Portfolio Entry #13 ~ Abstracts ~ ♦ What is an Abstract ? ♦ FORMAL (academic) ARTICLES are headed by ABSTRACTS. An abstract is an independent text that comprises the most important concepts of the paper, the purpose of the research, the state of the art, what is missing, and the results of the investigation. When writing an abstract: AVOID all kind of "supporting material": Long background information, parahrased sentences, too many adverbs or adjectives, quotes, references from other sources, overgeneralizations e.g. "studies have indicate that..." figures, statistics, tables, etc. There are four types of abstracts: Critical Abstract. Descriptive Abstract. Informative Abstract. Highlight Abstract. Each sentence in an abstract fulfils a specific purpose. These are called "moves": the overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s) investigated, the basic design of the study, major findings found as a result of the a...