Title page for a research paper: APA 7, MLA, Chicago and thesis

When to use it

• An APA 7 student paper for a psychology, nursing, education or social science course
• A manuscript in APA professional format, with a running head and an author note
• An MLA or Chicago class paper whose instructor asks for a separate title page
• A thesis or dissertation, as a draft before you apply your graduate school's template
• Checking a finished title page against the style's rules before you submit

A title page for a research paper is the first page of the paper: the title, your name, your school and the course or degree, centered in the upper part of the page. Whether you need one depends on the style. APA 7 papers always start with one. MLA papers use a four-line heading on the first page instead, unless the instructor asks for a title page or it's a group project. Chicago (Turabian) class papers use either a title page or a title on the first page of text, and theses follow the university's own template.

This template has a version for each, plus APA's professional version and a thesis page, with a filled-in example and the rules behind it, taken from the APA Style website, the Purdue OWL and, for theses, one university's published specifications. Your instructor's or school's instructions override any style guide. For the rest of the paper's layout, see the essay format guide.

How to use this template

1. Find out which version you need

   Check the assignment sheet for the style and whether it wants a title page. In APA, class papers use the student version; the professional version is for manuscripts submitted to journals, or for when an instructor or committee asks for it. For a thesis, get your graduate school's current formatting guide first.

2. Delete the versions you don't need

   The template holds five versions: APA student, APA professional, the MLA heading, Chicago and a thesis page. Keep one, and keep its grey notes until the end, since they carry the spacing rules.

3. Fill in the placeholders exactly

   Write names the way you want them to appear, the course number as the syllabus gives it, and the instructor's name the way they prefer. Use the date format of your country. For an APA professional paper, cut the title to a running head of 50 characters or fewer.

4. Export, center and add the header

   Export to Word, select the title page lines and center them. Add the page number with Word's page numbering, plus the running head for an APA professional paper. Check the spacing against the rules below, then delete the grey notes.

APA title page (7th edition)

APA 7 has two title pages: the student version for class papers and the professional version for manuscripts. Both put the title three to four lines below the top of the page, centered and bold, with the major words capitalized and one double-spaced blank line before the author names. APA sets no maximum length for a title but asks you to keep it focused and include key terms; the guide to how to title an essay covers choosing the words. The rules are in Section 2.3 of the Publication Manual and on the APA Style website.

APA says to use the student version unless your instructor or institution asks for the professional one. Courses add exceptions of their own: an instructor may want a running head or an abstract on a student paper, or the professional version for a thesis or a paper headed for a journal. Where the assignment says so, it wins.

Student title page

The title says what was studied and in whom. The course line copies the syllabus, and the instructor's name carries the title he uses. Two things are missing on purpose: a running head, which student papers leave out unless the instructor asks, and an author note, which belongs to the professional version.

Professional title page

The professional version drops the course details and adds a running head and an author note. Its affiliation is the institution where the research was done. When authors have different affiliations, superscript numbers link each name to its institution, and each affiliation goes on its own line.

• Running head. A shortened title of no more than 50 characters, counting spaces and punctuation, in capital letters at the left of the page header on every page, the title page included. Don't put the label “Running head:” in front of it.
• Author note. In the bottom half of the page, under the label Author Note in bold and centered, in paragraphs aligned left: ORCID iDs first, then changes of affiliation, then disclosures and acknowledgments (study registration, conflicts of interest, funding), then contact details for the corresponding author. Leave out any paragraph that doesn't apply. Student papers don't usually have an author note unless the instructor asks for one.

NIGHT SHIFTS AND MEMORY RECALL                                    1



         Night Shifts and Memory Recall in Nursing Students

                Priya N. Raman¹ and Daniel K. Osei²
        ¹Department of Nursing, Lakeview State University
          ²Department of Psychology, Harlow College



                           Author Note
Priya N. Raman https://orcid.org/0000-0000-0000-0000
Daniel K. Osei is now at the Department of Psychology, Brightwater
University.
We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Priya N.
Raman, Department of Nursing, Lakeview State University. Email:
praman@example.edu

In the real page every line is double-spaced, the title is bold, each author note paragraph starts on its own line, and an ORCID iD symbol sits between each name and its link. The names, institutions and addresses here are invented.

MLA title page: when you need one

MLA papers have no title page by default. The Purdue OWL's MLA 9 guide says not to make one unless your instructor asks for it or the paper is a group project. The first page opens with a heading at the top left instead: your name, your instructor's name, the course and the date, each on its own double-spaced line. The title follows, centered, in title case, with no italics, underlining or quotation marks.

For a group project, the OWL says to list every author's name on its own line in the heading, followed by the rest of the heading, and to format the rest of the page as your instructor asks. The MLA's own guide to formatting a research paper adds that a group project gets a title page listing all the authors. For a title page your instructor requests, use the layout they describe. The same heading starts an MLA annotated bibliography.

Chicago and Turabian title page

For class papers, Chicago style usually means the student version, Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, which the Purdue OWL describes as largely based on The Chicago Manual of Style. In Turabian style a class paper has either a title page or the title at the top of the first page of text. On a title page, the title is centered about a third of the way down; a subtitle goes on the next line, after a colon at the end of the title line. Your name, the class information and the date follow several lines lower, and every line is double-spaced. Page numbers start on the first page of text, so the title page shows none.

Thesis and dissertation title pages

A thesis title page is set by the graduate school, not by APA, MLA or Chicago, and schools are exact about it. Most ask for the same core facts: the full title, your name, a statement that the work is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a named degree, the department and university, and the date of the degree. Many add previous degrees, a copyright notice or approval lines, in an order and spacing that differ from school to school. The title page opens the front matter that the thesis outline template lists.

MIT's specifications show how detailed this can get. Its title page lists, centered and in a fixed order, the title, your name, any previous degrees, the department you submit to, the degree, “at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” and the month and year the degree is granted, which can only be February, May or June, or September. A copyright notice and a license statement granting MIT permission to distribute the thesis follow, then left-aligned lines for the author, the supervisor (“Certified by”) and the official who accepts the thesis (“Accepted by”). MIT counts the title page as page 1. UNC Chapel Hill's Graduate School, for its part, asks students not to use another thesis or dissertation as a model, since an earlier example may not meet current guidelines.

Title page mistakes to avoid

• A running head on an APA student paper. Student papers carry only the page number unless your instructor asks for more.
• The label “Running head:”. A professional paper shows the shortened title alone, in capitals.
• A title in plain type, or at the very top. An APA title is bold and sits three or four lines down; a Chicago title sits about a third of the way down.
• A title page on an MLA paper nobody asked for. Use the heading at the top left of page 1 instead.
• A page number on a Chicago title page. Numbering starts on the first page of text.
• An old thesis as your model. Graduate schools revise their rules; MIT's specification page lists a revision as recent as April 2026. Download the current guide.
• Extra blank lines. The page is double-spaced already; add only the blank lines the style asks for.