Abstract

The abstract is a 150–250 word summary of your paper. An abstract is usually

required in professional papers, but it’s rare to include one in student papers (except
for longer texts like theses and dissertations).

The abstract is placed on a separate page after the title page. At the top of the page,
write the section label “Abstract” (bold and centered). The contents of the abstract
appear directly under the label. Unlike regular paragraphs, the first line is not
indented. Abstracts are usually written as a single paragraph without headings or
blank lines.

Directly below the abstract, you may list three to five relevant keywords. On a new
line, write the label “Keywords:” (italicized and indented), followed by the keywords in
lowercase letters, separated by commas.
APA Abstract (2020) | Formatting, Length, and Keywords
Published on November 6, 2020 by Raimo Streefkerk. Revised on January 3, 2022.

This article reflects the APA 7th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 6th edition guidelines.

An APA abstract is a comprehensive summary of your paper in which you briefly address
the research problem, hypotheses, methods, results, and implications of your research. It’s
placed on a separate page right after the title page and is usually no longer than 250 words.

Most professional papers that are submitted for publication require an abstract. Student
papers typically don’t need an abstract, unless instructed otherwise.

Table of contents

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How to format the abstract

Formatting instructions
Follow these five steps to format your abstract in APA Style:

1. Insert a running head (for a professional paper—not needed for a student paper) and
page number.
2. Set page margins to 1 inch (2.54 cm).
3. Write “Abstract” (bold and centered) at the top of the page.
4. Place the contents of your abstract on the next line.
a. Do not indent the first line.
b. Double-space the text.
c. Use a legible font like Times New Roman (12 pt.).
d. Limit the length to 250 words.
5. List 3–5 keywords directly below the content.
a. Indent the first line 0.5 inches.
b. Write the label “Keywords:” (italicized).
c. Write keywords in lowercase letters.
d. Separate keywords with commas.
e. Do not use a period after the keywords.

How to write an APA abstract

The abstract is a self-contained piece of text that informs the reader what your
research is about. It’s best to write the abstract after you’re finished with the rest of
your paper.

The questions below may help structure your abstract. Try answering them in one to
three sentences each.

 What is the problem? Outline the objective, research questions, and/or hypotheses.

  What has been done? Explain your research methods.
 What did you discover? Summarize the key findings and conclusions.
 What do the findings mean? Summarize the discussion and recommendations.

Check out our guide on how to write an abstract for more guidance and an annotated
example.

APA abstract example

Which keywords to use
At the end of the abstract, you may include a few keywords that will be used for
indexing if your paper is published on a database. Listing your keywords will help
other researchers find your work.

Choosing relevant keywords is essential. Try to identify keywords that address your
topic, method, or population. APA recommends including three to five keywords.

Example: Identifying relevant keywordsJournal article title: Social comparisons on social media: The
impact of Facebook on young women’s body image concerns and mood

Keywords: Facebook, social media, magazine, appearance-related social comparison, body

image concerns, mood.
How to write an APA abstract

An APA abstract is a short summary designed to help a reader decide if they are
going to read the entire paper. An effective abstract will communicate your
hypothesis, method, and results while also creating credibility for yourself as the
author. An abstract will also make it easier for new readers to find your work.

In this guide, you will learn how to format an APA abstract. It begins with an overview
of the key aspects included with an abstract and ends with a set of real APA abstract
examples that you can look at.

The information in this guide comes straight from the source: The Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Most of the relevant
information comes from Section 2.9.
Here’s a run-through of everything this page includes:

 What is an APA abstract page?

 How to format an APA abstract
 Paragraph format vs. structured format
 Adding a keywords section after your APA abstract
 About APA formatting and the APA style guide
What is an APA abstract page?
While the abstract page plays an important role in getting the reader interested, it is not a
sales pitch. It’s about reporting, not commenting. That means that it should accurately reflect
each key aspect of your paper.  In other words, it is a concise, comprehensive summary of
your paper.

This is where you describe the problem you were exploring, the methods you used to explore
it, and the results or conclusions of your exploration. In some cases, you might also be
required to state the significance of your conclusions.

Here are some of the key aspects of an APA abstract that might be requested by the
publication:

 Basic problem: Why did this work need to be done?

