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How To Write A Structured Abstract (New)

This document discusses Emerald's introduction of structured abstracts for all journals in 2005. It provides the rationale for using structured abstracts, which is to ensure consistency, provide better information to readers, and increase the likelihood that readers will access full papers. Structured abstracts act as "signposts" by providing clarity, easier evaluation of abstracts, faster literature searches, and isolation of key paper elements. They set Emerald abstracts apart and support academic and library needs. Structured abstracts help editors and reviewers efficiently evaluate papers before full reviews. The document provides instructions for writing structured abstracts and an example of a structured abstract.

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136 views3 pages

How To Write A Structured Abstract (New)

This document discusses Emerald's introduction of structured abstracts for all journals in 2005. It provides the rationale for using structured abstracts, which is to ensure consistency, provide better information to readers, and increase the likelihood that readers will access full papers. Structured abstracts act as "signposts" by providing clarity, easier evaluation of abstracts, faster literature searches, and isolation of key paper elements. They set Emerald abstracts apart and support academic and library needs. Structured abstracts help editors and reviewers efficiently evaluate papers before full reviews. The document provides instructions for writing structured abstracts and an example of a structured abstract.

Uploaded by

wulan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Structured abstracts

Emerald introduced structured abstracts to all journals in 2005. This development was
undertaken as part of our strategy of continuous improvement in the delivery and dissemination
of papers. Use of structured abstracts ensures that better information is supplied and that there
is more consistency across the journals and database. Ultimately, readers and researchers
searching the database are more likely to access the paper when the abstract provides useful
information. In the past, author-written abstracts were very variable both in terms of content and
quality. Structured abstracts ensure we no longer have this problem.

In an electronic environment, abstracts are more important that they have ever been.
Sometimes this “snippet” is the only thing a reader or researcher will see and it is the one
chance we have of persuading them to download the full text of the paper.

Structured abstracts act like signposts, they provide:

1. Consistency and clarity


2. Much easier evaluation of abstracts when confronted with a list of them
3. Speed to any literature search – saves time therefore.
4. A format where it is easy to isolate sections and therefore read about the key elements of a
paper
5. A unique approach which sets Emerald abstracts apart from others
6. Real support when seeking academic support materials depending on the identified needs
e.g. research papers employing particular types of research methods
7. Useful information in libraries – identifying texts for library users or directing them to
Emerald
8. More efficient evaluation of papers at the abstract level
9. Transparency of the valuable content of the database acting as a clearer shop window
10. Ease of reading.
11. Particular benefits for practitioners – being able to select quickly those papers with explicit
practical implications
12. Benefits for researchers – being able to select quickly those papers that may help them
design their own research agenda and see what has already been done.
13. A major benefit in that one can pick out quickly the new angle/value of a paper.
14. Best practice from the medical and scientific fields but adapted for our readers' and
researchers' needs within the management and business field.
15. A clear framework for extracting, summarising and emphasising pertinent information for
people in management
16. Encouragement and a requirement for authors and researchers to provide stronger links
between research and practice – something that both government and other funding bodies
support.

Structured abstracts will help the Editor in their preliminary review of a paper and will certainly
help the journal reviewers get an overview of a paper even before conducting the review.

Writing the abstract

To produce a structured abstract for the journal and Emerald database, please complete the
following fields about your paper. There are four fields which are obligatory (Purpose, Design,
Findings and Value); the other two (Research limitations/implications and Practical implications)
may be omitted if they are not applicable to your paper.

Abstracts should contain no more than 250 words. Write concisely and clearly. The abstract
should reflect only what appears in the original paper.

Purpose of this paper What are the reason(s) for writing the paper or the
aims of the research?
Design/methodology/approach How are the objectives achieved? Include the
main method(s) used for the research. What is the
approach to the topic and what is the theoretical or
subject scope of the paper?
Findings What was found in the course of the work? This
will refer to analysis, discussion, or results.
Research limitations/implications (if If research is reported on in the paper this section
applicable) must be completed and should include
suggestions for future research and any identified
limitations in the research process.
Practical implications What outcomes and implications for practice,
(if applicable) applications and consequences are identified? Not
all papers will have practical implications but most
will. What changes to practice should be made as
a result of this research/paper?
Social implications (if applicable) What will be the impact on society of this
research?  How will it influence public attitudes? 
How will it influence (corporate) social
responsibility or environmental issues?  How
could it inform public or industry policy?  How
might it affect quality of life?  Not all papers will
have social implications.
What is original/value of paper What is new in the paper? State the value of the
paper and to whom.

