Criteria for acceptable abstracts: A survey of abstracters' instructions

Harold Borko and Seymour Chatman

American Documentation, 1963, vol. 14, issue 2, 149-160

Abstract: The need for criteria by which to judge the adequacy of an abstract is felt most strongly when evaluating machine‐produced abstracts. In order to develop a set of criteria, a survey was conducted of the instructions prepared by various scientific publications as a guide to their abstracters in the preparation of copy. One‐hundred‐and‐thirty sets of instructions were analyzed and compared as to their function, content, and form. It was concluded that, while differences in subject matter do not necessarily require different kinds of abstracts, there are significant variations between the informative and the indicative abstracts. A set of criteria for the writing of an acceptable abstract of science literature was derived. The adequacy of these criteria is still to be validated, and the authors' plans for future research in this area are specified.

Date: 1963
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