The APA style guide offers detailed guidelines regarding the formatting of academic work. This article will help college students become familiar with APA writing guidelines, so their coursework is up to academic writing standards.
Definition: APA 6th edition title page
The APA style guide was created by the American Psychological Association to standardize written work. This style guide has traditionally been used by educators, researchers, and psychologists.
The 6th edition of this style guide was developed so it could be used by a wider audience, including students taking courses in the social and behavioral sciences.
According to the APA 6th edition title page guidelines, a paper’s title or cover page must include:1
- The paper title.
- The author’s name.
- The affiliation (Department and College / University).
- The course number and name.
- The name of the instructor responsible for teaching the course.
- The paper’s due date.
- The page number.
APA 6th edition title page: General formatting
Make sure your title page meets the following requirements:
- Font: preferably Times New Roman
- Font size: 12-point
- Double spacing
- One-inch margins all around
APA 6th edition title page: Running head
The 6th edition of APA guidelines require a running head, a shortened version of the paper’s title.2 This must appear before the paper’s title in this format:
PAPER TITLE
The running head cannot have more than 50 characters, including spaces, and must be left-justified.
APA 6th edition title page: Paper title
As per the APA 6th edition guidelines, title requirements are:
- Center-aligned.
- Title case capitalization (only major words are capitalized).
- Preferably no longer than 12 words.
- No abbreviations.
APA 6th edition title page: Author names
In APA style, the author/s name should be formatted as follows:
- First name, Middle name initial (if applicable). Surname
- Example: Anna, M. Patricks
- Students don’t need to add titles or degrees they already hold.
Multiple authors
Papers written by multiple authors are referenced depending on the number of authors and their affiliation.
Two authors, one affiliation: Charles Smith and Anna Warwick |
Oxford University |
Three authors, one affiliation: Louise Anderson, Charles Smith, and Anna Warwick |
Oxford University |
Two authors, two affiliations: Charles Smith1, Anna Warwick2 |
1 Department of Psychology, Harvard University 2 Department of Education, Purdue University |
Three authors, two affiliations: Louise Anderson, Charles Smith, and Anna Warwick |
Harvard University Louise Anderson Purdue University |
FAQs
The paper’s title, the author’s name and affiliation, the course number and name, the instructor’s name, the paper’s due date, and the page number.
No. Title pages must be in the same font as the rest of the paper, preferably in Times New Roman.
You must include a running head before the paper’s title if you’re using the APA’s 6th edition guidelines.
Sources
1 APA Style. “Title Page Setup.” September, 2019. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/paper-format/title-page.
2 Adams, A. “Running head or no running head? For student papers, APA Style says bye, bye, bye.” APA Style. January 17, 2020. https://apastyle.apa.org/blog/running-head.