How to Write an Abstract

Some basic advice by Lucas featuring the work of another Lucas.


An abstract is a compact answer to a few basic questions. It should answer:

  1. What is the problem?
  2. Why is it important?
  3. How did you tackle it?
  4. What did you find?
  5. And now what is different in the world after your work is done?

Nothing else. Minor details, implementation choices, extended motivation, and literature review go somewhere else in the paper.

Here's an example based on an older, seminal work:

Return of the Jedi

Abstract

The evil Galactic Empire has pursued a strategy of oppression and subjugation across the galaxy for the last several decades. Toppling this regime has been a priority of the community at large. In particular, removing the Emperor from power is seen as key to a return to peace and prosperity.

Earlier efforts from the Rebel Alliance, while successful in destroying the Death Star, have failed to dethrone the Emperor, and have led to the creation of a new, more powerful Death Star under construction in Endor.

In this work, we kill the Emperor and destroy the new Death Star. We pair Luke Skywalker with the native Ewok population on Endor. Ewoks, while useless on their own, are able to cause havoc and distract the Imperial troops, so that Skywalker can infiltrate Imperial fortifications and reach Darth Vader and the Emperor. We prove the conjecture that Darth Vader is Skywalker's father, and show how Vader can be turned back to the light side of the force and used to defeat the Emperor.

While we do not present a complete solution to the problem of destroying the Empire, we believe this work may be leveraged to reinstate the democratic Galactic Senate in the near future.

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