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Using keywords to write your title and abstract
Writing your title and abstract are often the final things you do before you submit an article.
However, it is very important not to rush this process as they are both crucial for making your article easy to discover and telling readers what they can expect to learn.
Follow the advice below to help you choose your keywords, and make sure your title and abstract are as effective as possible.
Choosing keywords for your research paper
Selecting the right keywords is how to start a good title and abstract, as well as helping the right readers find your article online.
When you submit your article you’ll usually need to include keywords. These will be used to index your article on Taylor & Francis Online and on search engines such as Google Scholar TM .
These keywords will help others find your article quickly and accurately. Think of them as the labels for your article. A strong correlation exists between online hits and subsequent citations for journal articles, therefore it is important to have effective keywords.
But how do you choose your keywords? Put yourself in the mindset of someone searching for articles on your topic, what words or phrases would you enter?
Before you begin your list, check the instructions for authors on your target journal’s homepage on Taylor & Francis Online . There may be specific journal requirements on how many keywords to choose. If they haven’t specified, you could look through a recent paper to get an idea.
Basic tips for creating your keyword list
Read through your paper and highlight any key terms or phrases that are most relevant to the focus of your work.
Draw up a shortlist.
Try searching with your keywords to make sure the results fit with your article and so you can see how useful they would be to others.
Narrow down your keywords to make sure they are as accurate as possible.
Review your final list and ask yourself, will these keywords be most effective at indexing my article online?
How to write an effective title for your paper
Good writing titles should be concise, accurate, and informative, and it should tell the reader exactly what the article is about. This is where the keywords you’ve identified come in. It’s vital to incorporate your most relevant keywords in your title to make your article more discoverable in online searches.
The title should include 1-2 keywords, and these keywords should be within the first 65 characters of the title so that they are visible in the search engine results. This will help you produce an effective title.
Writing an effective title increases the potential audience for your article by making it more accessible to readers.
A good title for research paper should:
Incorporate the keywords, so that the article is more likely to be included in the results for relevant online searches.
Be understandable to a reader from outside its field.
Avoid abbreviations, formulae, and numbers.
Keep away from using “Investigation of…”; “Study of…”; “More about…”; “…revisited”.
Get straight to the point of what the article adds to the topic.
Editor’s view
Professor Mark Brundrett, Editor of Education 3-13
What is the abstract in a paper?
An abstract is ‘a few sentences that gives the main idea in an article or a scientific paper’.
(Definition of abstract from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
Think about article abstracts that you have read in the past. What qualities would encourage you to read the full article? Is there anything that would put you off delving any deeper into the article? Consider these factors when writing your abstract.
What to focus on to achieve the purpose of an abstract in research paper:
What your research is about.
What methods have been used.
What you found out.
The abstract section of a research paper is the selling pitch of your article. This is where researchers can get a quick insight and decide whether to read and cite your content or instead look elsewhere. It’s worth spending time to write an abstract that will win readers over.
Each journal will have its own word limit for abstracts which you’ll find in the instructions for authors, but approximately 100–200 words are what you have to work with. Check the guidelines for the word count before you start writing.
As you would expect, accuracy is crucial in a good abstract. Whatever you argue or claim in the abstract must reflect what is in the main body of your article. There’s no room for discussion, or introducing any further points.
Tips for writing an abstract
Make sure that your abstract is self-contained, without abbreviations, footnotes, or incomplete references.
It should be a concise summary that makes sense on its own.
Include keywords throughout, but make sure the writing still flows naturally.
You should also avoid including any images, background information or technical terms that may not be understood without further explanation.
There is a significant difference between original research papers and review papers when it comes to abstracts.
For original papers, you should describe your method and procedures.
For reviews, you should first state the primary objective of the review, the reasoning behind your choice, the main outcomes and results of your review, and the conclusions that might be drawn, including their implications for further research, application, or practice.
Example of a well-constructed title and abstract
You can see below a clear and concise title built around five keywords highlighting the main points covered in the article.
The keywords are also used throughout the abstract in a natural way, without affecting readability.
