Key Components of Dissertation Abstract

The key elements of a dissertation abstract are as follows;

Background statement, problem statement, elaboration of aim, focus of aim, thesis statement

Methods of research employed

A brief description of the results obtained and their interpretation

A summary of conclusion, limitations and future recommendations

Background, Problem Statement, Aim & Objectives

The first couple of sentences of your dissertation abstract should provide a summary of the purpose of your research. This can be expressed as follows;

Background statement – Provide brief perspective on the theoretical and practical significance of your work.

The problem statement to clearly communicate to the readers why there was need to conduct research on the chosen topic.

Present an overview of the aim and objectives of the research to establish what your research intended to achieve.

Thesis statement – what is the main idea of your dissertation paper? What are your claims in references to the established research questions?

Avoid writing this part of the abstract in future tense because it refers to concluded actions.

This study will investigate the relationship between coffee consumption and productivity.

This study investigates the relationship between coffee consumption and productivity.

Methods of Research

Briefly specify your dissertation research methodology immediately after stating the purpose of your dissertation paper. Here, you will be expected to summarize how you conducted your research in a straightforward manner.

Like the first section, description pertaining to methods of research should also be written in simple past tense. There is absolutely no need to highlight the limitations and/or validity of your research methods here.

The goals is to quickly take the readers through the overall approach and process.

Findings of your Dissertation Research

Provide a brief overview of the major findings of your dissertation study. This section is the crux of your abstract, so make sure you are able to demonstrate how your research was able to address the research objectives.

Due to the word limit of the abstract and the complexity of your own research, you might not be able to include all results here. If that is the case, include only the most significant results.

This portion should be written in past simple or present tense. Here is an example;

Analysis of the responses has shown that there is a strong correlation between consumption and productivity.

Analysis of the responses shows that there is a strong correlation between coffee consumption and productivity.

Analysis of the responses showed that there was a strong correlation between coffee consumption and productivity.

Conclusion

Lastly, the abstract of a dissertation should conclude your dissertation research. The conclusion should clearly report how your study addressed the research problem.

Use this part of the abstract to convince people how your research proved an argument or theory that your research was built upon.

Provide recommendations for practical implementation to provide a clear understanding to your audience how your work will solve the problem in hand.

Finally, do not forget to briefly mention important research limitations. For example, selecting a smaller sample size due to some constraints. This will only add more weight and credibility to your research.

Make use of present simple test when writing the conclusions.