Start by setting up your pages. The paper used should be standard 8.5-by-11 with the printer margins set at 1 inch from all sides. You should be using 10 or 12 point, Times New Roman font and a double-spaced layout. If your teacher has not specified what size font to use, use 12 point.
Set up the paper header by right clicking inside the header box or by using your tool bar. Type the name of your paper so that it flushes to the left margin, and insert the page number so that it flushes right on the paper. You title page should be page one.
Create your title page. In the center of the title page type the title of your paper, your name, and the name of the institution where you conducted the research. The institution for most students is usually their school. Hit "enter" after each component so that they are stacked on top of one another with a space in between.
Hit "enter" until you come to the first line of the next page and type the word "Abstract" as a title with no formatting. It should be centered in plain text without bolding, underlining, all caps, or italicizing of any kind.
Begin writing your actual abstract on the next line. This is a brief summary of your research methodologies and observations. At the very least you should include your research topic, what questions you were trying to answer, the names of the individuals who participated in the research, how you gathered your information, what resulted from that effort, your analysis of what you found, and your conclusions about the research.
Consider adding information to your abstract if you have time or if the information is relevant to your particular research project. Additional information could include what impact or implications your results might have on the subject matter or society and what other research might stem from your findings. The total abstract should be one paragraph with no indentation and about 150 to 200 words long.
Go to the next page and type the body of your paper by describing your research and findings in detail. Include how you analyzed your data and what conclusions you came to.
Decide how you want to do your in-text citations. You may want to ask your teacher what she prefers. You can reference a material by saying "According to..." followed by the author's name, followed by the publication date in parenthesis; or, after the paraphrase or quote is made, you can type the author's last name, the publication date, and the page number the information came from in parenthesis.
Hit "enter" after you are finished typing the body of your paper until you go to a new page. At the top of the page type "References" and center it with no formatting just like you did with the abstract. You will need a style manual or an online subscription to the APA style guide if you do not already know how to cite as the rules for each type of source.