An abstract appears at the beginning of a paper and provides the essence of it. As abstracts cannot be too long, include the key topics covered in the paper in your abstract. This will enable the reader to select if your paper is what they want to read. The technical terms introduced in the abstract should be significant enough to draw the attention of the reader. The abstract, in essence, must be thorough and accurate.
Creating an abstract
- The abstract should be in active voice.
- Write the conclusion and the result sections in present tense.
- Any research performed as a part of your work should be given in past tense.
- Highlight the scope and the objective of the paper in your abstract.
- Do not write topics that you have not discussed in your paper.
- Use technical terminology that will attract the reader based on key terms associated with the topic.
- You can include citations of other published papers in your abstract if necessary.
- Do not evaluate what is discussed in the paper.
- Never try to overstate the main topic of the paper.
Formatting an abstract in APA style
- The abstract is given on a separate page. It comes after the title page.
- Use “Abstract” as the heading. Format the title in bold and align it to the center at the top of the page.
- The abstract should be concise. Restrict your abstract to a maximum of 250 words.
- The abstract text begins on a new line after the heading. Do not provide any indentation to the text.
- Write the abstract in a single paragraph. If you are expected to create a structured abstract with subheadings (e.g., Aim, Methods, Results, and Conclusion), format the subheadings in bold italics and include them in one paragraph.
Abstracts of different types of articles
Empirical article
An article that provides quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods is an empirical article. An empirical article should cover the following elements in the abstract:
- Problem to be analyzed in the study
- Methods used in the study (e.g., data gathering technique, design of the research)
- Sources of different data or the volunteers and members of the research (e.g., voters list in an election, senior citizens in England, and unmarried men in Uganda)
- Characteristics of the research adapted
- Outline of the research
- Approach of the study
- Data collection methods
- Size of the sample studied
- Resources and stock
- Outcome of the research
Replication article
The following are key elements of a replication article:
- The kind of replication mentioned in the study (e.g., theoretical or practical)
- Scope involved in replication
- The research that was replicated
- Results concluded after the replication study
Qualitative and quantitative meta-analyses articles
A qualitative and quantitative meta-analysis will include the following elements:
- Plausible reasons for performing the research
- Problem(s) to be analyzed in the study
- Approach and techniques followed
- Results of the study
- Conclusions
Literature review article
Literature review articles or narrative literature review articles have the following elements:
- Scope of the literature study
- Duration of the study
- Conclusions
- Theoretical article
A theoretical article includes the following components:
- Basis of the theory
- Outcome
Methodological article
The abstract of a methodological article covers the following components:
- Characteristics and applications of the techniques employed
- Results
Example APA abstract
Abstract
Promoting youth and women entrepreneurship is crucial to inclusive growth and the future economic and social prospects of developing countries. Evidence tends to suggest that young and women entrepreneurs are in a minority, and the extent and generating mechanisms of this outcome tend to be country-specific. The papers explore various challenges in the implementation of public policies designed to promote entrepreneurship within these specific segments of the population.
Key takeaways
- An abstract appears on its own page.
- An abstract is always given in one paragraph.
- An abstract talks about the important topics discussed in the paper.
- An abstract should be concise, elegant, and attractive.