How to Write a Title Page in APA Format for Psychology

The title page is the first page of your psychology paper. In order to make a good first impression, it is important to have a well-formatted title page in proper APA format that clearly represents your paper.

Use APA title page format for psychology lab reports and other student papers. Your instructor may also request that you use a similar format for other types of psychology writing.

This article discusses how to format a title page for a psychology paper. It also covers the differing guidelines for title pages for student papers versus professional papers.

Title Page Elements for a Psychology Paper

There are a number of key elements that your title page should contain. However, it is important to note that the format for psychology student papers is somewhat different than that of professional papers. Important elements to include are:

• Article title
• Author’s name
• Author's school or institutional affiliation
• Running head (not required for student papers)
• Course name
• Instructor name
• Due date
• Page number

Choosing a Title for Your Psychology Paper

One of the most difficult tasks is choosing a good title. Your title should be as specific as possible.

Your goal should be to craft a title that can stand alone and be fully explanatory without further elaboration. A reader browsing through paper titles in an online database should be able to quickly read your title and know exactly what your paper is about.

The best way to structure your title is to look at your hypothesis and experimental variables. For example: The Effects of [Independent Variable] on [Dependent Variable].

The official APA publication manual notes that your title should be brief, yet communicate the main topic and variables of interest.

Avoid words that serve no real purpose or that do not communicate essential information. Some examples of such words and phrases include “An Experiment on…,” “A Study of…”, “method,” or “results.”

Author’s Name and School Affiliation

The next element of your title page is the byline, which lists the author’s name and institutional affiliation. Listing your first name, middle initial(s), and last name is the recommended format. Do not include abbreviations of your titles or degrees such as Dr. or PhD.

Students should include the name of the department followed by the name of their school. This should be centered on the page and appear after the author's name.

The institutional affiliation should be the location where the research was conducted, most often a college or university. In some cases, research may have been supported by more than one institution. For these instances, only include two affiliations if both schools offered substantial support to the research and only list two affiliations for every author.

What should you do if you were not affiliated with an academic institution when the research was conducted? In this instance, the APA suggests listing your city and state of residence in place of the academic affiliation.

Other Elements of a Title Page

There are also additional formatting concerns you should observe as you draft an APA format title page for your psychology paper:

• A running head should be included in the upper left-hand corner on all pages, including the title page, although this is not required on the title page if it's a student paper.
• Note that the running head should be no more than 50 characters, including letters, spacing between words, and punctuation of your title in uppercase letters.
• The running head should be in all uppercase letters and should only include the title; it should not include the label "running head."
• All pages, including the title page, should also have a page number in the upper right-hand corner.
• Your title, name, and institution should be double-spaced and centered on the page. Student papers should also include the assignment due date directly below the institution's information.
  

Format for Professional Psychology Papers

The APA's guidelines are slightly different for papers intended for scholarly publication in a professional journal. In addition to the basic elements included in a basic title page, a professional paper should also include:

• A running head: The running head should be a shortened version of the paper's title. It should appear on every page of the paper along with the page number.
  
• Author affiliation: In the second paragraph, list any changes in author affiliation. For example, if one of the authors is now affiliated with a different university from where the research was conducted, the author's note might state that "Dr. Last Name is now at the Department of Psychology, University of Georgia."
• An author's note: This note should include the author's name, the symbol for the ORCID iD, the URL for the ORCID iD. An ORCID iD is an alphanumeric code used to identify scientific and academic authors. If an author does not have an ORCID iD, their name should be omitted. 
• Disclosures and acknowledgments: In the third paragraph, list any acknowledgments and disclosures, including possible conflicts of interests and sources of financial support.
• Contact information: The fourth paragraph of the author's note should include the author's contact information.

Title Page Checklist for a Psychology Paper

Before you turn in your psychology paper, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does your title page contain a title, your name, your institutional affiliation, a running head (not required on title page if it's a student paper), and a page number?
2. Is your title clear and specific, and does it accurately describe what your paper is about?
3. Is your running head in uppercase format and no longer than 50 characters in length?
4. Is the title, your name, and institutional affiliation centered on the page and double-spaced?

Check out this example of a title page in APA format.