Switching between single- and multi-column format

Question

I'm trying to create a pdf for a journal where the authors are in multiple column format but the rest of the document/text is not. How can I get this to work? It auto formats the rest of my document into two columns. I'm exporting it to pdf and I'm using TeXworks.

\documentclass[10pt,twocolumn]{article}

\title{Article Title}
\author{
    First Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
  \and
    Second Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
    \and
    Third Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
    \and
    Fourth Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
This part should be in a single column.
\end{abstract}

\section{Introduction}
\ldots 

\end{document}

Answer 1

The authors of an article document are always set in multiple columns, regardless of the twocolumn option. Removing twocolumn from your document options will yield this result:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\title{Article Title}
\author{
    First Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
  \and
    Second Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
    \and
    Third Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
    \and
    Fourth Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu\\
\and
    Fifth Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
  \and
    Sixth Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
    \and
    Seventh Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
    \and
    Eighth Author\\
    Department\\
    school\\
    email@edu
}
\date{\today}


\begin{document}


\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
CFD \ldots
\end{abstract}

\section{Introduction}
\lipsum

\section{future research exc}\label{previous work}



\end{document}

Answer 2

(Remark -- This answer is edited radically from the one I posted initially, as the thrust of the OP's question became clear. The first paragraph is, in its contents, identical to Jake's answer.)

Just remove the twocolumn option from the \documentclass instruction, and the rest of your document will typeset in single-column format. With the code you provide, the author block will automatically be typeset in the most space-saving manner possible.

Incidentally, unless all of the paper's authors have different affiliations, you may want to look into using the authblk package to simplify references to institutional affiliations shared among some of the contributors.