Title page for a professional paper in APA 7 style.
In college, things get a bit more formal. A cover page is usually required for all sorts of papers – granted, the papers themselves become lengthier. In this post, your friendly will look at how a cover page appears in three main formatting styles used in academia – APA, MLA, and Chicago/Turabian.
As a rule, essays are short things that do not require a cover page. At least, that's how it is in high school. Most of the time, your name and the title at the top are enough. However, you may want to create a cover page for an extended essay over five pages long.
The APA format is used while writing academic literature such as research papers, essays, and theses. It is provided by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a style guide and is used commonly in the fields of behavioral and social sciences.
Here is an example of a cover page in APA:
This is a minimum two page reflection piece. In the instructions, the professor says, "no cover page or references needed." So how do I format this then? Do I just put all the info I'd normally put on the cover page (title, my name, name of institution) on the first page and then start my essay directly under it?
Please keep in mind that the requirements for the cover page may differ from school to school. If your writing center specifies what goes on the cover pages of students' papers, your university's recommendations take precedence before the style guide traditionally used in a particular discipline.
The header is the text that appears at the top of the title page. According to the APA guidelines, the information you need to include in the title page header differs depending on whether you're writing as a student or professional.
An in-text citation is a reference in the essay that alerts the reader about the information you used in your writing. As it was mentioned, APA and MLA styles differ in this formatting aspect as well.
An APA 7 title page consists of the following components:
The title page information for APA is different for a professional paper and a student paper. As a student, you need to include the following details in the same order on the title page of your student paper.
Here are the rules for formatting an APA title page:
In writing a cover page, you always need to follow the specifications set by your professor. He or she may require you to use shaded paper or insert a graphic or even write a quotation on the essay cover page. But the main variations in style and format will depend on whether you are writing in or research paper format.
Here are the main components of the above APA title page examples:
The essentials of MLA essay cover page are the following:
1. This page is double spaced and the letters are centered horizontally.
2. The name of the university or college is placed just below the top margin.
3. The essay title should be placed one-third of the page down from the top and written in a different font size. It may be followed by a subtitle
4. The word “by” may be placed under the title. Usually this word is 2 double spaces from the rest. Note, if you do the cover page in MLA format “by” is not required.
Let’s take a close look at what the APA Cover page should contain.
There are usually requirements as to the font and spaces in the cover page of an essay, so study them carefully before submitting either final electronic or printed version of your essay.
Your APA 7 title page should include the following elements:
The title page for the APA Style has a 1-inch (2.54cm) margin. You can change the margins in Microsoft Word by clicking Layout, selecting Margins, and then Normal. Your paper size should be US Letter 8 ½ by 11, not A4. You can change the paper size in Microsoft Word by clicking Layout, then Size and select US Letter.
The title page in APA format is the first thing your reader will see.
The title page for the APA Style has a page number located at the top right-hand side of the page. To add the numbered header in Microsoft Word click Insert, then Header, Edit Header, Page Number, alignment right, and then select Ok. The page number will be added automatically to each page.