Only after you have fully completed writing your conclusion and discussion section, you can begin to write the abstract. The abstract is a brief summary of your thesis that contains all essential elements. The way abstracts are written differs between social science disciplines. A useful guide is posted at the Writing Center webpage of the University of Wisconsin, http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/presentations_abstracts.html.
Base your abstract on a recent article in one of the top journals in your field. Locate the top journals by looking at citation scores and impact factors. A fairly universal structure for your abstract answers the following questions (adapted from Pierson, 2004):
In case you are required to submit an abstract of your research to start the project, write the abstract such that it describes:
1.The research question;
2a. The societal and scientific relevance of the question and potential answers to the question;
2b. The theories used (#1 above);
2c. The hypotheses that you would like to test;
3+4. The research design used to test the hypotheses;
5. The results;
6. The implications of the findings for relevant theories and potential policy implications.