not the same as what was expected. Every time you have to go back to make a change, you waste crucial time. Be efficient! Don’t waste time! What is an Abstract? It’s a summarized version of your Thesis. It brings out the core and most crucial elements of your Introduction, Methodology and Results in a concise way. Why is it important? Think about a Novel or Fiction Book. When you visit the library or bookstore, or even search for books online, there is always a summary. When you read this summary, you judge whether this book is worth reading or not, you judge if it looks boring or whether the writing is engaging. This one short summary determines your expectations and therefore determines your behaviour. If to you it seems like the book will make you doze off, you don’t buy or borrow the book. It’s the same for your Thesis but with one big difference: your supervisor or examiner has no choice but to continue reading. So if your supervisor has a poor judgment of your Abstract, it will take a lot for him or her to change his/her opinions about the rest of the document. Be impressive from the get go – Do your Abstract right! Where is it located? Check your university’s Thesis Guide as it may differ. In the University of the West Indies, the rules of the Abstract may also differ by faculty, so be observant. How to compile Do your Abstract last. Once you have a draft of your thesis: 1) Go through each section and get the main points and findings. For your Introduction, focus on the objectives of the study, for your Methodology, simply state what model or procedure was used. Never forget to include your results. Details, however, are not required. 2) Put your notes into one paragraph. 3) Read through the paragraph for errors and repeated words. Also, adjust for sentence to sentence flow. 4) Read again for any points that are not crucial and remove them. Length See your university’s Master Guide on this as each school varies. Criteria of a good Abstract Ask yourself these questions to ensure your Abstract is of quality. If you answer “Yes”, your Abstract can help you in your attempt at getting a great grade, if not, you have to do some revisions. 1) Does it follow the chronology of the Thesis? 2) Does the Abstract flow from sentence to sentence? 3) Does the Abstract contain only crucial information? 4) Did you remove “space wasters” such as the following statements “The paper looks at..” or “Chapter 2 examines”? 5) Did you make sure to describe what you did, why it is important, how you did it and what was discovered? 6) Was your Abstract not repetitive? Got 6 out of 6 “Yesses”? Then you are on your way to an awesome Thesis! Did not get a great score? Contact us: https://www.dmss-dissertation-thesis.org/calldataminders.html |
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