A Few Rules Of Writing An APA Research Paper Abstract

The American Psychology Association is responsible for many of the standards that are currently upheld in the field. One of the most widely known contributions to the world of academia from this organization is the APA format for the creation of academic papers by professionals within the social sciences. This is used not only by Psychology majors but Sociologists and several others. If you wish to write an abstract in this style, the following rules can be of use.

Access the APA guide booklet

The guide booklet that is produced by the organization contains all the official rules that mus be followed to create a paper in that style. Many other unofficial booklets exist. Some of them simplify the wording so that a wider audience can use it comfortably. You should get your hands on the original in case anything is left out of the condensed versions that could cause you to lose marks.

Read a few sample abstracts

The rules as set out in the booklet may not make much sense to you when viewed in isolation. To combat this, it helps to see samples that have been completed by others in adherence to the rules in the booklet. These can be found through your professor or others in your class.

Get a good template

Templates help to pre format your work. They are basically documents with all the fields labeled so that you simply need to put in the information as it is requested of you. This is a time saver if you are not able to learn the format in time to create the paper. Not all templates will help you to format properly so look for one that comes highly recommended.

Write a sample

If you are uncertain about how skilled you have become, try writing a sample and using all of the guidelines that you have absorbed. Make a checklist as well if you think it will help to keep you on track.

Have someone who knows what they’re doing check your work

Once your sample is complete and you have checked it over as best as you can, hand it over to someone who is especially versed in APA writing. They can point out the areas that you seem to have problems with. Based on what they say, you can figure out how to perfect the abstract that you will be writing for your actual paper.