Writing a Solid Dissertation Abstract is Not That Easy

A dissertation abstract is something that helps the reader to get a general idea and a conclusion of your dissertation or thesis. It is a mandatory part of every thesis, since it provides the essential information about arguments and ideas of your thesis. This helps the reader or the examiner get acquainted with your work in short and decide whether they need to proceed in reading it. The abstract normally goes right after the title specifically for that purpose - to introduce the reader to your dissertation and give them a short summary. Writing it can become a real challenge since you need to compress your entire work into a 150-350 word paragraph which can exist as a separate representative of your thesis.

Composure

Make it into one page

For different types and sizes of dissertations, the abstract also varies in size. As an average, it is established that one page of text is the most desirable size for the abstract, since it’s the readable size and it’s enough to include all the essential information about the dissertation in short

Break it down visually

For the reader to be able to consume and digest it quickly, your abstract will benefit from looking digestible. Break it down into paragraphs which are logically separate. Put spaces between them, make it look readable.

Structure

Your abstract is supposed to be the younger twin of your actual dissertation, mimicking its structure and partition. This way it’s more illustrative of the way you have written your work and more obvious to the examiner, in case it needs corrections.

Rationalize

Include only the most key and essential points and questions of your thesis, which are the heart of your research. If there are many different parts to your work, choose only the most important for the abstract.

Include conclusions and results

The second half of your abstract is supposed to be the representation of the outcome of your work. That part is as important for the abstract as it is for the dissertation itself. Without it, there is no legitimate dissertation, so when you mirror it in the summary, your outcome should be in there in the most conclusive form.

Remember the purpose

An abstract it supposed to be able to summarize the dissertation shortly, so that if needed, it would be enough to read only the abstract to understand the whole thesis and not proceed to the actual text. Remember that and make sure your abstract fulfills that requirement.