Dissertation Abstracts

Dissertation abstracts generally come at the beginning of the dissertation paper.
It is not a mandatory parts in every dissertation paper but if needed it should be written with due diligence. The abstracts should clearly mention about the background and importance of the paper. It should also give a clear idea about the research methodology that we have used in the research. Besides this the abstract should also have the following qualities:
1) Brevity or conciseness- The abstract should not be more than one hundred words but it should have the expressive power to catch the full essence of the research paper. Brevity is very important as few unnecessary words can obscure the sense. Even where a vague word causes no obscurity its presence may suggest a different or an additional meaning when such is not intended. Violations of brevity are called tautology, pleonasm and verbosity. Unnecessary words also show that the writer is not clear in his thinking. Shakespeare says that," Brevity is the soul of wit." Tautology occurs when a word is repeated for no special reason. For example," the luxuries were truly and indeed such." ‘Truly' and ‘indeed' are here identical and one of them should be omitted. Pleonasm means unnecessary adding what is already implied in the words or meaning of the words. For example, "he eyed them with a look of contempt". The idea of look is implied in ‘eyed'. Sometimes pleonasm is used for the sake of emphasis. For example, "Did you see it?" "Yes I saw it with my very own eyes." Verbosity is also called diffuseness or prolixity when many words are used to express what might have been expressed in a few words when round about forms circumlocution are used, it is called verbosity. Generally, verbose sentences have to be recast. But sometimes brevity, if it is taken too far leads to obscurity and absurdity, so brevity should be implied very cleverly.
2) Simplicity: When we speak of simplicity we mean the meaning of sentence should be intelligible to all even the less learned. In fact simplicity will depend upon the readers' capacity to understand. Still for the dissertation purposes we should try to make use of clear and concrete words. The trade specific jargons and abbreviations should be avoided as far as possible. If jargons and abbreviations become absolute necessary to use then it should be clearly defined so that a lay man can even understand.
3) Directness: A writer may spoil directness because he gives allusions and quotations. Quotations and allusions that really illustrate are permissible. But they may be improper in two ways. Far fetched allusions and quotations used may be obscure to the audience and consequently wasted. Similarly, periphrases are neither appropriate nor intelligible.
4) Restricted use of foreign words- The only justification for using the foreign words in English is a lack of a term for some foreign customs and objects. But some of the foreign words have become very popular in English and they can be used. Similarly, some translations of the foreign phrases are also used.

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