Executive Summary or Abstract?

An abstract is a short summary of your (published or unpublished) research paper, usually about a paragraph (about. 6-7 sentences, 150-250 words) long. A well-written abstract serves multiple purposes:

• an abstract lets readers get the gist or essence of your paper or article quickly, in order to decide whether to read the full paper;
• an abstract prepares readers to follow the detailed information, analyses, and arguments in your full paper;
• and, later, an abstract helps readers remember key points from your paper.

Tip:  Research articles published in CORE library databases all have abstracts, or summaries, that provide key terms for indexing your published paper. So what you include in your abstract and in your title are crucial for helping other researchers find your paper or article.

If you are writing an abstract for a course paper, your professor may give you specific guidelines for what to include and how to organize your abstract. Similarly, academic journals often have specific requirements for abstracts. So in addition to following the advice on this page, you should be sure to look for and follow any guidelines from the course or journal you’re writing for.

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, which is widely used in the social sciences, gives specific guidelines for what to include in the abstract for different kinds of papers—for empirical studies, literature reviews or meta-analyses, theoretical papers, methodological papers, and case studies.

Here are the typical kinds of information found in most abstracts for scholarly writing:

1. the context or background information for your research; the general topic under study; the specific topic of your research
2. the central questions or statement of the problem your research addresses
3. what’s already known about this question, what previous research has done or shown
4. the main reason(s), the exigency, the rationale, the goals for your research—Why is it important to address these questions? Are you, for example, examining a new topic? Why is that topic worth examining? Are you filling a gap in previous research? Applying new methods to take a fresh look at existing ideas or data? Resolving a dispute within the literature in your field? . . .
5. your research and/or analytical methods
6. your main findings, results, or arguments
7. the significance or implications of your findings or arguments.

Your abstract should be able to stand on its own, without a reader’s having to read your entire paper. And in an abstract, you usually do not cite references—most of your abstract will describe what you have studied in your research and what you have found and what you argue in your paper. In the body of your paper, you will cite the specific literature that informs your research.

Tip:  Although it may seem like you should write the abstract first, since it appears first in your paper ... in a word, don't.  Write it last.  That's because you need to know what you’re summarizing.  And you won't know that until the paper is written.

Writing an Abstract for Your Research Paper. (n.d.). The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/writing-an-abstract-for-your-research-paper/

An abstract for a research paper or scholarly article have several similarities to one written to preview a potential presentation at a conference.

1. Brevity: Both types of abstracts require condensing the main points, findings, and conclusions of the paper into a concise format.

2. Summary of Content: Both abstracts aim to provide a brief overview of the purpose, methodology, key findings, and conclusions of the paper.

3. Clarity and Accuracy: Both abstracts need to be clear, accurate, and informative, providing enough detail to give readers a good understanding of the paper's content.

An abstract for a research paper or scholarly article and a conference paper also have some key differences:

Although an executive summary is similar to an abstract in that they both summarize some kind of research, there are several key differences. 

An executive summary and an abstract are both concise summaries of a longer document, such as a report, research paper, or proposal. However, they are used in different contexts and have slightly different purposes.

They are similar in the following ways:

1. Concise Summary: Both the executive summary and abstract provide a condensed overview of the main points, findings, or arguments presented in the larger document.
2. Positioned at the Beginning: Typically, both the executive summary and abstract are positioned at the beginning of the document to give readers a quick understanding of its content before delving into the details.
3. Standalone: They are standalone sections, meaning they should be able to be understood independently of the main document. They should convey the key information even if the reader doesn't read the full document.

There are also some key differences.