Title Page

The title page needs to include 4 items:

1. The title of your paper. The title should concisely state the topic of the paper and the variables or theoretical issues that are being explored in relation to that topic. The title should be about 10-12 words long and should be centered in the middle of your page.
2. The author’s name and institutional affiliation. The institutional affiliation is just the name of the place (usually a college or university) where the research was conducted. The author's name and institutional affiliation should be centered and placed directly below the title.
3. A running head. This is just an abbreviated version of your title, and should include no more than 50 characters (including spaces and punctuation). The running head is what appears at the top of each page next to the page number throughout the paper. The running head designation should be left justified and appear at the top of hte page after the page number.
4. A page number. Page numbers should appear on the title page in the upper right hand corner, after the running head. Pages should then be numbered consecutively in the upper right hand corner throughout the paper.

Here is a sample title page in APA format. Note how it includes the running head and page number in the upper right hand corner, defines the running head that will title all manuscript pages, and centers the title and author information in the middle of the page.

For more about how the elements of a title page are organized on the page, visit the sample title pages in our literature review and experimental report.