short version
A short version is used when a shorter version exists for a scientific work, a factual text or a literary text. As a rule, short versions are created by subsequent shortening of the long version. The extent of the reduction can vary widely depending on its purpose. It ranges from the omission of individual passages (e.g. adaptations ad usum Delphini ) to the reduction to a fraction of the scope.
Abstracts of literary works
There are also long and short versions of novels , some films and occasionally pieces of music , but they differ less in length than knowledge and factual texts. In the narrative literature of the Middle Ages, individually produced abstracts were not uncommon, which usually offer a reduction to the summa facti (main strand of the event) and remove commenting and amplifying passages (descriptions, digressions).
Abstracts of factual texts
There can be abstracts of a wide variety of publications: Articles in specialist journals and newspapers , diploma and doctoral theses , reports, résumés and glosses, speeches , radio features , weather reports and others.
Abstracts of scientific or factual texts can fulfill the following functions:
- Make the reader curious about the topic;
- To make it easier for him to decide whether reading the whole text can be worthwhile for him;
- Familiarize the reader with the main theses without bothering with the details;
- Show links to other topics;
- With abstracts in other languages, present the basic ideas to those readers who do not speak the language of publication.
Special requirements for scientific works (abstracts)
The specifications for abstracts are based on the scope of the work:
- In the case of scientific articles , a short version as an abstract of a few lines is usually preferred. Some magazines only allow long articles to be up to ¼ page.
- Internationally, English is the standard language for abstracts;
- Since around 1990, additional (or sole) English summaries have been used in the German and Romance-speaking areas .
- For abstracts of presentations submitted for conferences and congresses, a length of 200 to 300 words is usual. As a rule, the abstract must be included with the submission of the contribution.
- For diploma theses and similar works (bachelor thesis, master thesis, etc.), the short version should cover half a page to a full page and describe the work, its goals and cross-connections in generally understandable (not special) technical language . In this context, the short version is often referred to as the “Management Summary”. In this form it is i. d. Usually placed in front of the actual work. Often, the management summary also contains its own rating of the topic, a look into the future and to answer the hypothesis that is processed in the work (See Lück, Wolfgang. Technique of scientific work. 9th edition Munich 2003, page 18. -60).