A sample structured abstract

Title: Internal brand building and structuration: the role of leadership

Author(s): Christine Vallaster, Leslie de Chernatony

Journal: European Journal of Marketing

Year: 2006 Volume: 40 Issue: 7/8 Page: - 784

Purpose – The paper aims to clarify the relationship between organisational structures and
individual brand supporting behaviour. It proposes modelling the social transformation process
and outlining why and how leadership is important throughout the internal brand building
process. The study aims to expand the domain of corporate branding by including a broader
range of human resource and leadership-related aspects than is normally found in the branding
literature.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper opted for an exploratory study using the open-
ended approach of grounded theory, including 30 depth interviews and one expert group
discussion with employees representing middle and senior management having mainly a
marketing and corporate communications background. The data were complemented by
documentary analysis, including brand documents, descriptions of internal processes, and
copies of employee magazine articles.
Findings – The paper provides empirical insights about how change is brought about during
internal brand building. It suggests that successful leaders act as “integrating forces” on two
levels: integrating the elements of corporate identity structures, and mediating between the
corporate branding structures and the individual.
Research limitations/implications – Because of the chosen research approach, the research
results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed
propositions further.
Practical implications – The paper includes implications for the development of a powerful
brand image, the development of “brand ambassadors” and for managing the balance between
stability and change.
Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified need to study how brand-supportive
behaviour can be enabled.

Keywords: Brand management, Corporate branding, Leadership, Social change

Article Type: Research paper


purpose
This paper aims to examine cases of fraudulent financial reporting (FFR) which were subject to
published enforcement actions by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) from 1998 to 2012
for reasons of alleged financial misreporting. It investigates the main attempts used (how) and
sensible motives (why) for these fraudulent reporting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study undertakes a close examination of the financial reports manipulated – annual
accounts, interim reports and financial reports in listing proposals, initial public offering
prospectuses and corporate restructuring proposals. Due to the limited number of FFR
published, a close examination of these cases is the best way to reach a more comprehensive
and detailed understanding of “how” FFR takes place, rather than performing large sample
statistical analyses. This study also collects data which provide evidence for the possible
motivations in resorting to the FFR.
Findings
The most common attempt used by the sample companies was to overstate their reported
revenue by recognising fictitious sales from bogus customers. Sample companies who
attempted this initial manipulation often followed with consequential manipulations and in some
cases also embarked on masking manipulations. Sensible motives for the sample companies to
manipulate their financial statements include capital raising exercises, closeness to defaulting
on debt repayments and sustaining equity overvaluations.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitation of this study is its lack of breadth due to the limited number of reported
cases available. Moreover, taking the sample companies used from enforcement action
releases published by the SC presupposes that the SC has diligently and correctly identified all
the FFR cases – whereas there is a possibility that some companies involved in FFR may not
yet have been detected or publicly revealed. Notwithstanding these limitations, our findings
provide a comprehensive insight, which is sufficient in depth, into the operational aspects of
FFR in Malaysia.
Practical implications
One practical lesson from the findings on “how” within the chain of manipulations is that auditors
ought to review the effectiveness of their analytical and substantive procedures, as a number of
the FFR cases remained undetected by the audit process. A second is that accounting
standards setters may wish to reconsider the amount of discretion given to managers in
financial reporting. On the one hand, some managers have used this discretion to provide useful
information to the market; however, others have opportunistically used it for personal gain.
Social implications
From the societal perspective, it is time for managers, as agents of capital providers, to self-
review their responsibilities and stewardship in financial reporting. There needs to be a
paradigm shift in their attitudes towards the perceived incentives of, and opportunities for, FFR.
Managers’ wrongdoings in these accounting scandals have had significant adverse
consequences for society – including minority shareholders, investor confidence, future
accountants and managers in the making.
Originality/value
This study provides direct and practical evidence on the “how” and “why” of FFR in the context
of a developing country – Malaysia. Such evidence is limited in the existing literature and
relevant to practitioners.

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