Modelling malaria dynamics with partial immunity and protected travellers: optimal control and cost-effectiveness analysis
A mathematical model of malaria dynamics with naturally acquired transient immunity in the presence of protected travellers is presented. The qualitative analysis carried out on the autonomous model reveals the existence of backward bifurcation, where the locally asymptotically stable malaria-free and malaria-present equilibria coexist as the basic reproduction number crosses unity. The increased fraction of protected travellers is shown to reduce the basic reproduction number significantly. Particularly, optimal control theory is used to analyse the non-autonomous model, which incorporates four control variables. The existence result for the optimal control quadruple, which minimizes malaria infection and costs of implementation, is explicitly proved. Effects of combining at least any three of the control variables on the malaria dynamics are illustrated. Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness analysis is carried out to reveal the most cost-effective strategy that could be implemented to prevent and control the spread of malaria with limited resources.
Keywords: Malaria model , temporary immunity , protected travellers , optimal control , cost-effective analysis
Modelling malaria dynamics with partial immunity and protected travellers: optimal control and cost-effectiveness analysis by S. Olaniyi, K. O. Okosun, S. O. Adesanya & R. S. Lebelo is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Abstract checklist
Have you clearly summarised the article?
Have you included your keywords?
Does it encourage researchers to read on?
Does it fit within the word count?
Is it easy to understand without any prior knowledge of the topic?
Video abstract
A video abstract lets you introduce readers to your article in your own words, telling others why they should read your research.
These short videos (three minutes or less) are published alongside the text abstract on Taylor & Francis Online and are an increasingly popular way of getting others to engage with published research, increasing the visibility of your work.
Find out more about creating a video abstract.
Graphical abstract
A graphical abstract is a useful tool that provides a concise, visual summary of the main conclusions of your article. It can be a great additional way to communicate your findings and is shown to potential readers in several places.
On Taylor & Francis Online you’ll see graphical abstracts on the journal’s table of contents page, on the article page itself, and in the PDF version of the article. Where there’s a print version of the journal, it’ll be included there too. Your graphical abstract can be an existing figure from your article if there’s something suitable, or it can be specifically designed for the purpose.
If you supply a graphical abstract, it will be shown in social media shares of your article. This is a great way to increase engagement with your article.
How should a graphical abstract be formatted?
Please make sure you follow these simple guidelines when formatting your graphical abstract:
Your image will often be displayed online at a width 525 pixels, so please make sure that the image is legible at this size.
The image should be saved as a .jpg, .png, or .tiff file.
Supply your graphical abstract as a separate file, labelled GraphicalAbstract1. Do not embed it in your manuscript file.
For optimal online display, your image should be supplied in landscape format with a 2:1 aspect ratio (2 length x 1 height).
A graphical abstract is mandatory for some journals, and for others it may be optional or may not be accepted at all. Always check the instructions for authors to make sure.
Example of a graphical abstract from Organic Eu3+-complex-anchored porous diatomite channels enable UV protection and down conversion in hybrid material by Xiaoshuang Yu, Lili Li, Yue Zhao, Xinzhi Wang, Yao Wang, Wenfei Shen, Xiaolin Zhang, Yanying Zhang, Jianguo Tang & Olle Inganäs, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
If you’d like to see some further examples of graphical abstracts then take a look at articles in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials and Journal of Coordination Chemistry .
Expert help for your manuscript
Taylor & Francis Editing Services offers a full range of pre-submission manuscript preparation services to help you improve the quality of your manuscript and submit with confidence.
Related resources
How to write a cover letter
Article submission checklist
Guide to making your submission
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- Know the purpose of writing an abstract. Before writing the abstract, you need to first identify the reason why you need to write it, and the purpose of writing the entire paper.
- Complete the paper. Write and understand your paper before writing the abstract. After all, you cannot give a summary writing of something if you do not understand its content.
- Understand the format for writing the abstract. The format often depends on the research you are writing. Some elements found in the abstract of a scientific paper might not be included in that of a research paper in other fields, like humanities.
- Consider the readers. They will be the one to benefit the most if your abstract is written well.
- Give a clear explanation of your paper. Define your entire study, give the key information included in your study, and provide a glimpse of the paper’s entirety.
