Q. What information should appear on my title page?

APA Style (7th ed.)

Unless directed otherwise by an instructor, students should include the page number, title, author, institutional affiliation, course number and name, instructor name, and assignment due date (American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 30). Running heads are no longer required on title pages for student essays unless instructors request them (American Psychological Association [APA], 2020, p. 37). For more information regarding student title pages, see the Student Title Page Guide, and to view a basic title page for either a student paper or professional paper, please see the title page of the Annotated Student Sample Paper and Annotated Professional Sample Paper.

In the case of a title page for a thesis or dissertation, additional information will be required, such as the names of the committee members and their titles and academic credentials. Check with each of the supervisors and sponsors who are listed on the title page of the project to see what academic degrees they would like listed after their name.

Page numbers

If your instructor requests formatting on the title page that is different from the APA Style rules, please follow your instructor's directions. For example, the 7th edition of the APA Style rules ask authors to start page numbering on title pages at "1" (APA, 2020, p. 30); however, a common academic convention is for page numbering to start on the second page of the document at "2". If instructors don’t have a strong preference, either approach is acceptable; however, it’s a good idea to ask if you’re not sure what’s expected.

Author notes

Another example where expectations may differ is the author note, which "provides additional information about authors, study registration, data sharing, disclaimers or statements regarding conflicts of interest, and help or funding that supported the research" (APA, 2020, p. 35). Author notes aren’t a standard item on academic title pages; in fact, "student papers do not typically include a[n] . . . author note . . . unless specifically requested by the instructor or institution" (APA, 2020, p. 30). 

If an instructor requests an author note, please ask what information should be included and the order of the information. The instructor may also provide information regarding the location of the author note on the page; for an example of the placement of an author note on a professional title page that adheres to the APA Style 7th edition rules, please visit Annotated Professional Sample Paper.

For information on creating an effective title, see Creating Strong Titles.

Reference

American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000