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Writing an Abstract

 

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The purpose of this activity is to help you identify key components of a science paper, and clarify the purpose and content of an abstract.

A good abstract is just a brief description of the contents of a paper. Abstracts allow a busy reader to get a quick idea of the paperÕs contents and findings. The advantage is that a busy reader can make use of your hard work, even if he/she doesnÕt have the time to examine your findings in detail. If a report is extremely long, and will be read by a varied audience, an ÒExecutive SummaryÓ is often created. Again, this is so that the report will reach the widest possible audience.

The sample abstract below was taken from a science journal.  In this abstract, find and mark sentences that accomplish the following functions

  • a) What was done in the study?
  • b) Where was the study done?
  • c) Why is the study interesting?
  • d) What are the observations?
  • e) What are the interpretations?
  • f) What are the conclusions?

Sample Abstract

___The recent intermediate-depth seismicity in northern Columbia and western Venezuela was analyzed to understand its origin and its presumed relationship to a subducted lithospheric slab in northwestern South America.  ___The study area is located to the north and east of the Bucaramanga nest, which is a particular region in northern Columbia that presents a high concentration of intermediate-depth earthquakes.  ___To the north of the nest, the seismicity of the area is sparse, and most of the events are of low magnitude (Mb<5.1).  ___Thus only 23 earthquakes were large enough to be investigated using teleseismic data.  ___The isodepth curves reflect a slab striking in the NNE-SSW direction and dipping approximately at 25o- 32o to the southeast.  __This observation is corroborated by the trend and plunge of the T axes of the focal mechanisms, which are generally parallel to the gradient of the slab defined by the spatial distribution of the hypocenters.  ___These results indicate that the intermediate-depth earthquakes in western Venezuela and northern Columbia are apparently related to the presence of a continuous lithospheric slab subducted near the Northern coast of Columbia.  ___The two largest earthquakes, located at a significant distance from the from the Bucaramanga nest, present similar fault plane solutions.  ___Moreover, they also agree with those of the two largest earthquakes reported inside the nest.  ___This similarity suggests that the Bucaramanga nest lies on the same subducted slab where the other earthquakes occur.  ___There is not enough shallow seismic activity to define the location where the Caribbean lithosphere subducted beneath the South American plate.  ___However, the extension of the slab toward the surface, inferred from the intermediate-depth seismicity, suggests that the subducted lithosphere may still be attached to the Caribbean plate.