摘要
简介
摘要( abstract) 也称为内容提要，通常在学术论文中都必须附有摘要，其位子应放在论文的正文之前，对整个论文内容的概述。无论对专业读者还是对非专业读者而言，摘要都是一个非常重要的文件。
摘要如果和论文一起发表，则被称为一次性出版物摘要，主要用于帮助读者评价文章内容及其潜在作用，使读者不必阅读全文就可以了解论文的内容。除此之外，摘要也可以被单独收入文摘机构出版的摘要期刊如：生物学文摘(Biological Abstract)、化学文摘（Chemical Abstract）等，称为二次性出版物摘要。此类脱离论文独立成篇的摘要主要用于方便读者检索文摘、收集信息，帮助研究者寻找新的研究领域。
摘要的定义
摘要的英文术语：有两个词汇，一个是 abstract, 一个是 summary
根据美国国家标准学会 ( American National Standards Institute ) 于1971年通过并颁布的《美国国家文摘写作标准》 （American National Standards for Writing Abstracts）规定，abstract 不应与 summary 混同。
Abstract 对一篇论文的主要内容以精炼的文字进行高度概括，使读者不必阅读论文全文即可迅速了解论文内容，或者让读者对即将阅读的文章有思想准备，或者让读者判断是否有通读全文的必要。文中只对论文信息进行浓缩，而不加主观评论或解释，可以脱离原文而独立成篇。字数通常在100 – 150 个词左右，更确切地说，约为原文长度的1% - 5%(有的杂志规定摘要平均为全文的 3% - 5% )。现在越来越多的用法是 abstract。尤其是放在索引资料中一律要用abstract 这个术语，在论文的题目下也通常要用这个词。
Summary (概要) 与 abstract 无明显差别。严格地说，summary 一般附在论文的后面，对论文的主要结论和成果进行再叙述。其前提是读者已经通读的全文，通过summary 来巩固论文的主要论点和成果。在某些论文中，用summary取代正文中的conclusion部分。Summary是论文的“缩影”，可以概括论文的全部内容，只是在删繁就简上下功夫，字数长短不一，少则两三句话，多则500个单词甚至更长.美国的一些高校规定,说是论文提要(summary)以250词左右为宜，而博士论文提要以350词左右为宜。博士会议论文的提要一般规定为300 – 500词或1000个印刷符号。
至于究竟采用什么形式，要根据征稿简则而定。一般说来，国际学术会议论文集要求按Summary方式来写摘要，而正式出版发行的刊物要求不禁一致。对于个别论文还见有前面为Abstract,结尾又有一个Summary，这多半是由于文章过长，内容又多，后面的Summary相当于该文的缩写。
摘要的种类
摘要分为两类，一类是说明性摘要(Descriptive/Indicative Abstract),一类是资料性摘要（Informative Abstract）。
1.2.1 说明性摘要(Descriptive/Indicative Abstract)
如同迈克尔.艾利（Michael Alley）所说，“一篇说明性摘要是段落形式的目录，是读者手中的一份简要地图。”从这句话中可以清楚地了解说明性摘要的作用。说明性摘要只向读者指出论文的主要议题是什么，不涉及具体的研究方法和结果，但无法给读者提供更多的详细信息。它一般是用于综述性文章，也用于讨论、评论性文章，尤以介绍某学科近期发展动态的论文居多。常出现“…is studied”, “…is investigated”, “…is discussed”字样。时态多用现在时或现在完成时。其篇幅也较短，大多在100-150字之间。以下是一篇说明性摘要的样例：
Ten widespread diseases that are hazards in isolated construction camps can be prevented by removing or destroying the breeding places of flies, mosquitoes and rats, and by killing their adult forms.
由于说明性摘要仅限于陈述论文的主要议题且篇幅较小，主要用于评述性论文。
1.2.2 资料性摘要（Informative Abstract）
资料性摘要适用于专题研究论文和实验报告型论文。
资料性摘要的优点是比说明性摘要能提供多得多的信息，它应该尽量完整和准确地体现原文的具体内容，特别要强调指出研究的方法和结果，结论等。其篇幅较长，大多在150-250字之间。根据原文长度，也有多达500字的。通常，这一类的摘要反映了论文的基本面貌，能够代替阅读论文全文。
Ten widespread diseases that are hazards in isolated construction camps can be prevented by removing or destroying the breeding places of flies, mosquitoes and rats, and by killing their adult forms. The breeding of flies is controlled by proper disposal of decaying organic matter, and of mosquitoes by destroying or draining pools, or spraying them with oil. For rats, only the indirect methods of rat-resistant houses and protected food supplies are valuable. Control of adult forms of both insects and rodents requires use of poisons. Screens are used for insects. Minnows can be planted to eat mosquito larvae.
