Writing an Abstract for a Psychology Research Paper, Dissertation and Lab Report
The abstract is the second page of a lab report or a psychological research paper and APA-format paper and should appear right after the title page.
Consider an abstract to be a condensed summary of your entire psychology paper.
Guide for Writing a Psychology Abstract
- You will become skilled at how to write an abstract for psychology when you are done with inscribing either an article that is based on the APA (American Psychology Association) format or perhaps a lab report because it is stipulation for the field.
- The abstract is the essence (summary, rundown) of your entire research paper; it has the same constituents as the research article i.e. intro, proposition (hypotheses), research & inference.
- And get this, even though you will be inserting the abstract at the forefront of the research article – i.e. it is the first thing that follows the title page – it will still be the last thing you will write with relevance to the article.
- As far as the word count is concerned, some sources do say that you only have a hundred (100) word limit. However, you can stretch that to between 150 to about 250 words.
- The formatting structure is simple; a single paragraph without any sort of indention. Totally discard the notion of inking uncalled-for repetitions.
- Consult various APA periodicals to gain a better understanding from abstracts written by researchers in the past is always helpful & fruitful.
Sample of an Abstract for a Psychology Research Paper
This cause-effect study was taken up to study the correlation between drug abuse and the factors that lead young adults – 18 to 22 years of age – to start substance abuse. The particular subject has been chosen to assist clinical psychologists in gathering more knowledge on the matter to help them with their counseling skills & methods. To gather the data, a group of 20 young adults was chosen and in-person interviews were conducted on a one-to-one basis. Respondent anonymity was ensured and guaranteed to let the subjects feel comfortable and answer as precisely and honestly as possible. Through the interviewing, it was determined that the impulse to experiment, constantly being in search of novel experiences, peer pressure and a disturbed relationship with family members (particularly parents) at home are the most common reasons young adults have stated for them falling prey to substance abuse & addiction. Once clinical psychologists become more familiar with the techniques and skills to tame & overcome the mentioned factors, it is expected that leaving drugs behind and staying successfully in recovery will become an easier objective to fulfill for young adults.