Clarifying the abstracts of systematic literature reviews |
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| Authors: | Hartley J |
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| Institution: | Department of Psychology, Keele University, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. j.hartley@psy.keele.ac.uk |
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| Abstract: | BACKGROUND: There is a small body of research on improving the clarity of abstracts in general that is relevant to improving the clarity of abstracts of systematic reviews. OBJECTIVES: To summarize this earlier research and indicate its implications for writing the abstracts of systematic reviews. METHOD: Literature review with commentary on three main features affecting the clarity of abstracts: their language, structure, and typographical presentation. CONCLUSIONS: The abstracts of systematic reviews should be easier to read than the abstracts of medical research articles, as they are targeted at a wider audience. The aims, methods, results, and conclusions of systematic reviews need to be presented in a consistent way to help search and retrieval. The typographic detailing of the abstracts (type-sizes, spacing, and weights) should be planned to help, rather than confuse, the reader. |
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