Writing An Abstract For An Essay

In addition, Abstract 1 does not address the “so what?

In a process of reverse engineering, we’ve identified a set of recurring questions that underlie the strong abstracts that we have published over the years.

You do not need to answer these questions in the order in which we list them here, and you do not need to give them equal time and space, but a good abstract will address all of them.

Instead, he uses several mini-narratives in combination with exposition and with thematizing commentary to alter his audience’s understanding of both the problem and the solution.

Indeed, he uses the ending to the central narrative as a way to temper his audience’s enthusiasm for the solution.

, a volume designed to address debates about the efficacy and validity of stories in argumentative discourse.

(The collection is edited by Paula Olmos and forthcoming from Springer.) The title of the essay is “Narrative as Argument in Atul Gawande’s ‘On Washing Hands’ and ‘Letting Go’” As the title suggests, much of the space of the essay is devoted to the analysis of Gawande’s two essays, which become case studies in the larger debate to which the collection is devoted.

Its fundamental flaw is its unexamined assumption that each of its two cases studies is in itself a significant contribution to conversations about the relation between narrative and argument.

Abstract 2 is much more effective because it backgrounds the trees and foregrounds the forest. ” question, it explicitly announces its methodological commitment (to a conception of “narrative as rhetoric”), and it clearly states its conclusions in a way that situates them in the larger debate.

In other words, yet another important audience for your abstract is yourself.

Abstracts are important because they give a first impression of the document that follows, letting readers decide whether to continue reading and showing them what to look for if they do.