 Clearly-stated hypotheses: What was your hypothesis?
 Methods of investigation: How did you do your research? How did you design your
experiment or argument? For scientific papers, include basic sample information.
 Results: What was the result of your study?
 Implications: What is the significance of your findings?
Remember, the specific sections or labels in your abstract might vary based on who you are
submitting to.

Qualities of a good abstract

In addition to the formatting requirements, the Publication Manual also provides some
guidance on what other qualities make for a good abstract.
Here are the qualities of a good abstract as defined by APA. You can find more information
on how to formulate a great abstract in chapter 3.
  Accurate: The most important thing is that your abstract accurately reflects the contents and
purpose of your paper. The general rule of thumb for accuracy is, if it doesn’t appear in your
paper, it should not appear in the abstract.
 Non-evaluative: The APA instructs us to “Report rather than evaluate” (p.73). It is
inappropriate to add any opinions or comments to the abstract.
 Coherent and readable: Your abstract needs to be as clear as possible. Use concise,
deliberate language. It helps to use verbs instead of nouns when possible (e.g., “investigated”
rather than “an investigation of”).
 Concise: Make sure every sentence is as informative as possible. There should be no “extra”
words in an abstract; it’s all about getting the point across as efficiently as possible. Because
abstracts are often used for academic search engines, it is good practice to use specific terms
that you think people would use to find your paper.
How to format an APA abstract
In large part, the abstract page is formatted just like any APA paper. That means that it
should be 12pt font and double-spaced the whole way through.

A properly formatted abstract will also be:

 No more than 250 words in length.

 Placed on its own page, immediately following the APA title page.
 Labeled with a bold, center-justified “Abstract” at the top
It is important to note that some publications will have their own instructions on how to
format the abstract. In addition, some publications require a statement of significance in
addition to the abstract.
If you are submitting your paper to a journal, be sure to check the publication’s author
instructions.

Paragraph format vs. structured format

The abstract page of an APA paper can be presented in two ways. As the author, you have the
option of presenting your abstract in either paragraph format or structured format.
Paragraph format is more common with student papers. This is a single paragraph with no
indentation on the first line. The objective, method, results, and conclusions are presented one
after another in a simple, narrative manner.
Structured format is similar in formatting with one key difference. This format calls for the
insertion of specific labels to identify the different parts of the abstract. In other words,
“Objective,” “Method,” “Results,” and “Conclusions” are presented as labels before their
corresponding sentences in the abstract.
It’s important to remember that some publications have different labeling requirements. If
you’re submitting your paper to a journal, be sure to check the formatting standards.

APA abstract example: Paragraph format

Let’s move on to a specific example of a properly formatted APA abstract written in
paragraph format.

The following abstract is from the paper “Movement, wildness, and animal aesthetics” by
Tom Greaves. Note how the first line is not indented like a normal paragraph.
Abstract
The key role that animals play in our aesthetic appreciation of the natural world has only
gradually been highlighted in discussions in environmental aesthetics. In this article I make
use of the phenomenological notion of ‘perceptual sense’ as developed by Merleau-Ponty to
argue that open-ended expressive-responsive movement is the primary aesthetic ground for
our appreciation of animals. It is through their movement that the array of qualities we admire
in animals are manifest qua animal qualities. Against functionalist and formalist accounts, I
defend and develop an account of expressive-responsive movement as the primary perceptual
sense of animals. I go on to suggest that the primacy of movement in the aesthetic
appreciation of animals is also the primary sense of animal ‘wildness’, and that a key part of
the rewilding paradigm should be the development of such appreciation.

In the paragraph above, Greaves uses his first sentence to explain the basic problem, and the
next two sentences to describe the method. The fourth sentence presents the results, and the
fifth sentence wraps things up with a conclusion.

It’s only five sentences, and it tells the reader everything they need to know about the
contents of the paper.

APA abstract example: Structured format

Next up is an example of a properly formatted APA abstract written in structured format.
This example uses the same abstract as above, with the addition of identifying labels.

Structured abstracts are only necessary when specifically requested by the class, institution,
or journal you are submitting to. For all APA journals, these labels are bold, italicized, and
capitalized.

