Writing your dissertation abstract

Put simply, an abstract is a short summary of the entire dissertation. It’s usually around 100-500 words and offers an overview of the purpose of your research, the methodology used, the key findings and theoretical contributions arising from your dissertation. 

Its main purpose is to inform the reader what your dissertation is about without them having to read the entire piece of work. You may be thinking – doesn’t the person marking my dissertation have to read the whole paper? Whilst that’s true they may not be the only person who reads your dissertation. Once your dissertation has been submitted and graded, you can publish it, donate it to your university, or allow younger students to read it. Read more about uses for your dissertation here. 

How to write a dissertation abstract 

A dissertation abstract can be divided into four sections:

Purpose of research: Start off by explaining what your research is about and why this is important. Clearly explain what your research question is. This is your chance to grab the reader’s attention and convince them to keep reading.

Methodology: Next you should outline how you carried out your research. Which research philosophy did you follow? How did you gather and analyse your data? Did you undertake a qualitative or quantitative approach? Who did your sample consist of?

Findings: Here you should briefly present the key findings of your research. It may be tempting to write a lengthy paragraph here but it’s important to keep this concise. Focus on answering your main research question – you can talk about the rest of your data in the findings chapter.

Contribution: Lastly you should explain the implications of your research. After all, you’ve spent all this time researching and writing your dissertation. This is your chance to explain why it’s useful. What are the theoretical contributions of your research? Do they offer recommendations? What future research can be carried out?

Top Tips

Be specific

Your abstract is not for defining terms, comparing other scholars’ work or critiquing theory – save this for the literature review. Use your abstract to give a summary of your research paper and the key themes and findings pertinent to your research. Avoid using jargon and use simple terminology. This ensures your abstract is understandable to readers who are not familiar with your topic. 

Look at examples

Looking at examples of abstracts can help you understand what their purpose is and how these should be styled. If your university has older dissertations available (the library will likely have some)take note of how they are structured and styled. Another option is to read abstracts of academic journals. You should be able to determine the topic of the paper, what the research question is, the methodology used, the key findings and the overall impact. 

Ask someone to read your abstract 

Ask someone else to read your abstract then explain to you what your dissertation is about. This will let you see whether your abstract gives an accurate overview of your research and whether any information is missing.

Follow us on Twitter @BeInTheKnow_UK