Translating an abstract into English: Key recommendations
- March 17, 2023
- Posted by: Yury Subachev, PhD
- Categories: For young scientists, Paper writing, Scientific translation
Any research paper begins with an abstract. To get acquainted with the paper, the reader first of all turns to the abstract. Whether the reader will continue to read the paper itself or not depends on whether the abstract is able to catch the reader’s interest. Thus, translating an abstract from any language into English is a crucial point that should be taken seriously.
Some authors still use the Google Translate service to translate the abstract. Of course, putting it mildly, this is wrong; translation should be meaningful and, if possible, should be read by your foreign colleagues or a professional translator. The abstract is kind of a signature line of your paper!
So, let us discuss what sections an abstract should include and how it should be composed correctly in English.
An abstract is a separate, concise, and complete statement that describes a research paper. Its components can vary depending on the scientific discipline. An abstract for a social science or scientific paper may contain such sections as the scope of work, the purpose, results, and content of the work. An abstract for a paper in humanities may contain a thesis, reference information, and a conclusion of a research paper. An abstract is not a review and does not evaluate the refereed work. Although it includes keywords from a research paper, an abstract is more of an independent document than an excerpt.
2. What is the abstract needed for?
The abstract is compiled:
- when submitting papers to scientific journals;
- when applying for research grants;
- when writing a recommendation for a book;
- for a master’s, Ph.D., or doctoral thesis;
- when writing an application for a conference report.
3. Four types of abstracts.
First, you have to determine what type of abstract you should include in your work. There are four main types.
Critical abstract
Alongside describing the main results and information, a critical abstract contains a judgment or comment related to the validity, reliability of the facts, or completeness of the study. The researcher evaluates the article and often compares it with other works on the same topic. Critical abstracts usually contain 400–500 words since they include an additional interpretative comment. This abstract type is rarely used.
Descriptive abstract
A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information contained in the paper. It does not contain any judgments about the work and does not provide the results or conclusions of the study. It also does not include keywords found in the text, but may include the purpose, methods, and subject of the research. In the essence, a descriptive abstract only contains a generalized description of the work. Some researchers consider it a work plan rather than a summary. Descriptive abstracts are usually very short and contain 100 words or less.
Informative abstract
Most abstracts are informative in nature. Although they also do not criticize or evaluate the work, they do something more than just describe it. A good informative abstract can, in fact, replace the work itself. That is, the researcher presents and explains all the key arguments, as well as important results and evidence presented in the article. An informative abstract includes information that can be found in a descriptive abstract (the purpose, methods, and subject of research), and also includes the results and conclusions of the study and the author’s recommendations. The volume of a descriptive abstract varies depending on the field of science, but usually, it does not exceed 300 words.
Highlight abstract
The purpose of a highlight abstract is to draw the reader’s attention to the study. Such an abstract does not pretend to be a balanced or complete description of the paper. In fact, it uses incomplete and main theses to interest the reader. Since a highlight abstract cannot be independent of the corresponding article, it is not highly reliable and therefore rarely used when writing scientific papers.
4. What type of abstract to use?
In this case, the best decision is to ask your supervisor or refer to the publisher’s instructions. You can make a choice based on the allowed volume; for example, if 100–120 words are allowed, it is better to choose a descriptive abstract; if 250 or more words – an informative one.
Informative abstracts are much more common and are widely used for scientific papers submitted to journals and conferences. Informative abstracts are used for more extensive technical research, while descriptive abstracts are more suitable for shorter scientific papers. The best way to determine which type of abstract you should use is to follow the guidelines for submitting a manuscript to the journal and read as many other articles published in those journals as possible.
5. Guidelines and requirements.
Although there are some general rules for writing research papers, it is required to strictly follow the specified guidelines and requirements – whether for publication in a journal, for presenting at a conference, or even for a study assignment. With regard to journals, EACH publisher has its own approach. Here are some general aspects that are usually considered in scientific journals’ guidelines:
- maximum or minimum number of words/characters;
- style and formatting requirements;
- appropriate abstract type;
- any specific applicable rules for the content or structuring of the paper.