如何写摘要
摘要的位置
摘要的位置是确定的，一般在作者工作单位的下方。如：
Cultural Differences Between China and U.S.A. (标题)
Xu Ying (署名)
Hunan University （Changsha，Hunan， 410082） （工作单位）
Abstract: （摘要）
Key words: (关键词)
写作要点
长度：有专家认为150-200个词之间；文章长度的五分之一。
有些刊物会规定摘要的篇幅不能超过一定的字数，如：在80-100之间，再投稿应查询。
若刊物没有规定长度时，可参阅已发表的文章长度。
参加国际会议的论文摘要有字数限制，一般要求200-500个词之间，约1000个印刷符号。 （美国化学文献、医学文献的论文摘要规定在200个词以内。）
- 不要重复论文中的句子。
- 避免例举大堆数据。
- 一般只是一个段落，不要将其分为数段。
- 不要使用祈使句、感叹句、公式、表格等。
- 完成论文后再写摘要。
- 一般使用第三人称或被动语态。
- 语言需简明扼要。
下面请看一篇论文摘要
This paper deals with the English syllabus for graduate students in China. The paper first reviews the history of the graduate English teaching, then discusses the shortcomings in the syllabus and finally proposes some suggestions for its revision.
Key words: syllabus, graduate English teaching
阅读下面文章，然后写出一段80个词左右的摘要。最后再参阅提供的英语摘要。
These days, there is a common belief among parents that schools are no longer taking any notice of students’ spelling. But, no school I have taught in has ever ignored spelling or considered it unimportant as a basic skill. There are, however, vastly different ideas about how to teach it, or how much importance it must be given over general language development and writing ability. The problem is , how to encourage a child to express himself freely and confidently in writing without holding him back with the complexities of spelling.
If spelling becomes the only focal point of his teacher’s interest, clearly a bright child will be likely to “play safe”. He will tend to write only words within his spelling range, choose to avoid adventurous language. That’s why teachers often encourage the early use of dictionaries and pay attention to content rather than technical ability.
I was once shocked to read on the bottom of a sensitive piece of writing about a personal experience. “This work is terrible! There are too many spelling errors and your writing is hard to read.” It may have been a sharp criticism of the pupil’s technical abilities in writing, but it was a sad remark from the teacher who had omitted to read the essay, which contained some beautiful expressions of the child’s deep feelings. The teacher was not wrong to draw attention to the errors, but if his attention had centered on the child’s ideas, an expression of his disappointment with the presentation would have given the pupil more motivation to seek improvement.
摘要的内容
摘要的写作必须准确、明晰、简洁，概述与细节描述之间需要相互平衡，相互补充。内容取舍的标准首先是对论文本身重点的理解，其次应该考虑到读者阅读的方式。资料性摘要的内容通常包括：
- 背景知识或文献回顾 （Background Information / Literature Review）
- 研究的主要目的和范围 (Principal Purpose)
- 研究方法 （Methodology）
- 研究的主要结果（Results）
- 结论和建议 （Conclusions and Recommendation）
例1：
This article discusses some possible roles for self-access pathways, particularly in cultures which have no tradition of self-study. It suggests how pathways might influence the design and running of self-access centre, and gives an illustration of how pathways were designed and employed in a centre in China. Feedback is based on a mini-survey distributed to thirty users.
( ELT Joural Vol.51/1 January 1997 Oxford Univ. Press, 1997)
例2：
The science taught in the classroom should be reasonably up-to – date. What is taught should place emphasis first on the principles and major concepts of science rather than on the applications of scientific knowledge. The instructional techniques comprise laboratory work which is introduced in such a manner as to emphasize science as a process— to reveal through practice that science involves inquiry, discovery, and experimentation. The paper suggests that college science programs should be revised with a view to preparing teachers to handle science in secondary and elementary schools.
