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Stage 15: Writing the abstract

Submitting a copy of your Abstract, signed by your advisor, to the Graduate School is one of the final required steps in completing your doctorate.

Why is this stage important?

The Abstract that you submit will be part of the permanent record about your research in Digital Dissertations. It becomes one of the ways that other researchers decide whether or not they want to examine your dissertation.

Your abstract will need to conform to the Degree Completion Procedures for the Doctoral Degree found on the Graduate School web pages.

Additionally, consult the most current version of Preparing the Doctoral Dissertation for details about preparation of the Abstract.

Step 1: Look at examples of abstracts in dissertations.

  1. Examine actual University of Minnesota dissertations in the Library
  2. Examine dissertations from other institutions by using Digital Dissertations linked on the Library web page.

Step 2: Review your introduction, conclusion, grant proposals, and other documents that you have written. Most likely you have already written parts of your abstract in these documents.

Step 3: Identify keywords to summarize your research.

  1. The keywords that you select are important and will be one of the primary ways in which other researchers are able to retrieve your dissertation

Step 4: Seek advice and feedback on writing abstracts

  1. Writing an Abstract by the University of Queensland. Click "PhD Stages," then "Finishing touches," then Abstract.
  2. Writing an Abstract for your engineering thesis from the University of Toronto.
  3. Consider submitting your abstract draft to the University of Minnesota’s Online Writing Center.
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Last revised: March 13, 2009
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