Writing Resources
Abstracts are important primarily because they provide an overview of the content of the journal article without having to go through reading the entire article This is especially useful owing to the fact that many journals exist behind a paywall That is to gain access to journal articles individuals and institutions must pay for the access to these articles Prices for each article range from 10 to as much as 40 What this means is that individuals who wish to access journal articles must first ensure that the article that they are to pay for must be in line with their fields and must be relevant to their field of study However many educational institutions provide access to journal articles As such scientists and scientists in training may find more access to journal articles while in their respective educational institutions Furthermore abstracts also provide a way to reach audiences who are not experts in the field As Dr Powers has mentioned the abstract provides a simplification of the topic wherein individuals from all fields can somehow understand the research being discussed when reading the abstract Powers While abstracts may seem simple and short these sections are usually written last and are challenging to write as it tasks a scientist to summarize his or her research into approximately 150 words without going into full detail of the research and at the same time while not losing the sense of the research
