APA Title Page and Headings: Student and Professional Formats

An APA title page comes in two versions in the 7th edition: a student title page for coursework and a professional title page for manuscripts. APA headings use five levels, each with its own format, applied in order.

Both are easy to get right once you know the pattern, and both are easy marks to lose when you guess. This guide sets out every element of each title page and shows how to apply the heading levels in a real paper.

Student or Professional Title Page?

Use the student version for coursework unless your instructor or programme says otherwise. Many programmes publish their own template, which overrides the general rules.

The Student Title Page, Element by Element

1. Page number: top right corner, starting at 1 on the title page.
2. Title: bold, centred, title case, placed three or four lines down from the top margin. Long titles can run over two lines.
3. Blank line: one double-spaced blank line between the title and your name.
4. Author name: your first name, middle initial if you use one, and surname, without titles or degrees.
5. Affiliation: the department and university, for example School of Nursing, Northfield University.
6. Course: course number and name as your institution writes it, for example PSY 210: Research Methods.
7. Instructor: the name your instructor prefers, such as Dr. Amina Yusuf.
8. Due date: written in your country's usual format, such as March 4, 2025 or 4 March 2025.

The whole title page is double spaced, in the same font as the rest of the paper, and centred apart from the page number. The details above are illustrative. Some institutions ask for extra lines, such as a student number or word count; add them only if required.

The Professional Title Page

Professional papers, such as manuscripts for journals and some theses, add two elements and drop the course details.

• Running head: a shortened title of up to 50 characters, including spaces, in all capitals, flush left in the page header on every page.
• Byline and affiliation: each author's name and institution.
• Author note: in the bottom half of the page, under the bold, centred label Author Note. It can include ORCID iDs, changes of affiliation, disclosures and acknowledgements, and contact details.

Journals often have their own requirements for author notes and anonymised manuscripts. Follow the journal's guidelines where they differ.

Writing a Good APA Title

APA asks for a title that summarises the main idea of the paper simply and clearly. It sets no strict word limit but recommends a focused, concise title.

Avoid abbreviations and phrases such as "A Study of" or "An Investigation Into". Capitalise major words and words of four letters or more.

The Five APA Heading Levels

Headings are the same font size as the body text. Do not number or letter them, and do not add extra space above or below; the whole paper stays double spaced.

Using Headings in a Real Paper

Start with Level 1 for the main sections and add lower levels only when a section has subsections. Use levels in order; never jump from Level 1 to Level 3.

In this outline, Method is Level 1, Participants and Materials are Level 2, and the two materials are Level 3.

Rules That Are Easy to Miss

• Repeat the paper's title in bold and centred at the top of the first page of text. It acts as the Level 1 heading for the introduction.
• Do not use a heading called "Introduction".
• Avoid a single subsection: if a section has subsections, give it at least two, or none.
• Labels such as Abstract and References are bold and centred, like Level 1 headings, on their own pages.
• Short student papers may not need headings at all; follow your instructor.

Other Pages APA Papers Often Include

For the reference list itself, the free Bibloq citation generator builds APA 7 entries from a DOI, ISBN or URL.

Setting up the Title Page and Headings in Word

• Insert page numbers in the header, aligned right, so they appear on every page.
• For a professional paper, type the running head on the left of the same header line.
• Modify the built-in Heading 1 to Heading 5 styles to APA formats, then apply them. Your headings stay consistent and can feed a table of contents if needed.
• Insert a page break after the title page, the abstract and before the reference list.
• Set line spacing to double for the whole document, with no extra space before or after paragraphs.

Common Title Page and Heading Mistakes

How Bibloq Helps with APA Title Pages and Headings

Send your draft, your course or programme template and any instructor notes. An editor sets up the correct student or professional title page, applies heading levels consistently, and formats your citations and reference list in APA 7.

Free revisions within the scope of your original request are included, and the price is shown before you pay.