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How To Write a Dissertation Abstract

When you are getting to the end of writing your thesis, you’ll need to start thinking about writing an abstract. But what is one? And how should you make sure it encourages readers to continue reading? Here are some top tips to help:

What is an Abstract?

An abstract is a brief summary of your thesis and appears at the beginning of the document, after the acknowledgements. It functions as a ‘blurb’ which tells the reader your main argument. You shouldn’t include any excerpts from your thesis in here or any of your findings. It should just be a broad overview of the question you are studying.

How Can you Make it Good?

The key to writing a good abstract is to make it clear and concise. Don’t use too many long or technical terms here if you can avoid it! The purpose is to get the reader to understand the subject of the thesis, not to begin telling them the intricacies of the problem.

Why you Should Use Keywords

If you are lucky enough to get your thesis published, you might find it included in an online database. To make sure it comes up in searches, you should add as many relevant keywords as possible. Try to make them precise. Adding words like ‘math’ may result in a lot of hits but probably won’t direct readers to your work.

How Should it Sound?

An abstract should be formal but readable. Try to avoid using the passive voice and definitely avoid any contractions (such as ‘can’t’) and the use of the first person (‘I’).

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How To Write a Dissertation Abstract

When you are getting to the end of writing your thesis, you’ll need to start thinking about writing an abstract. But what is one? And how should you make sure it encourages readers to continue reading? Here are some top tips to help:

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Synonyms for ‘Because’

Do you get stuck always using the word ‘because’? Then look no further: on our blog we have several synonyms with a demonstration of how to use them!

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Synonyms for ‘Because’

The word ‘because’ is used to join two ideas together and to express cause and effect:

The lemonade fizzed because we shook the bottle.

However, most students overuse the word ‘because’ and don’t bother to find more interesting alternatives. We’re going to look at some here.

  Why Not To Use the Word Because

Reusing a word again and again in a paper can make you seem unimaginative and will make it much more dull to read. Using other words instead of ‘because’ can help you to express much more and can help you pack meaning in- all of which helps with your word count! If you are not sure that you have any of the following usages right, simply upload your document to be proofread within 24 hours!

Alternatives to ‘Because’

Instead of ‘because’ you could use any of the following, depending on your context:

  The Fact That

The lemonade fizzed owing to the fact that we shook the bottle.

The lemonade fizzed due to the fact that we shook the bottle.

The lemonade fizzed in light of the fact that we shook the bottle.

As a Result Of

Here we need to use the gerund ‘shaking’, rather than the past tense ‘shook':

The lemonade fizzed as a result of shaking the bottle.

Which Meant/Which Caused

In these phrases, the sentence must be reversed, with the effect coming first:

We shook the bottle which meant that the lemonade fizzed.

  In this version, we need to swap ‘fizzed’ for the infinitive ‘to fizz’.

We shook the bottle which caused the lemonade to fizz.

These different ways of showing cause and effect are all great ways to show off your imagination and use of language. They will vary the rhythm and vocabulary of your text and engage the reader much more than if you simply reel off a list of ‘because, because, because’!

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How To Use the Word ‘Sic’

Are you certain you know how to use the word ‘sic’? This one can trip people up, so make sure you have it right by checking our academic blog!

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How To Use the Word ‘Sic’

The word ‘sic’ is often used in academic writing and it is a Latin word from the phrase ‘sic eras scriptum’, meaning ‘thus it was written’. Its main function is to let the reader know that any nonstandard spelling in quotes you’ve used are not your mistakes.

When Not To Use ‘Sic’

One of the most important things to learn is to refrain from overusing the word ‘sic’. It should never be used as a tool to ridicule the person you are quoting from, as it is often used in journalism. In academia, one of the most sacred principles is to respect other authors’ viewpoints. No-one will respect you for trying to make someone else look stupid. So, only use it when you’ve really got to! If you are unsure if you’ve overused it, why not get someone to look over your work before you submit it.

When To Use ‘Sic’

If you are quoting a passage of text and you notice an error or a nonstandard use of English, you can just correct it in brackets:

[There] was nothing to be done.

However, if you need to quote the text exactly, you can add [sic] after the word in question. This is often the case for archaic or nonstandard spellings:

A recype [sic] for plum wine

How to Use ‘Sic’

Although ‘sic’ is a Latin term, it does not always need to be italicized. You should check this in your college guidelines. However, as it is a word, not an abbreviation, it does not require a full stop after it. You should always put ‘sic’ in square brackets, directly after the word you wish to highlight:

Kristoffer’s [sic] main reason for disagreeing is….

One thing to remember is that, even if the word itself needs to be italicized, the square brackets never are.

Good luck!

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Word Choice: Then vs. Than

The difference between ‘than’ or ‘then’ is so slight that it is almost inevitable that you will end up mixing them up at some point. However, once you have a clear understanding of what each one means, you should be able to spot your mistakes much more easily!

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Word Choice: Then vs. Than

The difference between ‘than’ or ‘then’ is so slight that it is almost inevitable that you will end up mixing them up at some point. However, once you have a clear understanding of what each one means, you should be able to spot your mistakes much more easily! Here, I will show you the difference between ‘then’ and ‘than’.

Then

The word ‘then’ is used to refer to time in some way. This could be in a very literal context:

First I went shopping, then I went to the cinema

or in a vaguer sense:

When we have dealt with the problem of budget deficit, then we can start thinking about building infrastructure.

Both of these sentences deal with a progression- one thing is following another.

It is also used in a logical sense but it basically has the same meaning. It can be difficult to grasp subtle ideas like these if English is your second language so do remember to get your work checked over before submitting. Just as something can follow something else in time, so an idea can follow another logically:

If it rains then the streets will be wet.

If you eat too much cake then you will get fat.

