An abstract is a summary of the paper in academic databases and may serve as a standalone information source. The abstract should be enough for the reader to understand the gist of the study.
Abstracts should be:
- informative (must contain no generalities or redundancy);
- descriptive (capturing the gist of the paper and the research results);
- cohesive (follow the logical structure of the paper);
- concise.
The abstract should not repeat or rephrase the paper title. The abstract should be concise and clear and contain no irrelevant information.
The abstract must be cohesive, its sentences logically following one another. Keywords from the paper’s body should be used.
All of the following should be avoided:
- complex grammar structures;
- uncommon abbreviations;
- citations or footnotes;
- equations or illustrations.
English abstract
The abstract in English is particularly important. If the paper is in Russian, the abstract is the only way for non-Russian speakers to understand the content. Therefore, the abstract in English should be more detailed and describe all the key sections of the article: introduction, goals and objectives, methods, results, conclusions. The English abstract does not have to repeat the Russian one. The English abstract must contain at least 250 words.
The abstract should be written in good English, using terms typical for foreign texts and avoiding loan translations from Russian. For the coherence, it is recommended to use such words and phrases as “consequently”, “moreover”, “for example, “for the purposes of this study”, “as a result”. Active voice should be preferred over passive voice, i.e., “The study tested” instead of “It was tested in the study”.