The S.M.A.R.T. way to develop an abstract
Guest post by Tiffany A. Flowers and Hiawatha D. Smith
This guest post originally appeared on Sage Perspectives blog. Follow the below tips and S.M.A.R.T. guidelines to craft a clear and impactful abstract for your journal article.
Creating an effective abstract is often challenging yet crucial. With 250 words or fewer, authors must make strategic decisions about what to include and exclude, while delivering a clear and focused message that outlines the content of the manuscript. This blog entry illustrates how S.M.A.R.T. principles (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) can assist academic writers in crafting clear, concise abstracts for manuscripts and research papers.
Why does an abstract matter? First, the abstract serves as the initial point of contact for reviewers and editors when they receive your manuscript for evaluation. It’s the first impression of your work, which influences whether the manuscript is accepted or rejected. Think of your abstract as a messenger; it conveys the essential elements of your manuscript. Second, an abstract often appears in searchable databases. A clear, focused abstract increases the accessibility of your manuscript to those interested in its content. Since most databases highlight only abstracts and not full manuscripts, this brief component plays a crucial role in connecting with relevant readers.
To create an abstract using S.M.A.R.T. principles, you want to ensure it contains the following components:
S - SPECIFIC. As you are applying this concept to abstracts, you want to craft an initial sentence that focuses specifically on the overall purpose of your manuscript. In this example, the authors are specific in noting the purpose of the research and the specific participants addressed.
M – MEASUREABLE. You want to clearly identify a measurable way you studied or explored within the work. This example from medicine is a bit longer due to the journal’s abstract criteria. However, it identifies specific, quantifiable outcomes in addition to the transparency in statistical analysis.
A – ACHIEVABLE. You want to make sure that what you propose to do during the research project was either identified as achieved or not achieved in your abstract. This social work example noted the variables that were explored and the reported findings, which, when combined, demonstrate that the research project was completed.
R – RELEVANT. You want to make sure the research topic you mention in your abstract highlights the importance of the work to the population under study. This economics example highlights relevance through a real-world application and its timely topic.
T – TIME-BOUND. Whenever you write your abstract, you want to ensure you tie the research to relevant timebound issues, concerns, research problems, and methods within your field. In this clinical pharmacy example, the authors clearly identify the fixed time frame being reviewed within the manuscript.
As you apply the S.M.A.R.T. principles when crafting an abstract, keep in mind:
Construct the abstract AFTER you have written the manuscript.
Your abstract should provide a concise overview of your work.
It should briefly detail the methods employed in your study, along with relevant results.
The abstract should address the future implications of your research.
As you strive to write more effective abstracts, it is essential to continue engaging with well-informed research and specifically their abstracts, which can enhance both your writing abilities and your academic prowess. We recommend works such as How to Read and Understand Educational Research by James Williams and Becoming the Writer You Already Are by Michelle R. Boyd.