Basic Instructions for Organizing a Research Paper Abstract in the APA Style

The abstract of your research paper is the second important part of your paper. The abstract is the second page of the paper, and it is on the title page. The things that should be included in this part of your paper are the purpose of your paper, all of your main points, your findings, your methods, and of course the conclusion. Most people recommend that you write this part of your paper last to ensure that you include everything that you need in it. APA style is a simple way to format your paper, and all of this information will ensure that you do it right the first time.

Format

• The abstract of your research paper should be about 150 words but no longer than 250 and it should also be a single paragraph.
• This is also the only page in your paper that is indented five spaces from the left.
• Since it is an APA paper, you do have to have the entire paper including the abstract double spaces, with 12 point Times New Roman, and all of the margins have to be one inch.
• On every page of your paper including the abstract, you also have to have headers. This is in the upper right-hand corner, and it should include the page number and your last name or a shortened version of the title. You will be told by your instructor, what is a need for that.
• The title to the abstract is centered on the top of the page without any extra spaces between it and the paragraph.
• Don’t bold, underline, or italics to the title. You also don’t want to use any mislabeling or quotation marks in the title.
• You also have to make sure that you put two spaces between each sentence.
• And lastly, you want to use active and past tense voice in your abstract. And if you have any abbreviations or acronyms, they should also be addressed here to avoid confusion.

This gives you all of the requirements that are needed to complete it correctly the first time and make sure that you talk with your instructor and see if they require more to your paper because some instructors ask you to do more than is required.