Abstract
Objective. The key role that animals play in our aesthetic appreciation of the natural world
has only gradually been highlighted in discussions in environmental aesthetics. Method. In
this article I make use of the phenomenological notion of ‘perceptual sense’ as developed by
Merleau-Ponty to argue that open-ended expressive-responsive movement is the primary
aesthetic ground for our appreciation of animals. It is through their movement that the array
of qualities we admire in animals are manifest qua animal qualities. Results. Against
functionalist and formalist accounts, I defend and develop an account of expressive-
responsive movement as the primary perceptual sense of animals. Conclusions. I go on to
suggest that the primacy of movement in the aesthetic appreciation of animals is also the
primary sense of animal ‘wildness’, and that a key part of the rewilding paradigm should be
the development of such appreciation.
Adding a keywords section after your APA abstract
A paper’s keywords section is intended to help people find your work. These are the
acronyms, phrases, or words that describe the most important elements of your paper. Any
papers submitted to an APA journal should include three to five keywords.

The keywords section is generally only required for professional papers. However, some
professors and universities specifically request that it be included in student papers.

Formatting the keywords section

The keywords are presented on the same page as the abstract, one line below the end of the
abstract paragraph. It begins with the label “Keywords:”, and it is italicized and indented
0.5in from the margin.
Next comes a list of the keywords separated by commas. The keywords should be lowercase,
unless the keyword is a proper noun. There is no punctuation at the end of a keyword list.

APA abstract with keywords example

Take another look at the abstract example that was provided above. Here is what a set of
keywords might look like for that paper, pulling between 3-5 specific terms from the abstract
itself.

The keywords are placed one line below the abstract without any additional spaces.

Keywords: animals, animal aesthetics, wildness, rewilding

About APA formatting and the APA style guide
The information in this guide came from the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (7th ed.). Chapter 2 of this book lays out the basic formatting
elements for APA 7, including how to write an APA abstract.
You can also consult chapter 3.3 for more in-depth recommendations on how to formulate
your abstract based on what type of paper you are writing.
How to Write an Abstract in
APA Format: Steps and
Examples
By Dr. Saul McLeod, published April 24, 2020

An APA abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of an

article. An APA abstract summarizes, usually in one paragraph of between
150–250 words, the major aspects of a research paper or dissertation in a
prescribed sequence that includes:

1. The overall purpose of the study

2. Informaton regarding the method and participants
3. Main findings or trends
4. Your interpretations and conclusion

The abstract should stand alone, and be “self-contained”, and make sense to
the reader in isolation from the main article.
The purpose of the abstract is to give the reader a quick overview of the
essential information before reading the entire article.
Place the abstract on a separate page, after the title page but before
the introduction section.
Note: This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7),
which released in October 2019.
  Table of contents

1. APA style abstract

2. APA abstract example
3. When to write an abstract
4. The rationale
5. The method
6. The results
7. The conclusion

APA Formatting Style for Abstracts

An APA abstract must be formatted as follows:
Include the running head aligned to the left at the top of the page (professional
papers only) and page number. Note, student papers do not require a running
head.
On the first line, center the heading “Abstract” and bold (do not underlined or
italicize).
Do not indent the single abstract paragraph (which begins one line below the
section title).
Double-space the text.
Use Times New Roman font in 12 pt.
Set one-inch (or 2.54 cm) margins.
If you include a “keywords” section at the end of the abstract, indent the first line
and italicize the word “Keywords” while leaving the keywords themselves without
any formatting.

APA Format Abstract Example

When to Write an Abstract
Although the abstract will appear as the very first part of your paper, it’s a
good practice to write your abstract after you’ve drafted your full paper, so that
you know what you’re summarizing.

Structure of the Abstract

[*NOTE: DO NOT separate the components of the abstract – it should be written
as a single paragraph. This section is separated to illustrate the abstract’s
structure.

1) The Rationale
One or two sentences describing the overall purpose of the study and the
research problem(s) you investigated. You are basically justifying why this
study was conducted.

 What is the importance of the research?

 Why would a reader be interested in the larger work?
 For example, are you filling a gap in previous research, or applying new
methods to take a fresh look at existing ideas or data?

Examples

Women who are diagnosed with breast cancer can experience an array of
psychosocial difficulties; however, social support, particularly from a spouse,
has been shown to have a protective function during this time. This study
examined the ways in which a woman’s daily mood, pain, and fatigue, and her
spouse’s marital satisfaction predict the woman’s report of partner support in
the context of breast cancer.

