The abstract should be a miniature version of your paper, sufficient for someone browsing through a database of paper abstracts to determine the topic of your paper and your central findings, and sufficient for an indexer preparing such a database to classify your article properly. The abstract should be able to stand on its own to summarize your work to someone who has not read the full paper. The abstract should contain only concepts and assertions that are also found in the full paper.

An abstract is typically 50 to 200 words long. Avoid acronyms and special typography, such as mathematical formulas. Sentences that state findings ("Our statistical analysis shows that Ada programmers have fewer cavities than C++ programmers") are preferable to sentences that merely state topics ("We compare the dental health of Ada programmers and C++ programmers"). Avoid explicit reference to the paper ("The paper contains six tables supporting this finding"): The subject of the abstract is your work, not your paper, and it goes without saying that the paper contains further details to support the assertions of the abstract.