How to write great abstracts that attract the right readers

You’ve invested a lot into your paper. Get the right readers to pay attention.

Abstracts don’t receive the credit they deserve. For this reason, abstracts are often written as afterthoughts to the main text. Crafting a good abstract can also be unexpectedly challenging. These factors can make abstract writing seem like too much effort for too little reward, yet abstracts are incredibly important.

For your paper to be cited, it must be read by the right people. Poor abstracts will turn off potential readers. Thankfully, writing a good abstract that attracts the right readers primarily depends on two elements: clarity and an understanding of your key audience. In this article, I will show you how to write a clear abstract that attracts the right readers.

Clarity at paragraph and sentence levels

I will always believe that clarity is the most important tenet of scientific writing. In an abstract, clarity depends on two levels: sentence and paragraph. At the sentence level, clarity comes from simplicity. Each sentence should be short and convey only one idea. At the paragraph level, clarity depends on structure.

As you have likely noticed, many journals require what are known as structured abstracts. As their name suggests, the information in these abstracts follows a rigid structure. The information required by structured abstracts can vary depending on the research field, although not by much. The beauty of structured abstracts is that they make it very easy for readers to find the information they need because it is clearly labeled. After skimming over a structured abstract, most readers will be able to easily decide if the paper will serve them.

Structured abstracts generally contain these labels in the following order: background/context, aim/objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. The labels and subsection order make it very simple for readers to determine if the paper contains relevant information. Below, I have included a nice example of a structured abstract from the journal Landscape Ecology.¹ As you will see, the authors have done a nice job of clearly laying out the information contained in their paper.

Structured abstract template

Regardless of whether or not your journal requires it, you should always write a structured abstract for your paper. After you have finished, you can delete the section headings to create a single paragraph to comply with journal guidelines if needed. Writing a structured abstract will get you half-way toward achieving clarity. The rest comes down to what you include in each sentence.

In addition to using simple sentences that convey one idea, each sentence should be written with your key audience in mind. One of the most important concepts in marketing, which easily translates to scientific writing, is to attract the right people while repelling everyone else. If you have not come across this idea before, it may seem odd, especially in the context of scientific writing. However, the purpose of the abstract is to attract the right readers. To do so, keep your key audience in mind as you write each sentence.

Now, let’s break down the template for a structured abstract by subsection. The information for each subsection consists of the answers to important questions. The answers should be aimed at your key audience and should be presented in simple sentences.

Background/Context

Questions to answer: What problems led to your research question? Why is your study important and interesting to your key audience?

In this subsection, clearly define the conceptual framework of your study for your key audience. If you are focused on a particular niche, be sure to clearly identify it in this section. It’s OK to be specific. Backgrounds that are too broad will not attract your key audience. Laying out the problem addressed by your study will spark curiosity and convey why your paper is important. The sample abstract from Landscape Ecology does a really nice job of hitting these points.

Aim/Objective

Questions to answer: What was the main goal of your study? Why did you decide to answer your central research question? What particular knowledge gap did you seek to fill?

Clearly and specifically state what you set out to accomplish with your study. A large, overarching aim that appeals broadly to everyone is not helpful. The people who will eventually cite your paper will do so because they found specific, useful information. Help them out and be clear and specific with your aim. Providing the aim in the context of the justification for your study is a solid strategy.

Methods

Questions to answer: What did you do to answer your central research question and specific objectives? How did you collect, process, and analyze your data?

It is easy to get lost when writing this subsection by wanting to include everything that you did. This is not helpful for your key audience. Instead, limit yourself to providing this information in terms of the main objectives of your study. All scientists are looking to what others are doing in their fields for inspiration, motivation, and ideas to build upon. If there is something novel or interesting about where or what you did or why you performed an analysis, be sure to say so. The sample abstract from Landscape Ecology provides a nice example of how to describe methods in terms of objectives.

Results

Questions to answer: What are the most important and relevant results for your key audience? What results expand the current understanding of your research topic?

As with the methods subsection, you may feel the need to include each and every result from your study. Although each result may seem equally important, they are not. Some results are more valuable than others to your key audience. Listing results indiscriminately hints at a paper that will be tedious to read and that has no clear direction or story to tell. This is a turn off for your reader. Space is also limited in abstracts, and you cannot sacrifice important information from other subsections for the sake of listing all your results. Instead, determine which results are the most important to your key audience and which address the specific objectives of your study.

Conclusions

Questions to answer: What is the answer to your research question? Why are your results important to your key audience? Is there a particular context that should be considered when interpreting your results? How can your results be utilized by others?

However tempting it may be to fall back on general statements, resist the urge to do so. Including a few general sentences with vague conclusions just doesn’t cut it. You must clearly lay out the contributions of your study for your key audience. Your reader should not have to think about what your study could mean or how your results might be applied. It is up to you to tell them. For this, you must understand how each result fits into the larger context of your research field. In the sample abstract from Landscape Ecology, each conclusion is given with its own context. This is a great strategy to employ when your results do not have direct applications to either management or decision-making. When your results do have direct applications in these areas, your recommendations must be as specific as possible.

Putting it all together: writing great abstracts that attract the right readers

The question of whether to write the abstract before or after the main text comes down to personal choice. However, I would suggest writing the abstract after you have completed your manuscript because you will likely have clear answers to each question in the structured abstract template. If you find it difficult to come up with an answer, you should go back and rework the manuscript to figure out what is missing. In this way, the abstract can serve as a final check to ensure the manuscript hits all essential points.

It takes a bit of effort to write a great abstract, but it is well worth it in the long run. Your paper will be more likely to be read if it reaches the right audience. For this, the contributions to the field must be clearly laid out in the abstract with your key audience in mind. Although you may want your paper to reach everyone, trying to appeal to the masses will most likely dilute your message. In reality, you should only appeal to the people who will actually value what you have to say. When you attract the right people, your paper stands a great chance of being read, cited, shared, and appreciated. This begins with the abstract.

References

¹ Seppey CVW, Lara E, Broennimann O et al. (2023) “Landscape structure is a key driver of soil protist diversity in meadows in the Swiss Alps.” Landscape Ecology, DOI: 10.1007/s10980-022-01572

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