Part 1
Divide the class into five groups of equal size. Assign each group five different abstracts, which the group members should read through and discuss (approx. 30 min.). Next, rearrange the groups so that they are now composed of students who read different abstracts. The students in each group should now briefly present (in English/Swedish) the abstracts they read to the rest of their group members (approx. 30 min.).
Part 2
Students should each be assigned an abstract to analyse using the following questions (approx. 30 min.):
- How long is the abstract (no. words)?
- How is the text divided?
- Which aspects of the project are described?
- How is the text written? (formal conventions, first-person/other point of view, grammatical tense, etc.)
- What is good about the text?
- How could the text be improved?
Next, allow the students to discuss in groups of around five people what conclusions they have arrived at concerning the structure and content of the abstracts they read. Based on these conclusions, the groups should then discuss what they consider to be useful/less-useful approaches to writing abstract texts (approx. 30 min.). Following these discussions, you can pose open-ended questions to the whole class about what conclusions the groups arrived at, so that each group can learn from the others (approx. 30 min.). Note that the different parts of this exercise can be divided across more than one lesson to suit the class’s schedule, or be given as homework assignments.