Abstracts should be formatted as a single paragraph in block format and without indentation. In most cases, the abstract follows immediately after the title of the paper.
Follow the specified rules when you first submit the paper to ensure that your work is not “put on the shelf” from the very beginning.
6. Rules for writing abstracts.
The format of your abstract depends on the type of the scientific work itself, for which the abstract is written. An abstract for a scientific study includes elements that are absent in an abstract for a literary paper, and vice versa. However, all abstracts have some mandatory components, and there are also some additional parts that can be optionally included.
When preparing an abstract, keep in mind the following key elements of this process:
- Relevance of the work. Why is this research important? Why would the reader be interested in reading the full text of the paper?
- Problem. What problem does this work aim to solve? What are the tasks and what is the main thesis?
- Methods. An abstract for a research paper may include specific models or approaches used in a larger study. Other abstracts may describe the types of evidence used in the study.
- Results. An abstract for a research paper may also include specific data that show the results of the work. In other abstracts, authors may discuss the results of the study in a more general way.
Conclusions and implications. What changes should be introduced based on the results of the work? What does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic? The final sentences of the abstract briefly outline the conclusions, implications, or applications of your research in practice, and, if appropriate, mention the need for additional studies identified based on the results obtained.
7. The process of writing an abstract.
Despite the fact that the abstract is the first section of your paper, it is written last because it summarizes the content of the entire paper.
1. Copy-paste. A useful recommendation for compiling the first version of an abstract for your paper is to take whole sentences or key phrases from each section of the paper and arrange them in a certain order, thus providing brief information on the content of the paper. Then revise or add phrases or linking words to make the narration clear and smooth.
This method is useful for studies in the field of social sciences, the results of which cannot be reduced to exact numbers or specific findings. A well-written abstract for a work in humanities should contain a clear and direct statement of the key theses and informative thematic sentences for paragraphs or sections.
2. Writing from scratch. Since the abstract is still an independent part that readers view separately from the main paper, you should try to write it separately. In this case, you should not copy and paste text fragments from the paper. Using new vocabulary and phrases will make it possible to avoid lexical redundancy and make your abstract more interesting.
Before submitting the final text of the paper, make sure that the information in the abstract fully corresponds to what you wrote in the article. The abstract should be a consistent set of complete sentences, describing the most important information and using the least number of necessary words.
8. Abstract writing style.
Use active voice whenever possible, but keep in mind that for the most part of your abstract, passive voice constructions may be required. Regardless of whether you use active or passive voice, use short but complete sentences when writing an abstract.
When setting the problem and describing the purpose of the study, the Present Simple tense is usually used:
The paper examines (provides)…
An approach … is discussed.
Then proceed to the essence of the work and use the Past Simple tense since you discuss the research that has already been conducted.
The X was used for…
An algorithm was developed…
The samples were prepared…
9. What should not be included in the abstract?
The abstract should not contain:
- information not contained in the original paper;
- detailed reference or contextual information;
- redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, repetitive information;
- abbreviations;
- definitions of terms and concepts;
- references to other literature; you can write, for example, “the current studies show that …” or “research has shown …”, but avoid doing this too often;
- abbreviated or incomplete sentences (for example, ending with an ellipsis), long quotations;
- jargon or terms that may confuse the reader;
- any images, illustrations, figures or tables (and references to them).
Conclusion
Let us summarize. When writing an abstract, first determine the type of abstract, study the journal’s guidelines for writing an abstract, and strictly follow them. Single out important theses from the paper and restate them in your own words. Start the abstract in the Present Simple tense and continue in Past Simple. Do not use abbreviations in the abstract and do not refer to other sources.
It is better to entrust the translation of the abstract into English to professionals, and if your own command of English is good enough, then it is better to write an abstract in English from scratch and then let a native English speaker get acquainted with it.
