How To Write A Dissertation Abstract In The APA Format

The abstract is one of the most important parts of the paper that you will be asked to write. In the event that you have been asked to do the paper in APA, you cannot ignore this by all means possible. The importance of an abstract is such that without it, a serious lecturer is basically mandated to flunk you. If you are lucky enough, a good one might call you back, talk to you and ask you to go and write the abstract then bring back your paper for review. However, not all of us are ever that lucky when it comes to writing.

The first thing that you have to do before you get to this is to know for sure what you are supposed to do. It is very easy for students to confuse the introduction and the abstract of their papers. In as much as these two sections almost look similar, they are different. One acts as a summary of what you are about to talk about, giving the reader an idea of what the paper is all about, while the other is basically like a prelude to the paper, giving the perfect introduction, more like an opening statement.

It is like giving a speech; before you delve into the details of your speech, you need to take some time and break the ice, get the audience warmed up for what you are about to talk about, then after that you can go ahead and discuss what you really do want to talk about. By the time you get to it, at least you are sure that the audience who might have been skeptical are now paying attention, and those who were distracted also have your attention.

Writing this section is very easy. It does not have to be so long. In fact, depending on the kind of paper that you are handing in, you might only need to make it as long as one page on the higher side, or a few paragraphs but not more than one page. Some teachers even recommend that you do not take your abstract more than half a page. In the event that you are worried about not doing the right thing, take some time and look for some samples. From these you can learn best about how a good abstract section is structured.