Detailed Backwards Outline

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Because informative abstracts need more detail, the regular backwards outline may not be as useful a strategy for this type of abstract. Instead, do a backwards outline on the left-hand side of a piece of paper. Then, on the right-hand side, answer the question "what does this paragraph say?" for each paragraph in the paper. Then complete the steps below:

  1. Take your first column and generalize down to 4-5 sentences about what the paper does.
  2. Use these sentences as topic sentences for the paragraphs in your abstract.
  3. Now, go to your second column and choose appropriate content for each section you outlined in #2. In other words, use the right-hand column to fill in details about what your paper says on each point outlined in #2.

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