The recommendations are devoted to drawing up and writing of the so-called expanded structured abstract, or an author’s summary, and an English-language abstract to a Russian-language paper.

A structured abstract is the exact presentation of contents of the article including main actual data and conclusions without additional interpretation or critical remarks of the author of the article.

It is necessary to consider the following rules when preparing of an abstract:

An abstract has to contain a short and accurate presentation of the purpose and main results of the work. The size of an abstract is about 150–250 words.

It is not necessary to use formulae and references in the abstract.

The text of an abstract should not contain the information, which is not in the article. It has to differ in laconicism, persuasiveness of formulations, and lack of secondary information. Inclusion of schemes, tables, schedules, and drawings in the abstract is not allowed.

The text of an abstract should begin with a phrase in which the main subject of the paper is formulated.

The data, which are contained in the title of the article, should not be repeated in the text of an abstract. Excess introductory phrases (for example, “the author of the paper considers …”) have to be avoided. It is necessary to use the syntactic constructions peculiar to the language of scientific style in the text of an abstract, but one should avoid difficult grammatical constructions.

The standardized terminology has to be applied in the text of an abstract.

Reductions and abbreviations in the text of an abstract are not allowed. It is necessary to avoid the use of less common terms. The unity of terminology with the paper is to be observed in an abstract. Significant words from the text of the paper to ensure the automated search should be presented in the text of an abstract.

 An abstract to the paper has to be:

  • informative (should not contain general words)
  • original
  • substantial (should reflect the main contents of the paper and results of research)
  • structured (has to follow logic of the description of results in the article)
  • “English-speaking” (written in a qualitative English) without the use of online-translators
  • compact, but not short.

One of the checked versions of an abstract is short repetition of the structure of the paper including introduction, purposes and tasks, methods, results, and conclusion. Such a way of drawing up abstracts has gained distribution in foreign scientific magazines.

 An abstract has to include the following aspects of contents of the paper:

  • subject, topic, and purpose of the work
  • method or methodology of carrying out the work
  • results of the work
  • field of application of results
  • conclusions.

Methods in an abstract are only mentioned. Results of work are described extremely precisely and informatively. Main theoretical and experimental results, actual data, found interrelations and regularities are given. At the same time, preference is given to new results and conclusions, which, according to the author of the article, have a practical value. It is necessary to specify limits of accuracy and reliability of data as well as the extent of their justification. Conclusions can be followed by recommendations, estimates, and offers described in the paper.

An abstract in English in the Russian-language edition is for foreign scientists and experts the basic and, as a rule, the only source of information on contents of the article and results of research described in it. Therefore, it has to be informative (should not contain the general words increasing the volume), substantial (should reflect the main contents of the paper and results of the work), written in a good English.

The English-language abstract should not be a literal translation of the Russian-language one; it is necessary to avoid difficult grammatical constructions and use the style of scientific publications.

Employing of translation programs by preparation of the English-language abstract is absolutely inadmissible.

It is recommended to use a cliche, for example, the following:

The purpose/objective of the study/research was to find out reasons why…/to create a process…/to examine…/to develop…/to design…/to determine…/to study…
In addition, our task was to…
The work/study was commissioned by…
However,…
In the theoretical part of the study the main issue was …
Previous studies have indicated that…
Data for this study were collected by …
This study was carried out at the airport by handing out a questionnaire to…
The information was gathered from literature, newspapers, Internet and by interviewing..
In the empirical part of the study the main concern was finding out the reasons why …
The empirical part was done by interviewing ….
This study was carried out in/at….
The data for this thesis were collected…
The study showed…
The study proved…
The results of the study show…
The final result of this thesis was…
As a result of this project/thesis…
Based on the findings…
Little support was found for…
Contrary to expectations, the results indicated…
Consistent to earlier research the study supported the hypothesis that…
The recommendations made as a result of this study have been implemented…
In short…
The results can be applied to…__