What is an Abstract?

Answer 1

Hello,

Thanks for your question. As others have mentioned, an abstract is a quick overview of the main points of a journal article or academic paper.

Think of it as the equivalent of a movie synopsis. Just like how you would get the main plot of a movie from a synopsis, you'd be able to get the main points of a Journal article from an Abstract.

Abstracts are especially effective for conducting preliminary research for a Literature Review, since you can scan through a larger volume of abstracts to select journal articles for further review.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

I hate to be a bit redundant, since other experts have nicely answered this question, but I thought I'd add my ten cents.

As it relates to research, an abstract can be thought of as a snapshot of what is to come in a journal article. A snapshot doesn't give us all the details, numbers, and specifics involved, but gives us a clue as to the goal, outcome, and theories connected to a given piece of research. It is a nice way to quickly get a sense for whether a piece of research is going to be usable in our own research. If writing an abstract, it is important to be concise but give enough information that that an informed researcher or student can decide whether the work applies to their own research.

Answer 3

An abstract is a summary of a longer written work, usually found at the beginning of works like scientific studies and research papers. It includes a short version of the study's goals and the outcome. Abstracts are useful because they give the reader an idea of what a long written work is about without having to read the entire piece.

Answer 4

By definition, when something is abstract that means it is symbolic in terms of it taking the form of an idea or concept in a person's mind but does not necessarily exist in the flesh or real life. There is also the abstract artistic genre of abstract expressionism which focuses on creative spontaneity as well as subjective emotional expression. Abstract expressionism originated in New York during the 1940s and 1950s. Example abstract expressionistic artists/painters include Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.

I hope this helps to answer your question!