What is an abstract?

A succinct summary of a research project that briefly describes both the content and the scope of the project, and that pinpoints the project’s objective, its methodology, and its findings or conclusions.
A description of your project, not of your topic – avoid summarizing the entire background of your topic
What should it include?

First, identify the research questions. What was the project’s purpose? Your abstract should begin with a statement of the problem that you wanted to solve, or the issue you wanted to explore, and you should explain your rationale for pursuing the project. It is appropriate to state your thesis or hypothesis in the beginning of the abstract, though you may, instead, choose to place it in the concluding portion. Identify the framework of the paper.
Second, you’ll want to discuss the methodology you used in order to answer your research questions. Describe what methods you used to resolve the problem or explore the issue. Methodology differs between hard or social sciences and the humanities.
For science, methodology should include a short description of the process you used to conduct your research. You’ll discuss the design of the study, the sample size studied, and you’ll identify the data analysis methods you used.
For humanities, you should discuss theoretical framework or methodological assumptions.
Third, discuss your results. What did you find? What conclusions have you come to based your results? If the study is not concluded, what are your preliminary results? Unexpected or negative results should certainly be discussed should they occur. Remember that the description of your results and their implication is more crucial than the raw results themselves. What are the implications of this study for your discipline? What are your recommendations for further research?
Finally, your conclusion should close with a statement of the project’s implications and contributions to its field. Persuade the reader that the topic is worth further study.
Tips for Writing Abstracts

Specific Directions included

Be concise
Beware of repetition.
Don’t cut and paste from your original research document
Make every word count. Simplicity is the key.
Use short, direct sentences.
Vary sentence structure and avoid choppiness.
Watch verb tense.
Use correct grammar.
Do not use figures, tables, or long quotes in the abstract. While these are appropriate in the research project itself, it makes the abstract too long and detracts focus from the scope of the project.
Do not cite sources in an abstract.