How to Write a Dissertation Abstract: Simple Rules to be Followed


• What is an Abstract?

Dissertation abstracts are an important part of your book-length study. Why? Well, the abstract is the part everyone will see in order to decide whether or not they will even read your research program.

The dissertation abstract is a summary of your whole project in 350 words or less. This is not much space to write a whole summary. Therefore, you’ll want to keep details to a minimum and more try to summarize your most major discoveries of knowledge that you acquired during the study.

• Where are they Housed

Dissertation abstracts will be held electronically in a database called dissertation abstracts international. Every time a student does a keyword search, they will find your abstract if they are doing a similar study, and then, if they need to see your work in order to inform their own study, they can order it through interlibrary loan.

• Length

Masters thesis abstracts are typically kept at 150 words or less and 350 words or less for dissertation abstracts.

You should format these as one page double spaced in Times New Roman Font, size 12.

• Structure

If you have chapters in your study, you can insert, perhaps, one or two sentences which summarize your dissertation chapters.

• Try Asking Research Questions to Pare Down Your Study To Its Essence

Ask yourself this: what are three major research questions that were resolved during your book-length study. These research questions are crucial for helping you hone down your analytic pursuit here to an abstract length summary.

For example, if your dissertation is a book length study, perhaps, of a study of childhood obesity in teens and what we can do to resolve this dilemma through a major study over years with research and findings, three of your major research questions might be

1. Does the advent of video gaming systems such as the Playstation, Nintendo, and Xbox contribute to increasing childhood obesity rates in the United States?
2. How much do eating habits contribute to this problem and what kind of eating issues are at fault here?
3. How much is a lack of exercise to blame and what is going on in terms of physical activity, the lack of it, and why are children becoming less active? Is it the rise of crime? Again, video games, or gym in schools?

Remember—you do not retell the entire scope of your project—what you want to do here is capture the essence of what you discovered through your study—no blow by blow account of what happened. Remember, 350 words on a page single spaced is around 3/4ths of a page.

Discovery and what you learned from this in depth study is what an abstract will be.