The pathway I followed had one paper in each semester, each ending with a 10,000 word report, presentation and oral defence with external examiners, advisors and peers. ‘Oral Defence?’ Presentation = Power Point = black hole = end of my doctorate.  Or so I thought.

After the first sentence of my first oral defence (for defence, read inquisition), the words just vanished, the cogency of the presentation evaporated, the Ed. Doc. went down the gurglers within my mind and I went home absolutely and utterly shattered.  And then later, Advisor Two declared, “Pick one theory and only one theory” but Advisor One thankfully said, “It’s your project"  These two snippets are but a part of the story...

This paper is about how one person survived the trials and tribulations of the first two years of the Ed. Doc. process. 

This is a two page guide to writing an abstract effectively.  An academic abstract is a miniature work of art.  Abstracts are not always produced as a summarising version of completed academic labour; instead, they frequently espouse academic intentions to deliver scholastic outputs and/or research outcomes in time for a scheduled event.  

A robust abstract,  addresses four central questions which ask What is it about?; What did you do?; What did you find? and, How is that important?  An abstract that is concentrated is potent and potency heralds resolute work.  A well constructed abstract is staunch writing that conveys maximum meaning through minimum words.