APA 7th edition - Paper Format: Abstract

Most courses require students to write papers using the Student Style. Do not use the Professional Style paper unless your instructor requests you to do so. If you are unsure which style to use, ask your instructor for clarification.

The key differences between Student Style and Professional Style are the Title Page and the Abstract. 

Student Style papers do not require an abstract, whereas Professional Style papers do require an abstract.

How to Format An Abstract - Tutorial

An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the paper and is accompanied by a list of keywords. 

Heading:

• Write the section label “Abstract” in bold font, centre aligned at the top of the page, following Title Casing.

Paragraph Alignment and Indentation: 

• The abstract is the only paragraph that should not be indented.
• Write the abstract as a single paragraph.
• Generally, the abstract should be a maximum of 250 words.

Keywords:

• Keywords are words, phrases, or acronyms that describe the most important aspect of your paper.
• Write the label “Keywords:” in italicized font one line below the abstract, indented 0.5 inches (or 1.27cm).
• Provide the keywords after the colon in lowercase (capitalize only proper nouns) and separate each keyword by a comma.
• Do not use punctuation after the last keyword.
• If they keywords run onto a second line, the second line is not indented.
• Do not put the keywords in quotation marks.

See Additional Resources for more.