Steve Tippins explains why most dissertation abstracts fail. Vague abstracts that just list chapters waste space, and overly long ones dwelling on results lose readers. An abstract needs to hook people on your work's significance and include all school-required elements or you'll face resubmission delays.
Abstracts that are vague, you know, yeah, results were discussed in Chapter 4. Well, that doesn't tell me anything. It doesn't help me. Also, abstracts that go on and on and on about data results, first of all, use up too much room, and you get bogged down in the results there too. It's a hook to get people, a selling tool to get people into your document. And finally, make sure you say why this matters. And there are some schools that say, and your abstract must provide certain— they things that go along with their school's mission. So make sure that's in there, because if it's not in there, again, it gets sent back. And every time things get sent back, you're losing time. And potentially, if you get sent back at the end of a term, you may need to go into a new term, which means more money. If you would like help with your abstract or any part of your dissertation, join our free dissertation help community.
