Abstracts, summaries and structured abstracts
A PhD thesis will often start with a separate document, known as an abstract, summary, or structured abstract, depending on your research type. These outline the key elements of your work and help readers understand what’s ahead. On this page, you’ll learn how these formats compare and how they differ from an introduction.
Write your thesisLiterature reviews for postgraduatesSystematic reviews, scoping reviews and meta-analysisAbstracts, summaries and structured abstractsIntroductions and research gapsMethodology, methods and procedure sectionsResults sectionsDiscussion sectionsMapping an argumentPresenting dataResearch frameworks
You can write a thesis abstract or summary in continuous prose or divide it into sections with headings to create a structured abstract. In a paper or report, the abstract usually appears before the introduction, often on a separate page. In reports, it may even come before the table of contents.