I need to write an abstract for my chemistry lab for identifying an unknown acid, is there a generic list of what to do for an abstract? because mine are always to long

Answer 1

Depends on the lab. High school labs should run no more than 100 words, college maybe 200 words. I could write many descriptive HS labs in 50 words.

<<The body of the abstract should indicate newly observed facts and the conclusions of the experiment or argument discussed in the paper. It should contain new numerical data presented in the paper if space permits; otherwise, attention should be drawn to the nature of such data. In the case of experimental results, the abstract should indicate the methods used in obtaining them; for new methods the basic principle, range of operation, and degree of accuracy should be given. The abstract should be typed as one paragraph. Its optimum length will vary somewhat with the nature and extent of the paper, but it should not exceed 200 words.

http://writing2.richmond.edu/training/project/biology/abslit.html

Answer 2

thank you! quick question, the link you provided mentioned to keep the methods section of the abstrast to about 2 sentences, but i had to do 6 experiments for it, do i have to fit all 6 different methods in the two sentences or would it be more like one sentence for each of them? The report with everything in it will be at least 10-15 pages so idk how or if that changes things

Answer 3

I think I would just say " by six independent methods: , , , ...

and not say more than that in the abstract. However, in the intro in each section, you describe the method.

Answer 4

ok thank you!