Editor’s Note

The abstract is the most important paragraph in any professional paper. Conference papers are often selected or rejected on the basis of the abstract alone. Peer reviewers are invited by journal editors based on keywords found in the abstract. Potential readers are either enticed or turned away by the quality of the abstract. Whether a paper is read or ignored, selected for publication or rejected, depends to a great extent on the effectiveness and clarity of the abstract. Yet, few authors invest the time and effort required to adequately prepare this essential component of professional writing.

Today, most literature searches use keywords to identify relevant papers cataloged in online databases. The researcher is usually given access only to the abstracts of the papers found in the search. Obtaining the full paper requires additional effort to access a library for a hard copy, or additional expense to purchase and download the manuscript. If the abstract is poorly written, the researcher will not suffer the inconvenience or the expense required to obtain the paper. Worse, the researcher will be displeased if, after reading the paper, he/she finds that the content is not consistent with the promise given in the abstract. Such an experience may cause the researcher to avoid all future papers written by the offending author. If this happens regularly, the researcher may even decide to avoid all papers appearing in that particular publication. Abstracts are clearly more important now than ever before.

I have found that graduate students have great difficulty in understanding the purpose and scope of a good abstract. Their tendency is to view it as an introduction to the paper, rather than a concise summary and an invitation to the potential reader. Abstracts in student papers often ramble on for two or three pages, demonstrating a lack of focus and clarity that impacts the entire paper. In my experience, the ability to write an effective abstract is a direct indicator of clarity in thought and purpose, and provides an accurate prediction of the ultimate quality of the overall written project. This suggests that selecting conference papers based only on abstracts may, in fact, be an appropriate strategy.

The ASCE Web site provides some instructions for writing an abstract for paper submissions: http://www.pubs.asce.org/authors/guide.html. A length limit of 150–175 words is given, along with the suggestion that the abstract should include a statement of purpose, scope, procedures, findings, and conclusions.

A very helpful set of instructions is given by Philip Koopman, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University: http://www.ece.cmu.edu/∼koopman/essays/abstract.html. Koopman suggests that an effective abstract should contain five components, each consisting of a single sentence, if possible:

To Koopman’s list, and for this particular Journal, I would add the necessity of indicating the practical value of the work presented. The majority of our readers are practicing design consultants who are seeking papers that can directly influence their professional activities.

It is evident that a successful abstract should be well-written, with these four qualities above all others: (1) concise language; (2) honesty; (3) meticulous clarity; and (4) freedom from confusion. The author should be sure to include keywords and phrases in the abstract that will attract the correct “hits” by online search engines, and will aid the editor in selecting the appropriate peer reviewers.

Koopman writes: “An abstract must be a fully self-contained, capsule description of the paper. It can’t assume (or attempt to provoke) the reader into flipping through the paper, looking for an explanation of what is meant by some vague statement. It must make sense all by itself.” He concludes: “Writing an efficient abstract is hard work, but will repay you with increased impact on the world by enticing people to read your publications. Make sure that all the components of a good abstract are included in the next one you write.”