This document provides guidance on writing an abstract and outlines what makes a good abstract. A good abstract should contain a brief description of the methods, the main results, why the work was done, what it adds to theory, and what it adds to practice. It then provides four examples of abstracts that demonstrate these key components.

1. Exercise 1: What are reviewers and editors looking for in a paper?
• Significance
• Originality
• Rigour
So, will you recommend to accept, reject or resubmit these papers?
A. This paper describes how various tools have been used with the virtual learning
environment to save time and improve learning in a third year professional
capstone course. Evaluation concludes it has been well received by students.
B. A case study of students’ expectations of a three aspects of an entrepreneurial
curriculum. This is a preliminary study of an intervention, arising from the
author’s fellowship project which aimed to redesign the current curriculum.
Fourteen students were interviewed and the results taxonomised under four
headings.
C. A three year study of the use of podcasting by 79 students. The origin of the
study was student feedback which showed a problem accessing learning
resources. Feedback now suggests this problem is beginning to be addressed.
The paper discusses the challenges of this approach and makes
recommendations for teaching large introductory courses.
D. A paper which outlines appropriate ways of teaching international students
based on a review of the literature from the UK over the last five years. The
author’s political stance is that international students are exploited in current
higher education and makes a case for encouraging them to stay at home and
become transnational students.
E. This paper presents data arising from the author’s master’s course, using an
ethnographic method with a single key informant. The single case study
highlights the lived experience of this student and gives deep insights into being
a participant on a work based learning course.

2. Exercise 2: Planning a paper (Robert Brown’s Eight Questions)
1. Working Title of Paper (20 words)
2. Authors (in order of appearance)
3. Anticipated journal/s
4. Intended readers
Name 4 to 6 potential readers – give their names and why they should be interested
5a. What is the central question that your paper will pose? 30 words
5b. What is the answer it will provide? 30 words
6. If your readers had only one sentence to summarize your article, what should it be?
25 words.
Focus on the outcomes from the work, not the inputs.
7a. Why did you do the work? 70 words
Briefly outline the problem you are tackling and why it is important.
7b. What did you do? 70 words
Briefly outline the methods you used to gather evidence.
7c. What happened? 100 words
Briefly outline the key results. Focus on outcomes.
7d. What can you add to the theory? 70 words
A research paper has to add to broader understanding. What will yours contribute?
Think about how your results and conclusions will change how people see the world.
7e. What can you add to practice? 70 words
Superior research also has practical consequences. What are the consequences of your
work? Think about how your results and conclusions might change what people do.
8. What remains unresolved?
This is more for your own benefit, but will provide some guidance for your audience and
some of it may be useful in your discussion.
Resources
List the most important published sources that you will be drawing on and provide one
or two sentences for each to explain its relevance to your article. Provide full citations

3. Exercise 3: What makes a good abstract?
A good abstract (courtesy of Robert Brown) should contain:
• What was done (methods)
• What was the main result (results)
• Why the work was done
• What the work adds to theory
• What the work adds to practice
Example 1
The paper measures the relative significance of factors affecting prospective
undergraduates in their choice of university and course. The paper also examines the
relative importance of different sources of information in making this choice. Based on
factors identified by undergraduate students, the paper centres on the results of a
questionnaire distributed to first year undergraduate law students at two universities.
The results are looked at in the light of a recent national survey, and conclusions are
drawn which should be of interest to those involved in student recruitment across all
disciplines.
Example 2
This article describes the development of a research method used to investigate how
students make sense of their own learning in Foundation Degrees taught both online
and on campus. This method uses ‘nested narratives’ to capture the students’ own
voices (both literally and metaphorically), as they make sense of their learning
experience and strategies, within the gestalt of their own stories. The main aim of the
research is to provide rich empirical descriptions of what students regard as important
as they become practitioners in their professional field. The process of story telling is
itself also a learning process.
Example 3
The multicultural language-learning classroom, with its wide range of mother tongues,
cultural backgrounds, motivations, expectations, prior knowledge, learning styles,
attitudes to participation and learner autonomy, potentially offers an ideal forum for
promoting internationalisation. This article reviews the scope for interaction, and the
nature of interaction, in multilingual language-learning classrooms. It explores the
extent to which students are expected to engage effectively in the classroom and
presents student views based on data gathered through questionnaires and semi-
structured interviews. It concludes that languages staff and students see language
classes as offering a more even playing field for classroom interaction between home
and international students than other modules. On the one hand it points out the need
to constantly adapt provision to meet changing demand, and on the other that the
strategies used in language classes could well be of interest to other disciplines.

4. Example 4: Your abstract