 The current nursing shortage, high hospital nurse job dissatisfaction,

and reports of uneven quality of hospital care are not uniquely American
phenomena.

 Students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are

more likely to exhibit behavior difficulties than their typically
developing peers. The aim of this study was to identify specific risk
factors that influence variability in behavior difficulties among
individuals with SEND.
2) The Method
Information regarding the participants (number, and population). One or two
sentences outlining the method, explaining what was done and how.

 The method is described in the present tense.

Examples

Pretest data from a larger intervention study and multilevel modeling were
used to examine the effects of women’s daily mood, pain, and fatigue and
average levels of mood, pain, and fatigue on women’s report of social support
received from her partner, as well as how the effects of mood interacted with
partners’ marital satisfaction.

 This paper presents reports from 43,000 nurses from more than 700
hospitals in the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, and Germany
in 1998–1999.

 The study sample comprised 4,228 students with SEND, aged 5–15,
drawn from 305 primary and secondary schools across England.
Explanatory variables were measured at the individual and school levels
at baseline, along with a teacher-reported measure of behavior
difficulties (assessed at baseline and at 18-month follow-up).

3) The Results
One or two sentences indicating the main findings or trends found as a result
of your analysis.

 The results are described in the present or past tense.

Examples

Results show that on days in which women reported higher levels of negative
or positive mood, as well as on days they reported more pain and fatigue, they
reported receiving more support. Women who, on average, reported higher
levels of positive mood tended to report receiving more support than those
who, on average, reported lower positive mood. However, average levels of
negative mood were not associated with support. Higher average levels of
fatigue but not pain were associated with higher support. Finally, women
whose husbands reported higher levels of marital satisfaction reported
receiving more partner support, but husbands’ marital satisfaction did not
moderate the effect of women’s mood on support.
  Nurses in countries with distinctly different health care systems report
similar shortcomings in their work environments and the quality of
hospital care. While the competence of and relation between nurses and
physicians appear satisfactory, core problems in work design and
workforce management threaten the provision of care.

 Hierarchical linear modelling of data revealed that differences between

schools accounted for between 13% (secondary) and 15.4% (primary) of
the total variance in the development of students’ behavior difficulties,
with the remainder attributable to individual differences. Statistically
significant risk markers for these problems across both phases of
education were being male, eligibility for free school meals, being
identified as a bully, and lower academic achievement. Additional risk
markers specific to each phase of education at the individual and school
levels are also acknowledged.

4) The Conclusion / Implications

A brief summary of your conclusions and implications of the results, described
in the present tense. Explain to the reader what the results mean and why the
study is important.

 For example, what changes should be implemented as a result of the

findings of the work?
 How does this work add to the body of knowledge on the topic?

Examples

Implications of these findings are discussed relative to assisting couples

during this difficult time in their lives.

 Resolving these issues, which are amenable to managerial intervention,

is essential to preserving patient safety and care of consistently high
quality.

 Behavior difficulties are affected by risks across multiple ecological

levels. Addressing any one of these potential influences is therefore
likely to contribute to the reduction in the problems displayed.

The above examples of abstracts are from the

following papers:
Aiken, L. H., Clarke, S. P., Sloane, D. M., Sochalski, J. A., Busse, R., Clarke, H., ...
& Shamian, J. (2001). Nurses’ reports on hospital care in five
countries. Health affairs, 20(3), 43-53.
Boeding, S. E., Pukay-Martin, N. D., Baucom, D. H., Porter, L. S., Kirby, J. S.,
Gremore, T. M., & Keefe, F. J. (2014). Couples and breast cancer: Women’s
mood and partners’ marital satisfaction predicting support
perception. Journal of Family Psychology, 28(5), 675.
Oldfield, J., Humphrey, N., & Hebron, J. (2017). Risk factors in the development
of behavior difficulties among students with special educational needs and
disabilities: A multilevel analysis. British journal of educational psychology,
87(2), 146-169.

The Abstract SHOULD NOT contain:

 lengthy background information,
 references to other literature,
 elliptical (i.e., ending with ...) or incomplete sentences,
 abbreviations or terms that may be confusing to readers,
 any sort of illustration, figure, or table, or references to them.