APA Title Page
A title page gives information such as the title, byline, and affiliation of a paper. APA follows two types of title pages: professional title pages and student title pages.
A student title page includes the following components:
The elements included in professional papers vary and appear in multiple combinations according to the type of work presented in a paper. A title page is mandatory for any type of work. A professional title page has the following components:
Here are the rules and guidelines to be followed for each of these elements:
Student papers use only page numbers in the running head. The page number appears in the header.
The title should be concise and focused, although there is no restriction on the number of words. However, a short title summarizing the main topic attracts the readers. It should give an idea of what the paper is about. For an easy location of your paper by the readers, include key terms in the title. Do not begin with redundant words or phrases such as “An analysis of” and “An investigation of.” To provide a better understanding of your topic, avoid using abbreviations or acronyms in the title.
Add the names of the authors in the first name, middle initials, and surname format. The line having the names of the authors is called the byline. Do not include academic degrees such as PhD, MS, and MD. Also, avoid using professional titles such as Dr. and professor. Set the author names in plain format. If there are multiple contributors, separate their names by commas and use “and” before the last author name. Do not change the order of the author names.
If the number of authors is two, separate the author names by “and.” For example:
John M. Smith and Douglas D. Barry
If the number of authors is more than two, separate the author names by commas and use “and” before the last author. For example:
Simon L. Martin, Neil Ferguson, and Bill W. Rutledge
If any of the authors has a suffix (e.g., Jr., Sr., XIV), add it after the surname without any separator before. For example:
Thangavelu Kirubakaran and Krishnan Sethusankar Jr.
If the authors have different affiliations, use superscript numerals after the surname before the separator. For example:
Vincent Joseph1, Kevin Swanson1,2, and Richard D. Bernard3
An affiliation gives information about an author’s workplace or studying institution (if the author is a student) when the work was performed. For any change in the affiliation after the work was performed, add the current address of the author in the author note. Both academic and nonacademic affiliations include the name of the institution and its location. For the location, use city, state or province, and country. Use superscript Arabic numerals to differentiate affiliations.
The following guidelines show how to treat affiliations when there is one or more affiliations.
Course information appears only in student papers. Include the course name and number.
The name of the instructor also appears only in student papers. Add the name of the instructor below the course details.
A typical element of the student paper. Add the date in the month day, year format.
Here are rules and guidelines to be followed for each of these elements:
The shortened form of the title of the paper is the running head, and it appears on all pages. Running heads are used only in professional papers. They are not used in student papers. If the title of the paper is long, use only 50 characters of the title in the running head by making it short and meaningful. Set the running head in all caps.
For professional papers, page numbers should appear on all pages, and, therefore, on the title page too. As the running title is set flush left, the page number should be flush right.
The title should be concise and focused, although there is no restriction on the number of words. However, a short title summarizing the main topic attracts the readers. It should give an idea of what the paper is about. For an easy location of your paper by the readers, include key terms in the title. Do not begin with redundant words or phrases such as “An analysis of” and “An investigation of.” To provide a better understanding of your topic, avoid using abbreviations or acronyms in the title.
Add the names of the authors in the first name, middle initials, and surname format. The line having the names of the authors is called the byline. Do not include academic degrees such as PhD, MS, and MD. Also, avoid using professional titles such as Dr. and professor. Set the author names in plain format. If there are multiple contributors, separate their names by commas and use “and” before the last author name. Do not change the order of the author names.
If the number of authors is two, separate the author names by “and.” For example:
Joseph G. Gerald and Daniel D. Bill
If the number of authors is more than two, separate the author names by commas and use “and” before the last author. For example:
Sigmund K. Martin, Nelson Francis, and William W. Jelf
If any of the authors has a suffix (e.g., Jr., Sr., XIV), add it after the surname without any separator before. For example:
Kirubakaran Ganesh and Murugan Jayakumar Jr.
If the authors have different affiliations, use superscript numerals after the surname before the separator. FOr example:
Victor Prince1, Donald Steelberg1,2, and Raymond D. Bernardita3
An affiliation gives information about an author’s workplace or studying institution (if the author is a student) when the work was performed. An author may have multiple affiliations. However, do not include more than two affiliations for an author. For any change in the affiliation after the work was performed, add the current address of the author in the author note. Both academic and nonacademic affiliations include the name of the institution and its location. For the location, use city, state or province, and country. Use superscript Arabic numerals to differentiate affiliations.
The following guidelines show how to treat affiliations when there is one or more affiliations.
This is used to provide information about the author, disclaimer statement, conflicts of interest statement, and acknowledgments. Keep each of them in a separate paragraph.
The first paragraph provides ORCID details. If there is any change in the affiliations of an author, it is given in the second paragraph. Acknowledgments and disclosure statements are added in the third paragraph. Finally, the contact information is given in the fourth paragraph.
Note that author note is not used in student papers.