A shortened version of your paper’s title should be aligned to the top left of the page. The character count should not exceed 50 characters, including spaces and punctuation. Every letter in the page header should be capitalized. The page number should appear in the top right of the page. An APA abstract should be the second page of your paper, so the number “2” should appear in the corner.
Some professors will also accept Arial font in 10-point or 12-point, but you should check with your professor before deciding to choose it.
“Double-spaced” means that lines of texts are separated by a blank line. [4] X Research source Aside from the abstract, the entire paper should also be double-spaced.
The first letter of the word is capitalized, but the rest of the word is in lower-case. Do not bold, italicize, or underline the word, and do not use quotation marks. The word should stand alone and in normal font.
Keep it short. A standard APA abstract is 150 to 250 words long and contained in a single paragraph.
Indent as though starting a new paragraph. Type the word “Keywords” in italics. Capitalize the “K” and follow it with a colon. In normal, non-italicized font, follow the colon with three to four keywords describing the paper. These keywords should each appear in the text of the abstract. Separate them with commas.
To reflect the fact that it is a summary, your abstract should use present tense when referring to results and conclusions and past tense when referring to methods and measurements taken. Do not use future tense. [6] X Research source Reread your essay before writing the abstract to refresh your memory. Pay close attention to the purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendations mentioned in your paper. Write a rough draft of your abstract without looking directly at your paper. This will help you to summarize without copying key sentences from your paper.
An informational abstract states the purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendations included in your report. The abstract should highlight essential points in order to allow the reader to decide whether or not to read the rest of the report. Its total length should be about 10 percent or less of the length of the report. Descriptive abstracts include the purpose, methods, and scope defined in the report, but not the results, conclusions, or recommendations. These abstracts are less common to APA style and usually fall under 100 words. The purpose is the introduce the subject to the reader, essentially teasing the reader into reading the report in order to learn the results.
For instance, ask yourself why you did the study, what you did, how you did it, what you found, and what those findings signify. If your paper is about a new method, ask yourself what the advantages of the new method are and how well it works.
Even if the information is closely tied to information used in the paper, it does not belong in the abstract. Note that you can and should use different wording in your abstract. The information should be the same as the information in your paper, but the way that information is phrased should differ.
Avoid phrases like, “This paper will look at. . . " Since the abstract is so short, you should cut straight to the facts and details of your paper instead of spending effort explaining their connection to your paper. Do not rephrase or repeat the title since the abstract is almost always read along with the title. The abstract should be complete on its own since it is often read without the rest of the paper.
You can and should state your findings, but do not attempt to justify them. The paper itself should be used to justify your findings and provide additional support, not the abstract.
You should also stick with active verbs more often than passive verbs. For instance, the strongest statement for an abstract would be, “research shows. " Avoid using phrases like “I researched” or “it was researched. "
Also avoid trade names and symbols.
