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Because they facilitate reading and retaining information from articles, many peer-reviewed journals are adopting structured abstract s as their preferred format for abstracts—including the IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.
This article:
- Explains what structured abstracts are and how they benefit readers
- Provides a sample structured abstract
- Concludes with a template that authors of Transactions articles should follow when preparing their structured abstracts
About Structured Abstracts
Structured abstracts summarize the key findings reported in an article, as well as the means of reaching them. Authors write structured abstracts so that readers do not have to read an article in its entirety to learn conclusions or how those conclusions were reached. Certain types of readers find structured abstracts particularly beneficial:
- Those who will not read an article in its entirety but need to know the key facts, such as executives, primary investigators on large scale projects, and people trying to keep abreast of the field.
- Those who have previously read the article in its entirety and need to recall key findings without having to re-read the article, such as researchers conducting a systematic review of the literature.
- Those who are trying to determine whether or not to read a particular article.
Structured abstracts are similar in format and style to Executive Summaries provided with in-depth engineering and recommendation reports.
Structured abstracts contrast with topic abstracts, which tend to be brief (100 to 150 words, about 100 words shorter than a typical structured abstract) and merely identify the themes addressed by an article, but do not report how the article addresses the themes much less the conclusions reached.
Samples and Guidelines
- For a research article or integrative literature review
- For a case study
- For a tutorial
- For a teaching case
Sample Structured Abstract—Research Article and Integrative Literature Review
The following structured abstract summarizes Chen, I. & Chang, C. (2009). Cognitive load theory: an empirical study of anxiety and task performance in language learning. Electronic Journal of Research in Educational Psychology , 7 (2), 729-746.
Template for Writing a Structured Abstract—Research Article and Integrative Literature Review
Sample Structured Abstract—Case Study
The following structured abstract summarizes Raju, R. (2012). Intercultural communication training in IT outsourcing in India: A Case Study. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 55 (3).
Template for Writing a Structured Abstract—Case Study
Sample Structured Abstract—Tutorial
The following structured abstract summarizes
Tuleja, E.A.; Beamer, L.; Shum, C.; & Chan, E.K.Y. (2011.) Designing and Developing Questionnaires for Translation—Tutorial. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 54 (4), 392-405.
Template for Writing a Structured Abstract—Tutorial
Sample Structured Abstract—Teaching Case
The following structured abstract summarizes Bednar, L. (2012). Using a Research in Technical and Scientific Communication Class to teach essential workplace skills. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Early Access .
Template for Writing a Structured Abstract—Teaching Case
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Structured abstracts are similar in format and style to Executive Summaries provided with in-depth engineering and recommendation reports. Structured abstracts contrast with topic abstracts, which tend to be brief (100 to 150 words, about 100 words shorter than a typical structured abstract) and merely identify the themes addressed by an ...