essay titles in apa papers

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

General Format

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in APA.

You can also watch our APA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel .

General APA Guidelines

Your essay should be typed and double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5" x 11"), with 1" margins on all sides.   Include a page header (also known as the “ running head ”) at the top of every page. For a professional paper, this includes your paper title and the page number. For a student paper, this only includes the page number. To create a page header/running head , insert page numbers flush right. Then type "TITLE OF YOUR PAPER" in the header flush left using all capital letters. The running head is a shortened version of your paper's title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation.

The 7th edition of the APA Publication Manual requires that the chosen font be accessible (i.e., legible) to all readers and that it be used consistently throughout the paper. It acknowledges that many font choices are legitimate, and it advises writers to check with their publishers, instructors, or institutions for guidance in cases of uncertainty.

While the APA Manual does not specify a single font or set of  fonts for professional writing, it does recommend a few fonts that are widely available. These include sans serif fonts such as 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, and 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode as well as serif fonts such as 12-point Times New Roman, 11-point Georgia, 10-point Computer Modern.

Major Paper Sections

Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page , Abstract , Main Body , and References .

Note: APA 7 provides slightly different directions for formatting the title pages of professional papers (e.g., those intended for scholarly publication) and student papers (e.g., those turned in for credit in a high school or college course).

The title page should contain the title of the paper, the author's name , and the institutional affiliation . A professional paper should also include the author note . A student paper should also include the course number and name , instructor name , and assignment due date .

Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. The title should be centered and written in boldface. APA recommends that your title be focused and succinct and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced.

Beneath the title, type the author's name : first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (PhD).

Beneath the author's name, type the institutional affiliation , which should indicate the location where the author(s) conducted the research.

A professional paper should include the author note beneath the institutional affiliation, in the bottom half of the title page. This should be divided up into several paragraphs, with any paragraphs that are not relevant omitted. The first paragraph should include the author’s name, the symbol for the ORCID iD, and the URL for the ORCID iD. Any authors who do not have an ORCID iD should be omitted. The second paragraph should show any change in affiliation or any deaths of the authors. The third paragraph should include any disclosures or acknowledgements, such as study registration, open practices and data sharing, disclosure of related reports and conflicts of interest, and acknowledgement of financial support and other assistance. The fourth paragraph should include contact information for the corresponding author.

A student paper should not include an author note.

Note again that page headers/page numbers (described above for professional and student papers) also appear at the top of the title page. In other words, a professional paper's title page will include the title of the paper flush left in all capitals and the page number flush right, while a student paper will only contain the page number flush right.

Student APA title page

Title page for a student paper in APA 7 style.

Professional paper APA title page

Title page for a professional paper in APA 7 style.

Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described above). On the first line of the abstract page, center and bold the word “Abstract” (no italics, underlining, or quotation marks).

Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph, double-spaced. Your abstract should typically be no more than 250 words.

You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent as you would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases.

Abstracts are common in scholarly journal articles and are not typically required for student papers unless advised by an instructor. If you are unsure whether or not your work requires an abstract, consult your instructor for further guidance.

APA Abstract Page

Abstract page for a student paper in APA 7 style.

Please see our Sample APA Paper resource to see an example of an APA paper. You may also visit our Additional Resources page for more examples of APA papers.

How to Cite the Purdue OWL in APA

Individual resources.

The page template for the new OWL site does not include contributors' names or the page's last edited date. However, select pages  still include this information.

In the absence of contributor/edit date information, treat the page as a source with a group author and use the abbreviation "n.d." for "no date":

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.).  Title of resource.  Purdue Online Writing Lab. http://Web address for OWL resource

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.).  General Writing FAQs. Purdue Online Writing Lab. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/general_writing_faqs.html

The generic APA citation for OWL pages, which includes author/edit date information, is this:

Contributors' names. (Last edited date).  Title of resource . Site Name. http://Web address for OWL resource

Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

• Essay Editor

APA Title Page

When creating a professional or student paper in APA style, you are required to add a title page. There are 2 versions, based on who is writing the research. All students must apply a student version. Thus, there are exceptions where the curator or faculty recommends using a professional version.

Both types of title pages include different elements and information placement. The 7th edition of APA's guidelines can be of use for both students and professionals. It can also help you look for an accurate title page example for your specific work and generate APA citation .

General APA Title Page Guidelines

When creating a paper title page, you must follow all the guidelines from the APA publication manual. First and foremost, the text must be double-spaced and written on paper of the standard size - 8.5x11.

A page heading or a 'running head' must be added to every page at the top. It includes the page number for a student paper and a page number plus the title for a professional paper.

APA Title Page Font

APA publication manual (7th edition) does not provide a single preferred font in formatting guidelines for use in all student and professional papers. However, there are recommendations that must be taken into consideration:

• Consistency throughout the entire work;
• Font's accessibility.

If you are not certain about your choice, seek advice from your superiors, curators, and the publisher. There is also a list of commonly used and preferred fonts. It includes:

• Times New Roman (12);
• Arial (11);
• Georgia (11);
• Calibri (11);
• Lucida Sans Unicode (10);
• Computer Modern (10).

Student Title Page

As the first page of student papers, a title page consists of seven essential elements. We will outline the formatting for every one of these to help you get a hold of the structure. Additionally to the following elements, a student title page may include a running head if required by the faculty of a supervisor.

Title of the Paper

The paper's title for student papers must be added three or four lines below the top of the title page. Add capital letters to the necessary words and highlight them in bold.

Centralize the paper title. Place the subtitle after the main one, and if you want, you can separate the two with the double-spaced line.

There are no limitations for the maximum length of the paper title. Nevertheless, it is better to insert only the main terms and keep it concise.

Author Names

Add a double-spaced blank line between the title and the list of author names. The list must be centralized within the line.

There are also format guidelines for multiple authors. For two authors, put "and" in between. For three or more authors on the list, add a comma between the names and add "and" before the last name.

Author Affiliation

For a student paper, an author affiliation is the education institution the person is attending. It must include the name of the institution as well as the name of the student's faculty.

Separate the faculty and institutional affiliation with a comma and centralize the line. Capitalize the first letter of the essential words.

Course Number and Name

Use your instructions and guidelines to add the correct course number accordingly and put a course name after it. Centralize the writing on the next line after the author's affiliation.

Curator/Instructor Name

Add the instructor name part for the course according to the format shown in the guidelines. It must include:

• Middle initial followed by a period

Centralize the name on the next double-spaced line after the course number and name.

Due date of the Paper

After the name of your instructor, add a due date. Provide this data according to the format used in your institution or country and centralize the line.

Page Numbers

For a title page, use a number '1'. The numeration must be placed at the top right corner of the page header. You can use an automatic feature of Word to add it to all the pages. Make sure to check the placement of the page number for the title page since it may differ.

Professional title page

A professional title page consists of 6 elements. Let's look into the guidelines for each of these.

The professional paper title is put three or four lines below the top of the title page. Add capital letters to the necessary words and highlight them in bold.

Add a double-spaced blank line after the title and the list of author names. The list must be centralized within the line.

There are also format guidelines for multiple authors for professional papers. For two authors, put "and" in between. For three or more authors on the list, add a comma between the names and add "and" before the last name.

In case authors on the list have different affiliations, you must add a superscript numeral after every name to establish the correlation between the author's name and affiliation.

Several authors on the list can have one affiliation with one exception. However, if all authors have the same affiliation, yo not need to add superscript numerals.

The author affiliation section in the professional paper refers to the institution where the authors conducted research. It must include the faculty or department as well as the name of the said institution, separated with a comma.

Centralize the text on the next line after listing the author's name. If the paper includes more than one affiliation, each one must be centralized in the new paragraph.

In case authors on the list have different affiliations, you must add a superscript numeral before every name to link the name and affiliation. If all authors have the same affiliation, yo not need to add superscript numerals.

Author Note

The author note is put in the bottom half of the title page. Centralize and put the "Author Note" in bold. The paragraphs of the author note must be aligned to the left.

Running Head

The running head element is placed on all pages in the page header. Capitalize all letters of the running head and align them to the left. Do not write the words 'running head' before the running head.

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