- Organize. Write the information in order, so you don’t confuse your readers.
- Revise. Read and re-read your abstract, find some errors which you can correct, and make sure it’s polished before submission.
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Writing a conference or journal article abstract ONLINE
Communication Skills Research Skills
Monday, 28 November 2022, 2pm to 4pm
This course is suitable for all MSD postgraduate research students and early career researchers who have produced enough work to be able to draft their first conference abstract. This course contains pre-work you will need to complete before the live session.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course aims to help you develop the skills and confidence to plan and write an abstract about health research for a conference or journal article that showcases your work’s importance, methodological rigor, and results appropriately and without spin.
To get most out of the course, we suggest joining once you have produced enough work to be able to draft your first conference abstract, when you are in the process of writing an abstract, or after you have written an abstract. However, we will supply sample abstracts for those who are not yet in a position to write their own.
The course will use a blended format of pre-recorded lectures and a live interactive session, held online. It will cover:
- The purpose of an abstract
- The ingredients that make up an effective abstract
- A process for putting together those ingredients, including how to find and use reporting guidelines for abstracts
- The difference between conference and journal abstracts
- Choosing words and keywords to help readers find your abstract
- Critically appraising an abstract to suggest revisions
Before the live session, you will watch around 1 hour of pre-recorded lectures through a separate platform called Canvas and complete their associated exercises. You will be given access to the pre-recorded content once you have booked onto a live session date (please refer to 'This course contains pre-work' below). You will be prompted to draft an abstract using your own work or to revise an existing abstract. A sample abstract will be made available for those who prefer not to work on their own abstract.
We recommend completing the pre-work a week before the live session. Please allow a half-day to complete this pre-work.
The live session will not simply repeat the content from the pre-recorded lectures. Instead, the live session will be used for discussion, questions, and putting the learning into practice. For example, the tutor will demonstrate how to critically appraise and revise an abstract. You will then revise each other’s abstracts in groups.
This course is delivered by writing experts from the UK EQUATOR Centre: Dr Patricia Logullo and Dr Jennifer de Beyer.
Please make sure you read all of the sections below relating to how the course will work, pre-work and the survey and attendance certificate policy.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Plan and write an abstract that clearly and completely describes their work’s importance and rigor, with the help of reporting guidelines
- Match the abstract to a journal or conference’s audience, scope and aims
- Revise the abstract and keywords to increase visibility
PARTICIPANT NUMBERS
How it will work.
For the live interactive session (via Teams or Zoom) you will be sent the link in the automated communication along with joining instructions.
To join the session, you can click on the link 15 minutes before the session. Once the tutor has started the session, they will tell you what to do. You will need to complete the pre-work before the live session (see below).
THIS COURSE CONTAINS PRE-WORK
After you have booked onto the live interactive session you will be sent a self-enrolment link from Canvas. You need to self-enrol then access and work through the pre-recorded videos and exercises in advance of the live interactive session. This is a compulsory part of the course and if you have not completed the pre-work, you may be not be able to participate in the live session.
Please note that Canvas is a separate platform to the booking system. You may need to check your junk folder if you haven't received the email with the self-enrolment link.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
A good internet connection, uninterrupted time, camera and microphone enabled on PC.
ATTENDANCE CERTIFICATE ON SURVEY COMPLETION
It is now a requirement that you complete the three short questions in the survey you receive after attending the course. Once you have submitted the survey, you will be sent an email with a link to your attendance certificate. This is to ensure we receive the feedback we need to evaluate and improve our courses. Survey results are downloaded and stored anonymously.
PLEASE NOTE
Where no cost is indicated in the shopping trolley, no deposit is required. However, two or more non-attendances or late cancellations without good reason will be logged and may mean you cannot attend any further MSD training that term. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions for further information.
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The Abstract
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Abstracts are important because they give a first impression of the document that follows, letting readers decide whether to continue reading and showing them what to look for if they do. Though some abstracts only list the contents of the document, the most useful abstracts tell the reader more. An abstract should represent as much as possible of the quantitative and qualitative information in the document, and also reflect its reasoning. Typically, an informative abstract answers these questions in about 100-250 words:
- Why did you do this study or project?
