APA Title Page: For anyone who does not deal with APA writing style on a regular basis, the whole thing can seem quite confusing. If you are not used to writing in such a manner, though, it can become quite a daunting task to manage your writing. In a bid to help you get through the writing a bit easier, we want to focus on a very important part of writing: APA title pages.
In APA formatting, you more or less always need to get some kind of title page in there. Title pages are an essential part of introducing your work, who you are, what you do, what your paper involves, and the university/learning institution that you are part of. Basically, every APA title page must have some of the following factors included:
- The running head (which should include the page number).
- The title of the paper (a maximum of two lines, one preferable).
- The full name of the author (include your full name, not an abbreviation).
- The learning institute that you have written this paper as a part of.
- Text which is 12pts in size, and is written in Times New Roman.
- Double line spacing, which is something every APA paper will use.
- Margins of 2.54cm, or 1”.
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The running head
The ‘running head’ is something you might know better off as a header. It should be at the top of every page of the piece, and it should be the name of the paper. So, if your paper was called ‘the impact of social media on students, then your running head should read like this:
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON STUDENTS 1
The page number, of course, can be included with most word processing software without issue. This allows you to ensure that all relevant information is available from the start.
The title of the paper
The next part of an APA title page to focus on would be the title of the paper. As we suggested above, this should be short and succinct. The above example is a good one; it’s short, swift, but clearly conveys what the paper is all about.
Avoid going for an overly abstract headline, and make sure that it clearly details the issue you will be investigating as part of the document itself. You should always look to make the title loud and clear, easy to read, and have it centered around the middle of the page.
The author name
This should be the most self-explanatory section of any APA title page. You should be including your name, centered again, under the title of the document. You should look to do this as it will give you a much easier time of showcasing who wrote the paper.
Did you write it with someone else? Then you need to work out who is the ‘lead’ author. If there is no agreement or consensus, then you should simply look to manage it alphabetically or by seniority. It does not really matter, though; the title should always have the name of the author(s) underneath.
You should also look to double space the title, the author(s) names, and the institute that it was written for.
The institute
The last thing to focus on, though, would be what university and/or college you are writing this paper for. You should look to make this clear and it should right underneath the name of the author(s), again double-spaced.
We highly recommend that you use this to your advantage as it will give you a much easier time writing an APA title page. This can seem confusing, but it does no have to be – not if you want to make it so. Follow the above platform, though, and you should have an APA-worthy title page that you can put out there.
You may also want to read Clear Instructions for Chicago Title Page!
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