B - Revising and Polishing a Structured Abstract

Hartley J,Betts L. Revising and Polishing a Structured Abstract:Is it Worth the Time and Effort? JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 59(12):1870–1877, 2008

DOI: 10.1002/asi.20909

Many writers of structured abstracts spend a good dealbof time revising and polishing their texts, but do readers really notice the difference? Three studies of readers using rating scales to judge the clarity of an original and a revised abstract, are reported. Results indicate that the revised abstract as a whole, as
well as certain specific components of it, were judged significantly clearer than the original one. In short,readers can and
do perceive differences between original and revised
texts and that therefore efforts are
worth the time.

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