- What did you do, and how?
- What did you find?
- What do your findings mean?
If the paper is about a new method or apparatus the last two questions might be changed to
- What are the advantages (of the method or apparatus)?
- How well does it work?
Here are some other points to keep in mind about abstracts:
- An abstract will nearly always be read along with the title, so do not repeat or rephrase the title. It will likely be read without the rest of the document, however, so make it complete enough to stand on its own.
- Your readers expect you to summarize your conclusions as well as your purpose, methods, and main findings. Emphasize the different points in proportion to the emphasis they receive in the body of the document.
- Do not refer in the abstract to information that is not in the document.
- Avoid using I or we, but choose active verbs instead of passive when possible ( the study tested rather than it was tested by the study ).
- Avoid if possible avoid trade names, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. You would need to explain them, and that takes too much room.
- Use key words from the document. (For published work, the abstract is “mined” for the words used to index the material—thus making it more likely someone will cite your article.)
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Writing an Abstract
For longer research papers, dissertations and theses, writing an abstract is an essential part of the process, as it summarizes the entire research paper.
This article is a part of the guide:
- Outline Examples
- Example of a Paper
- Write a Hypothesis
- Introduction
Browse Full Outline
- 1 Write a Research Paper
- 2 Writing a Paper
- 3.1 Write an Outline
- 3.2 Outline Examples
- 4.1 Thesis Statement
- 4.2 Write a Hypothesis
- 5.2 Abstract
- 5.3 Introduction
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- 6.1 Table of Contents
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- 7.6.1 Citations
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- 8.1.1 Sham Peer Review
- 8.1.2 Advantages
- 8.1.3 Disadvantages
- 8.2 Publication Bias
- 8.3.1 Journal Rejection
- 9.1 Article Writing
- 9.2 Ideas for Topics
The abstract allows a researcher to quickly evaluate the content of your paper, and judge whether it’s relevant to their research .
As a result, an abstract needs to convey a complete synopsis of the paper, but within a tight word limit. This restriction is where the difficulties lie.
You will be given a maximum word count for an abstract, such as 200 words, and it is essential that you remain within this limit.
Nowadays, scientific papers are generally placed onto a database, with strict limits on the number of words, meaning an overlong abstract risks the entire paper becoming rejected.
Writing an abstract includes briefly introducing the general topic of the work and then explaining the exact research question , including the aims. It should then include a brief description of the methodology , the results and the discussion .
You should try to stick to the exact research question answered, and avoid including your own personal interpretations - if people believe that your paper is relevant they will come across those in due course.
The same applies with the methodology - you could, for example, state that you used chromatography as part of the experiment . If somebody decides that your paper is relevant, they will find out exactly what type of chromatography you used in the method section.
Fitting all of this into a very restrictive word count can be a daunting task.
Start writing an abstract without worrying too much about the word limit, making sure that you include all the information that you believe to be relevant. Leave it for a day or two and then you can embark on an edit.
With fresh eyes, you’ll see that some of the information is irrelevant and can be cut. You can take out some of the descriptive words and chop sentences down to their essential elements
On the other hand, if your abstract is too short, then you have probably left some important information out. Re-check, and see if you have missed anything out, referring to your outline if you are not sure.
You can also ask another student to read it for you, as an independent assessor. If they cannot make any sense of your abstract, then it is back to the drawing board.
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Martyn Shuttleworth (Jun 8, 2009). Writing an Abstract. Retrieved Jun 08, 2023 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/writing-an-abstract
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That is it. You don't need our permission to copy the article; just include a link/reference back to this page. You can use it freely (with some kind of link), and we're also okay with people reprinting in publications like books, blogs, newsletters, course-material, papers, wikipedia and presentations (with clear attribution).
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IMAGES
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Abstracts are saturated summary of a research work and is part of academics writing. When applying for conferences, neat structure of an abstract can guarantee admission
This course aims to help you develop the skills and confidence to plan and write an abstract about health research for a conference or journal article that showcases your work's importance
For longer research papers, dissertations and theses, writing an abstract is an essential part of the process, as it summarizes the entire research paper