APA Title Page (6th edition) | Guidelines, Example, Template

This article reflects the APA 6th edition guidelines. Click here for APA 7th edition guidelines.

An APA title page must include:

  • A running head (including page number)
  • The title of your paper (one or two lines long)
  • The full name of the author(s)
  • Your university or institution

Additional information, such as a course number or an author’s note, should be placed on a separate line below the institution.

APA title page template

APA title page example

APA title page

General formatting guidelines

The APA cover page adheres to the general APA formatting guidelines:

  • 12 pt Times New Roman
  • Double line spacing
  • 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins

The formatting requirements for each element on the APA title page are listed below.

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Running head

Write “Running head:” followed by a (shortened) version of your paper’s title. It must be:

  • Left aligned
  • Capitalized
  • Maximum 50 characters (not including the words “running head:”)

Read more on how to insert and format a running head.

Paper title

Use an informative, striking title that summarizes the main idea of your paper.

  • Apply title case (capitalize the first letter of each word, except small words such as articles and short prepositions)
  • Keep it shorter than 12 words
  • Don’t use abbreviations or contractions
  • Place the title in the center of the page

Author name(s)

The names of the authors are written in full (first name, initial of middle name(s), last name). Include the names of all authors in order of contribution. Don’t include titles (Dr., Prof.) or degrees (PhD, MSc).

APA title page with multiple authors

There are specific guidelines for multiple authors. The formatting guidelines depend on whether the authors have the same affiliation.

APA title page multiple authors
Multiple author variations Example
Two authors, one affiliation John T. Taylor and George Kotler
University of California, Berkeley
Three authors, one affiliation John T. Taylor, George Kotler and Dennis G. Parker
University of California, Berkeley
Two authors, two affiliations John T. Taylor
University of California, Berkeley
Laura Johnson
Harvard University
Three authors, two affiliations John T. Taylor and George Kotler
University of California, Berkeley
Laura Johnson
Harvard University

Setting up the title page

This video will demonstrate how to set up the title page in Google Docs.

Sources in this article

We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.

This Scribbr article

Streefkerk, R. (November 6, 2020). APA Title Page (6th edition) | Guidelines, Example, Template. Scribbr. Retrieved October 17, 2022, from https://www.scribbr.com/apa-style/6th-edition/archived-title-page/

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Raimo Streefkerk

Raimo has been writing articles for Scribbr since 2017. His areas of expertise are plagiarism and citation. Besides writing articles, Raimo works tirelessly on improving Scribbr's Citation Generator and Plagiarism Checker tools.

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