Academic papers are long. Most collegiate-level theses and dissertations go well over twenty-some pages before footnotes, appendixes,  and source citations. The information in an academic paper can be pure gold for your research, but you've got deadlines. What if the essay doesn't contribute to your research after all? Why should you commit the time to reading a lengthy dissertation that may or may not help you when you could be scouring dozens of websites? How can you be sure the essay can aid your research?

This is where an abstract comes in handy.

An abstract is a brief summary written by a paper's author regarding its main contents and findings. Typically, an abstract discusses the thesis or hypothesis of the project, the reasoning behind pursuing this line of research, the methodology of research, and the broad conclusions reached. However, abstracts intentionally leave out specific data and percentages, as academics typically make money of published work and don't want to give everything away. Much like a logline for film and television, the abstract gives a reader a sense of what the essay is all about without giving away any of the details. 

Here's an example of an abstract for a scientific paper:

Children with asthma experience more absenteeism from school compared with their non-asthmatic peers. Excessive absenteeism is related to lower student grades, psychological, social, and educational adjustment. Less is known about the relationship between the presence of asthma and the academic achievement in school-aged children. Since students with asthma miss more days from school, this may negatively impact their academic achievement. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationships between absenteeism, presence of asthma, and asthma severity level with standardized test level performance in a predominantly African American urban school district. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 3812 students (aged 8-17 years) who took the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) standardized test during the 2002-2003 academic year. A negative impact of absenteeism on standardized test level achievement was demonstrated in children from an urban African American school district. Children with asthma perform the same academically as their non-asthmatic peers. However, those with persistent asthma show a trend of performing worse on MAP standardized test scores and have more absence days compared with other students. More research is warranted on the effects of persistent asthma on academic achievement. [Source: Moonie, Sheniz, et al. "The Relationship Between School Absence, Academic Performance, and Asthma Status." The Journal of School Health, vol. 78, no. 3 (March 2008), 140-148.]

Notice it clearly tells what the hypothesis was (t see if a link existed between asthma, absenteeism, and poor school performance), how the hypothesis was tested (cross-section of 3,000+ students 8-17 in Missouri), and the general results (not a lot of variance between those with asthma and those without when accounting for missed days in school). A good abstract will let you know exactly what is in an essay and if you can use it or not.

Forget the essay--what if the abstract gives me all the facts I want?

It is still a good idea to read the essay and see if you can get any more details. However, say for our example abstract, I was writing research paper with a thesis arguing that asthma sufferers should be given special treatment in the classroom and all I want is this sentence: "Children with asthma perform the same academically as their non-asthmatic peers. However, those with persistent asthma show a trend of performing worse [...] and have more absence days compared with other students." I could just take that sentence and cite the abstract. 

IN-TEXT CITATION OF AN ABSTRACT: Same as any other work.

WORK CITED LISTING OF ABSTRACT, MLA: Author(s). Abstract of "Essay Title." Journal, vol. #, no. # (date): pages.
Moonie, Sheniz, et al. Abstract of "The Relationship Between School Absence, Academic Performance, and Asthma Status." The Journal of School Health, vol. 78, no. 3 (March 2008), 140-148.

WORK CITED LISTING OF ABSTRACT, APA: Author(s) (date). Abstract of Essay title. Journal, volume (issue). pages. DOI.
Moonie, S., Sterling, D.A., Figgs, L.W., & Castro, M. (March 2008). Abstract of The relationship between school absence, academic performance, and asthma status." The Journal of School Health, 78(3). 140-148. DOI: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2007.00276.x.

What if I need to write an abstract for my own work?

Formal APA essays require an abstract as the second page of the essay (after the cover page). While writing abstracts typically isn't common in MLA until collegiate dissertations, some teachers and professors like students to add an abstract on an essay's cover page. If you have to write an abstract, follow these general rules:

• Keep the abstract to one or two paragraphs max--remember, the goal is brevity
• Start with your thesis or hypothesis
• Discuss methodology of research, even if it's not discussed in the essay
• Discuss concussions but not statistics--make them read for the good stuff
• Be objective but dynamic--entice them to read your essay

Here's an example of an abstract I wrote for one of my senior-level undergraduate theses. My topic was to examine Jewish representation in Eighteenth-century British literature. In writing my abstract, I first outlined all the ideas I needed to include:

​Title: "Sheridan and the Sephardim: Eighteenth Century English Theatre, Political Drama, and the Jewish Crisis of Representation"
Thesis: Richard Brinsley Sheridan undermines the socially revered performance Jew with Moses’ almost unremarkable presence in The School for Scandal.
Research process: I looked at historic trends of Jewish migration to England, portrayals of Jewish characters in England prior to the Eighteenth-century, and looked at social commentary abut Jews  of the time.
Number of sources consulted: Seven primary, six secondary.
Conclusion: Jews, having been expelled in the 1200s, were a new minority in England following Cromwell's rule in 1655. They were treated with both bourgeoisie fascination and historic xenophobia, characterized and defined by their bodies in every popular media at the time except Sherdian's The School for Scandal. ​

Next, I highlighted any words that the average person may not know, as I needed to explain them in the abstract so the summary stayed simple and accessible to everyone.

​Title: "Sheridan and the Sephardim: Eighteenth Century English Theatre, Political Drama, and the Jewish Crisis of Representation"
Thesis: Richard Brinsley Sheridan undermines the socially revered performance Jew with Moses’ almost unremarkable presence in The School for Scandal.
Research process: I looked at historic trends of Jewish migration to England, portrayals of Jewish characters in England prior to the Eighteenth-century, and looked at social commentary abut Jews of the time.
Number of sources consulted: Seven primary, six secondary.
Conclusion: Jews, having been expelled in the 1200s, were a new minority in England following Cromwell's rule in 1655. They were treated with both bourgeoisie fascination and historic xenophobia, characterized and defined by their bodies in every popular media at the time except Sherdian's The School for Scandal. ​

For my final abstract, I clarified the highlighted terms and explain my source selections more specifically.

In "Sheridan and the Sephardim: Eighteenth Century English Theatre, Political Drama, and the Jewish Crisis of Representation," I argue that popular English playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) undermined the "performance Jew" caricature in English theatre with his character of Moses in The School for Scandal. To prove this, I examined Jewish populations in England, discovering that Jews were banned from England until 1655, when Oliver Cromwell welcomed all faiths to the island. I discuss English plays featuring Jews written before Cromwell (such as Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta) and reveal the development of the "performance Jew," a stereotype defined by bodily deformity (the hooked nose and stooped back) and evil intentions (motivations of greed, lust, and desire to harm Christians). I then examine the changes in English culture when Jews, mostly Sephardi from Spain, started to integrate with English culture. While essays of the time (such as The Spectator) treat the newcomers with optimistic curiosity and Jews were becoming integrated into local politics and society, popular media held to the idea the performance Jew. However, Sheridan shattered the image of the performance Jew in his massively popular The School for Scandal (1777), leading to the disuse of he performance Jew in England in all mainstream media, both leading to Jewish acceptance in English society and (paradoxically) the birth of the English antisemitic movement.

With this abstract, you know exactly what my essay is about and the structure of it (Jewish portrayal before the Eighteenth Century, Jews in English society as sociopolitical context, and the social changes created by Sheridan's play), yet I've not given too much away. This is all what and very little why: I did not explain why Jews were banned of stereotyped, why English society both accepted and mocked them at the same time, or why Sheridan's character of Moses was different and changed perceptions. A good abstract leaves all the why explanations and ideas out in order to entice readers to look at the entire essay.