Academic writing · Level Advanced · Papers Abstract Papers
Abstract: five sentences
An abstract that reads like an introduction.
Prompt
One job: make the reader believe the claim is warranted. Every paragraph offers a reason or rules out an alternative.
Task: An abstract that reads like an introduction.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- question and method
- findings with numbers
- contribution
- word limit
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- one sentence each: problem, method, result, conclusion, significance
- the result sentence carries a number or direction
- no citations or abbreviations
- last sentence names who benefits
[Process]
1. Conclusion first, then support
2. One point per paragraph, stated in its first sentence
3. Address alternative explanations and limits
4. Cut sentences that do not advance the argument
5. Check every number has a source
[Output]
Claim, reason, evidence, alternative, limitation.
[Do not]
- No 'obviously' or 'as we all know'
- Never state a fact without a citation
- Do not repeat results in the discussion
- Do not inflate practical implicationsWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- question and method
- findings with numbers
- contribution
- word limit
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- one sentence each: problem, method, result, conclusion, significance
- the result sentence carries a number or direction
- no citations or abbreviations
- last sentence names who benefits