常用表达方法
描述目的，介绍相关知识
| This The | paper thesis article study survey project research investigation present study work | advances the view that… advocates … analyzes … argues that … contains deal with … discusses … develops … explains the reason why … expresses … focuses ( attention ) on the fact that … holds that … includes … investigates the features of … makes a comparative study upon the … offers … presents … proposes that … reviews … states … supports … |
|---|---|---|
| The chief major main primary principal | aim goal objective object proposal purpose | of this of the | paper study project research survey work | is | to investigate … discuss … evaluate … examine … determine … measure … reveal the cause of … |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This research is designed study project investigation The experiments on … were made The author attempts intends The author’s endeavor is | to | determine … measure the amount of … evaluate … calculate … obtain the result of … obtain some knowledge of … explain the reason why … outline the framework of … |
|---|---|---|
描述观察角度：
a. …from the angle of …
b. … in the light of the context that …
c. to view something at a different angle / from various angles
d. from the point of view of …
e. from the perspective of …
描绘方法：
a. Detailed information has been acquired by the authors using …
b. This is theory based on the idea that …
c. Several sets of experiments have been performed to test the validity of …
d. The method used in our study is known as …
e. The technique the author adopted is referred to as …
f. The approach taken in the investigation is called …
g. The experiments consisted of four steps, which are described in …
描述结果：
a. The results show / indicate that …
b. The results are as follows:
c. The analysis of the samples indicates that …
d. We found that …
e. Data suggested that …
f. It is shown that …
g. Based on / upon the outcome
findings
results of the research ,
| points out believes concludes declares | that … |
|---|---|
| suggests recommends asks | that … (从句中用虚拟语气) |
h. the author
i. the results / findings / observations have shown that …
j. The outcome has proved that …
k. The data obtained seem to be very similar to those reported earlier by …
描述结论：
a. In conclusion, the result shows …
b. To sum up, we have revealed …
c. It can be concluded / acknowledged that …
d. The examination / investigation proves that …
e. In summing up it may be stated that …
f. All the preliminary results throw light on the nature of …
g. These findings of the research have naturally led the author to the conclusion that …
练习
Read the following passages first and then write an abstract of 60 to 80 words.
Passage One
The use of the word “imitation” reminds me that I should make some more comments on the risk of people imitating what they see on TV in the Way of crime of violence. First there was always a risk of children acting out according to what they saw from a TV program, which could be dangerous. For example I remember a woman who was a head of a primary school telling me that she had happened to look out of her window when the children were in the playground and had seen them putting a small boy on a chair with a rope round his neck under the branch of a tree; fortunately she was in time to stop them before the child was hanged. I remember a film of no particular merit in which the hero who was imprisoned had escaped by killing his guard, the technique of doing shown in detail. This was the kind of scene which we should cut for the reasons.
In films for young people and adults we always tried to keep off the screen any details of criminal techniques, such as how to open a locked door with a piece of wire, or how to open a safe; if we were consulted before production I used to advise that the details should not be shown. When I gave talks in prisons about film censorship I invariably had full support for this; since fathers who were in prison for criminal offenses did not want their children to embark on crime.
Every time I gave a talk in a prison someone used to mention the French film Rififi made by Jules Dassin in 1954. This remarkable film showed in great detail a robbery of a jeweler’s shop, the robbery sequence lasting about half an hour and being backed only by natural sound — one of the most brilliant film sequences of all time. I remember our discussions at the time. We took into account the fact that the robbery was accomplished only with the use of elaborate and obviously expensive equipment, and that only the most experienced and skilled criminals could possibly imitate it; we believed therefore that it was relatively safe. When talking in prisons some years later I learned that there had been several robberies in which the techniques had been copied, so perhaps we were wrong.
Passage Two
We have recently heard a great deal about the bad effects of computers on our social and economic organizations. In industry, computers mean automation, and automation means unemployment. Computers in the United States have already begun to displace workers whose tasks are simple. The variety of jobs,formerly done only by humans, that the machine can perform more rapidly, accurately, and economically, increases with each new generation of computers. If we follow this trend, we will be faced with mass unemployment for all but a handful of highly trained professionals, who will then be more powerful and overworked than they are now.
What can we do about it? It is foolish to dream of reversing history. We cannot pass laws forbidding the advancement of science and technology. The computing machines are here, and they will grow because engineers want to build them, and politicians want their help in the process of government. In short, they will develop and become popular because they enable us to complete tasks that could never before have been undertaken, no matter how many unskilled laborers we might have set to work. Computers will continue to increase our intelligence for just the same reason that engines continue to strengthen our muscles. The question we must ask in not whether we shall have computers or not have computers, but rather, since we are going to have them, how we can make the most human and intelligent use of them.
说明
以上内容是郝老师上课总结给我们的，分享给大家用于学习。
版权归属于她，请勿盗用。
我的摘要模板
资料性摘要
- 背景知识或文献回顾 （Background Information / Literature Review）
- 研究的主要目的和范围 (Principal Purpose)
- 研究方法 （Methodology）
- 研究的主要结果（Results）
- 结论和建议 （Conclusions and Recommendation）
ps:针对考试：注意答题纸，除了剩余空间，背面也要写4行，不要太多。若文章较难（看不懂），将每段的首句、尾句写入summary中。以上几点，范文出现几点，写几点。
The article advances the view that …(文献回顾,文章讲了啥)
The chief aim of this research is to investigate/discuss that… （研究目的），from the angle of … （角度）.The approach taken in the investigation is called…(研究方法). It is shown that …
It can be concluded that … （研究结论）, There are some recommendation given by the authors. First of all,(建议1).In addition,(建议2).What’s more,(建议3).（建议）