ETD Abstracts

19 views
Skip to first unread message

Nathalia Bauer

unread,
Nov 3, 2016, 10:53:52 AM11/3/16
to ETD

Hello Everyone,

 

We are evaluating some of our ETD practices at UCF and one of the things we would like to do is provide students with more guidance on abstracts. We are seeking information about word limits, character limitations, or any other guidelines your institutions may provide to students about the abstract to be used for cataloging.

 

We are thinking about allowing the ETD PDF to have two abstracts: a concise one used for cataloging and an extended one, if more information is necessary. Does anyone else do this?

 

Also, are there any national standards or recommendations for abstracts (maybe by library associations?).

 

Nathalia Bauer

Assistant Director, Communications

Thesis and Dissertation/Pathways to Success

UCF College of Graduate Studies

407-823-2739

Description: Description: Description: FacebookDescription: Description: Description: Twitter Description: Description: Description: LinkedIn 

 

 

 

Sam Byrd

unread,
Nov 3, 2016, 11:05:15 AM11/3/16
to Nathalia Bauer, ETD
Nathalia,

This is from our Graduate School Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Manual. These limits have been around since before ETD days; we certainly don't have any technical restrictions on the field from the IR (we use Digital Commons):

7. ABSTRACT (MANDATORY) The abstract is an essay summary of the thesis or dissertation — a statement of the experiment or problem, the procedure followed, the results and the conclusions. The abstract of a doctoral dissertation should follow scrupulously the instructions given here, since it will be published in “Dissertation Abstracts International” without revision or editing. The maximum length for a dissertation abstract is 350 words; for a thesis, it is 150 words. It should be a succinct account, allowing readers to make an accurate decision as to whether the full contents will aid their review. 

best,
Sam

------------
Sam Byrd
Scholarly Publishing Librarian
Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
sby...@vcu.edu  804.827.3556 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ETD" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to etd+uns...@ndltd.org.
To post to this group, send email to e...@ndltd.org.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/a/ndltd.org/group/etd/.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/ndltd.org/d/msgid/etd/FE9C9FFEE18E11469A30F426A9865C394F86704D%40NET5011.net.ucf.edu.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ndltd.org/d/optout.

Megan Maier

unread,
May 24, 2017, 6:59:38 PM5/24/17
to ETD, Nathali...@ucf.edu
Hi all,

I wanted to bring back this thread to ask if anyone has updated their abstract word limit. Our guidelines are currently:

Single-spaced and no more than 350 words.The abstract must contain the following elements: (1) statement of the problem, (2) procedure or methods, (3) results, and (4) conclusions. Mathematical formulas, abbreviations, diagrams, and other illustrative materials should not be included. It should be written to be understood by a person who does not have expertise in the field.

I've noticed that PQ/UMI has the following guidelines for abstracts:

We no longer have a word limit on your abstract, as this constrains your ability to describe your research in a section that is accessible to search engines, and therefore would constrain potential exposure of your work. The abstract as you submit it will NOT be altered in your published manuscript. Please include an additional version of your abstract in English, even if the primary language of your dissertation or thesis is NOT English. For additional information regarding formatting of abstracts, please see the FAQ here: http://www.etdadmin.com/cgi-bin/main/faq?siteId=164#ts10


... so I'm wondering if others are still limiting abstracts to 350 words (or otherwise), especially if you are aware of the PQ/UMI guidelines.

Thanks!
Megan

Jason Skoog

unread,
May 31, 2017, 11:42:56 AM5/31/17
to Megan Maier, ETD, Nathali...@ucf.edu
I haven't thought about abstract character limits.  I think for us, it would be too difficult to get faculty to agree.  When gathering metadata, we paste the entire abstract into a cell in an excel file.  The excel file is used for inventory as well as bulk uploading after being converted to a tab-delimited text file.  One problem is our content management system doesn't allow carriage returns in the tab-delimited text file.  So, there cannot be multiple paragraphs in the abstract.  We format it as one long paragraph.  This is simply due to a technical limitation.  Also, we embed the metadata directly into the PDF/As.  We use the keyword field because, to my knowledge, it allows for the highest character count... somewhere around 255 if I'm not mistaken.

Jason Skoog

Jason Skoog
Archivist and Systems Librarian
Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

608-796-3262

Megan Maier

unread,
May 31, 2017, 6:13:17 PM5/31/17
to ETD, megan...@gmail.com, Nathali...@ucf.edu
Thanks all for your input! I may add SEO guidance to our website.

Megan
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages