Apa Title Page Template

What an APA Title Page Actually Looks Like

An APA title page is the first page of any paper you submit under the 7th edition guidelines. It is straightforward but specific enough that most people mess up at least one element. The page contains the title, author name, department and university, course number and name, instructor name, and due date. Everything is centered, double-spaced, with a running head and page number at the top. That is it. Nothing decorative, no extra formatting, just the required elements in order. I have corrected more of these than I care to count. The most common errors are putting the running head in all caps when it is not needed, misplacing the course information, and forgetting that the running head only appears on professional papers, not student papers.

APA Title Page Template

Here is what the template looks like in practice. Every element is centered horizontally and placed approximately halfway down the page. The title should be bold, in title case, and no more than 15 words if possible. The author name comes directly below with no bold formatting. Then your department, university, course, instructor, and date follow in that exact order, each on its own line. The running head goes in the header at the top of the page. For student papers under APA 7th edition, you do not need to label it "Running head:" anymore. You just put the title in all caps at the left of the header. Professional papers still use the full format with the label. The page number sits at the top right, aligned with the running head. It is easy to miss the alignment detail, but it matters for the overall look. I usually set the header margin to 0.5 inches and make sure the running head and page number sit on the same line in the header section of my word processor.

I once had a student submit a paper where the course number was formatted as "PSY 101" but the university name was left off entirely because they assumed it was redundant. The professor marked it down immediately. Just include everything. Another time I spent 40 minutes trying to figure out why my Word document would not let me place the running head at exactly the right position. The issue was that I had not switched to print layout view before adjusting margins. Switch to print layout and work from there. If you are building this from scratch in Word, go to Insert and click Header. Type the running head in all caps, align left. Then insert Page Number, choose Top of Page, and align right. Double-click the body of the page to get back to editing. Bold your title. Center everything. Make sure you are using Times New Roman 12-point or the equivalent approved font. Do not skip the double-spacing. For Google Docs, the process is similar but the menu paths are slightly different. Insert, then Header, type your running head, and then Insert, Page Numbers. The alignment tools work the same way. I find Word gives me a bit more control over precise spacing, but either works fine.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The biggest mistake people make is assuming the 7th edition still requires the "Running head:" label. It does not for student papers. The second is formatting the title in all caps or sentence case instead of title case. Title case means capitalizing major words. The third is forgetting that affiliation means the department and the university, not just the university name. Another thing that catches people out is the date format. It should be written out fully, like March 15, 2026. Not 03/15/2026, not March 15th, 2026. Just the month, the day without the ordinal suffix, and the year. I also see people put their title too long. APA says keep it concise and direct. If your title runs two or three lines, it is probably too wordy. Try to cut it down. The reader gets your point better when you do not waste space on filler words.

When This Method Breaks Down

The APA title page template is simple, but it is not perfect for every situation. Some universities have additional requirements on top of APA. If your institution requires an institutional logo, a committee list, or a specific abstract format on the title page, the standard template will not cover that. You need to follow your program's guidelines, not just APA. Always check with your department before submitting. Another limitation is that automated citation managers like Zotero or EndNote do not currently support generating a full APA title page. They handle references and in-text citations well, but the title page itself has to be built manually in your word processor. This adds about five to ten minutes to your workflow depending on how comfortable you are with the formatting tools. Some people try to generate APA title pages with online templates and converters. These can be convenient, but they often produce formatting that looks correct on screen but breaks when you print or submit to a learning management system. The spacing gets inconsistent, headers shift, and sometimes the font changes. I recommend building it yourself rather than relying on a converter. It takes less time than fixing errors later.

Quick Checklist Before You Submit

Running head in all caps, left-aligned in the header, only for professional papers use the "Running head:" prefix. Page number right-aligned in the header on the same line. Title bold and centered, about three to four lines down from the top.

Author name centered below the title, no bold. Department and university on the next line, centered. Course number, course name, instructor name, and due date each on their own line, centered.

All text double-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point or approved equivalent. No extra spaces between lines or around elements. If you verify each of these items, your title page will look correct. Most grading rubrics deduct points for exactly one or two of these errors, so catching them early saves you more than you might expect.