What is abstraction?
Abstraction is restating a concept in more abstract (general) terms. For example, in the abstraction ladder1 below, the cow Bessie becomes the more abstract terms cow, livestock, and ultimately wealth.
Why is this useful?
Abstraction helps with critical thinking2 and Discussion writing. It allows you to rewrite the results of your study — which are often highly specific — in more general terms:
We found that juvenile Atlantic salmon exposed to 20 µg/L of nitrate had a 12% reduction in growth rate over 8 weeks.
can for example be rewritten in more general terms:
Nutrient pollution can impair fish growth during early developmental stages.
Info
ChatGPT is good at abstraction, but be aware that using AI is kind of defeats the purpose of honing your own abstraction skills 😉
Footnotes
-
Hayakawa, S.I. (no date) Language In Thought And Action. ↩
-
Seabury, M.B. (1991) ‘Critical Thinking via the Abstraction Ladder’, The English Journal, 80(2), p. 44. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/818752. ↩