Writing an abstract for final year projects sounds so much like a big deal but it’s actually not. An abstract is simply a roundup or summary of a research; you must reserve this aspect of your project till you have concluded your project. Since an abstract is a summary of your research work, it has to come last although it is structurally positioned at the early pages of a research; it gives a brief but rich description of the purpose, problem, methods, results, conclusion and recommendation of a research. As soon as this procedure is followed, you may go ahead to apply the necessary formats required for an abstract. These are some of the guidelines you are expected to gain at the end of the day.

Writing the ‘Purpose’

Purpose here is simply the general objective of the research; for an abstract, that is about the first thing you are supposed to mention. You must state your research topic in your first statement and then the objective in one or two simple or compound sentences. In simpler terms, the purpose is exactly what the researcher intends to achieve at the end of the research.

The problem

Having an understanding of the problem your research needs to solve gives a research a clear vision. A research is a product of an existing problem; as part of the summary, you must state the problem that imposed the research. Those issues, short comings, events and daily routines may just constitute a problem for a final year project otherwise, you may have an argument for or against an issue that you need to clear.

State the research methods    

Stating the methodology you have adopted for the research is necessary to consider while writing an abstract. It makes your research sound attainable from the very first instance. In a statement, give a hint of your sample size, population of study, instrument for data gathering and sampling procedures; it tells how rich your project research is.

What does the finding say?

Also go ahead and tell what you found out during your research, which translates to the result. Your research may come out with more than one outcome, state them. With that you may go ahead to state what you have concluded from your research finding. The research conclusion you would state is just the product of the research findings; you may go ahead and make recommendations if need be.

The reason for an abstract is so that your readers may have clear information of what the research is about in case they do not have enough time to read through.  An abstract is meant to give brief information of the keynotes of a research and of course any other academic write-up

How to setup your abstract correctly

The word count: The recommended word count for an undergraduate abstract is 100- 200 words at most except some exceptional cases.

Type font and spacing: Times new roman is usually recommended 12 fonts with single line spacing. A typical abstract is expected to be summarized in a single paragraph except otherwise stipulated.