In academic writing, an abstract is the portion of the written work wherein the writer has clearly laid out the subject matter presented in the main body of the work.

American Psychological Association rules state that proper formatting of an abstract should look something like this:

So, when writing your abstract for your essay, paper or what-have-you, you'll want to:

• Insert your header as proper on all other pages first.
• Then, on the first line of the work area of the page you'll center and place the word Abstract.
• Then, on the next line, begin writing your summary of the document. Try to write a summary which is between 80 and 100 words.
• Keep in mind the requirements of the organization or individual to whom you are turning in this essay. Their requirements may vary as to whether the abstract should be on it's own page or whether you can begin your paper on the same page.

Writing an abstract is as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Read what you have written thoroughly. Use your paper's headers as a guide.
2. Write five or six sentences describing your paper in a program like Microsoft Word - use your spell check, grammar check and then get your word count.
3. Edit your abstract if necessary to shorten your summary to only the most important information. If you follow these guidelines, you'll have a stellar abstract to go with your well written paper.

Good luck!