One type of academic writing is research abstracts, which are important distillations of academic research. In many fields, they are used as conference proposals, and they appear in journal articles to help readers understand the research and decide if they want to read further. Use these materials to better understand research abstracts and begin creating your own research abstracts. 

Materials designed by Christopher Basgier, Layli Miron, and Megan Moeller 

This handout introduces you to abstracts, or the summaries that typically begin a kind of research writing 

• Writing Effective Abstracts Handout Word Document 

• Writing Effective Abstracts Handout PDF 

This resource was designed to introduce readers to abstracts within the College of Human Sciences, in fields such as Nutrition, Hospitality Management, Consumer and Design Sciences, Human Development and Family Science, and Global Education 

• Writing Research Abstracts in the College of Human Sciences Handout and Worksheet Word Document 

• Writing Research Abstracts in the College of Human Sciences Handout and Worksheet PDF 

This worksheet will help you analyze example abstracts from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds 

• Writing Effective Research Abstracts across the Disciplines Handout and Worksheet Word Document 

• Writing Effective Research Abstracts across the Disciplines Handout and Worksheet PDF 

This worksheet features four abstracts accepted into Auburn’s 2018 Research Symposium, which you can analyze to identify the six components of an abstract 

• Examining Model Abstracts Worksheet Word Document 

• Examining Model Abstracts Worksheet PDF