In a scientific journal an Abstract is a source of information about the subject of the article and the results of a research. The main requirements for the Abstract are to be informative and original. The size of the Abstract should be from 100 to 250 words. The Abstract should be clearly structured, the presentation of the material should follow the logic of the description of the results in the article. The text should be concise and clear, free from background information, and have convincing wording.
The functions of the Abstract are:
— to make it possible to establish the main content of the article, determine its relevance and decide whether to read the full text of the article;
— to provide information about the article and eliminate the need to read its full text in case the article is of secondary interest to the reader;
— to be used in informative automated web-systems for searching documents and information.
Structure:
Subject and aims of the study
They should be indicated only if they are not clear from the article’s title.
Method of the study
It should be indicated if the method and methodology are new and are interesting in from the point of view of the certain article. For the experimental articles the abstract should have the data sources and the way of their processing.
Results of the work and the field of their applying
The results should be very informative and specific. The main theoretical and experimental results, actual data, discovered correlations and patterns should be given. At the same time the preference is given to the new results and analysis of the long-term monitoring data, important discoveries, fundamental conclusions, as well as materials that, in the author’s opinion, are of practical importance.
Conclusions
They can be followed by recommendations, estimates, suggestions and hypotheses, described in the article. The sequence of presentation of the content of the article can be changed by starting with a presentation of the study and conclusions.
Keywords
There should be 5 to 10 most significant words of phrases on the subjects of the article.
The information contained in the title of the article should not be repeated in the text of the abstract. It is necessary to avoid unnecessary introductory phrases (e.g. “the author of the article considers…”). Historical references, if they do not constitute the main content of the document, description of previously published works and well-known provisions should not be given in the abstract. The text of the abstract should use syntactic constructions peculiar to the language of scientific and technical documents, avoiding complex grammatical constructions.
EXAMPLE OF AN ABSTRACT
THE POSSIBILITIES OF COMPARATIVE ESTIMATION OF COMPOSITE INDICES OF SPECIES DIVERSITY AND ANIMAL POPULATION’S ABUNDANCE: CASE STUDY OF THE AREA, AFFECTED BY PROJECTED LOWER ZEYA HYDROSCHEME
Background
The comparative estimation of different littoral zones’ environmental importance is necessary for the developing strategy of gentle nature management in the areas, where the present and planned reservoirs are.
Materials and methods
The integral indices of biodiversity were made for the area, which is, presumably, under the influence of the projected Lower Zeya Hydroscheme. They consider the species richness and the abundance indices for every recorded animal species.
Results
This article shows the lists of the recorded mammals, reptiles and amphibians species; the scores’ gradations of the species’ abundance as well as the ecological groups of terrestrial vertebrate’s abundance; the list of the main biotopes; the principles of zoning in the reservoir’s influenced areas; the formulas of evaluation of the species diversity’s integral indices and the animal’s population abundance; the schematic maps of spatial distribution of the present and predictable values of richness and conservative meaning of animal species’ integral indices.
Conclusions
Also the article contains some specific recommendations for strengthening Special Protected Natural Areas system. It shows that creating of Lower Zeya hydropower plant’s will cause great losses in biodiversity and ecological stability at the local and regional levels.
Keywords
Species diversity, animal population, conservative meaning, Protected Areas of Russia, Lower Zeya hydropower plant.