Than

The word ‘than’ is always used to talk about contrasts and comparisons. We might say:

My father is tougher than yours.

or

It is more windy in Oklahoma than it is in California.

Make sure you take care with ‘then’ and ‘than’ as, although they look very similar, they have completely different meanings.

Good luck!

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Harvard Referencing- In-Text Citations

Do you get confused over how to quote from sources in your papers? Here’s our ultimate guide to quoting using Harvard referencing!

Short Quotes

Usually when you are quoting from sources in your paper, you will quote just a few words and try to insert them into a sentence. For example: Smith suggests that ‘environmental degradation is a direct result of human action’ (1997, p.24). Note that when using an in-text reference you will need to provide the year of the work and, if relevant, the page number in brackets (always outside the quote marks and before the full stop). If you have not mentioned the name of the author, your citation would look like this: It has also been suggested that ‘environmental degradation is a direct result of human action’ (Smith, 1997, p.24) You do not need to add a colon or dash before the beginning of the quote. Errors like this are very common in papers so make sure you get yours proofread before submitting!

Quotes of 50 Words or More

Sometimes you might wish to use a longer quotation to show an author’s viewpoint more comprehensively. If the quote is over 50 words long, you should make sure it is indented and enclosed within quotation marks, like so:

“Outside the UK, the BBC World Service has provided services by direct broadcasting and re-transmission contracts by sound radio since the inauguration of the BBC Empire Service in December 1932, and more recently by television and online. Though sharing some of the facilities of the domestic services, particularly for news and current affairs output, the World Service has a separate Managing Director, and its operating costs have historically been funded mainly by direct grants from the UK government. These grants were determined independently of the domestic licence fee. A recent spending review has announced plans for the funding for the world service to be drawn from the domestic licence fee”. (Jones, 1967, p.27)

Note that, generally, single quote marks are used for short quotes incorporated into your sentence and double quote marks are used for longer quotes which are separated from the main body of your text.

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Harvard Referencing- In-Text Citations

Do you get confused over how to quote from sources in your papers? Here’s our ultimate guide to quoting using Harvard referencing!

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Word Choice: Practice vs. Practise

You may have noticed that sometimes there are different spellings and usages of ‘practice’ and ‘practise’. The difference is a little confusing, so I’m going to explain it to you today!

Practise

You have probably only ever come across the word ‘practise’ in British publications. This is because British people like to complicate everything! In the UK (and in Australia too) the spelling ‘practise’ is used for the verb form of the word. Remember, a verb is a doing word. So in the UK they would write:

‘I like to practise my fire-eating act for two hours a day.’

Practice

In the UK, this spelling is used only for the noun form of the verb, as in:

‘All that practice at lion taming you’ve been doing is really paying off.’

Remember, a noun is a ‘thing’ word. Luckily, in the US, it’s much simpler as the spelling ‘practice’ is used for both the noun and verb forms, so we have it pretty easy! Make sure you check your work to make sure that your document is set to US English and that you haven’t used ‘practise’ at all. Although you won’t need to use it necessarily, it’s good to know the difference so you don’t get confused. Increasingly the difference in spelling is creeping into US usage and so you might come across it from time to time. If in doubt, stick to ‘practice’. That’s all for today!

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Word Choice: Practice vs. Practise- Proofread My Paper's Academic Blog

Word Choice: Practice vs. Practise

You may have noticed that sometimes there are different spellings and usages of ‘practice’ and ‘practise’. The difference is a little confusing, so I’m going to explain it to you today!

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Word Choice: Afflict vs. Inflict

Sometimes it is difficult to know which word to use. The words ‘afflict’ and ‘inflict’ are both used when talking about pain, and so are often confused. However, the prefixes ‘-af’ and ‘-in’ change the meaning entirely. To find out how, read on!

Afflict

The verb ‘afflict’ is generally used in the passive form. People can be ‘afflicted by’ any kind of pain or distress:

In the 1840s, tens of thousands of people across the United States were afflicted by tuberculosis.

It can also be used as an active verb, for example:

Tuberculosis still afflicts several thousand people a year in the US.

Affliction

As a noun, the term ‘affliction’ is pretty old-fashioned, and you are most likely to come across it in classic literature. However, people may still use it in a sarcastic sense:

We had to wait in line for hours before the store opened. The store manager came out to sympathize with us in our affliction.

Inflict

‘To inflict’ means to cause pain or distress to another living being. It is most often used with reference to violent crime:

The attacker inflicted several wounds upon his victim.

The verb ‘to inflict’ must always take an object. You cannot simply state that someone ‘was inflicted’. Usually something unpleasant is ‘inflicted on’ or ‘upon’ someone else.

If you would like a professional to check over your work for inconsistencies or errors, why not send it over to the experts at Proofread My Paper?

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Word Choice- Afflict vs. Inflict: Proofread My Paper's Academic Blog

Word Choice: Afflict vs. Inflict

Do you sometimes choose the wrong word for your meaning? Here is the difference between ‘afflict’ and ‘inflict’ straightened out in our academic blog!

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Structure of a Sentence- Proofread My Paper's Academic Blog

Structure of a Sentence

If you’re learning to write English for college, you’ll need to understand how to talk about grammar. You probably already know that there are specific terms for each part of a sentence, but do you know your morphemes from your clauses?

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How to Use the Colon 

The colon ‘:’ can be a tricky punctuation mark to use, and often it is used in the wrong context. If you want to make sure you are using it correctly in your documents, read on for a comprehensive explanation!

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Word Choice: Cite vs. Site- Proofread My Paper's Academic Blog

Word Choice: Cite vs. Site It can be difficult to always use the right words in the right context. However, knowing how to do so can gain you valuable marks in your papers. So, read on to find out when to use ‘cite’ and ‘site’!