How To Make A Cover Page For A Research Paper: An APA Formatting Tutorial

A cover page is an important part of any research paper. A well-formatted title page informs the readers about the subject of the study and its author. If you have some mistakes on the first page of your paper, it won’t positively affect your final score. In this article, you may learn how to create a cover page for it to meet the requirements of an APA format.

  1. Set the line spacing.
  2. Your cover page and the entire paper should be double spaced. However, between paragraphs and separate lines there shouldn’t be extra spaces.

  3. Set the font type.
  4. Usually, the best font type for research papers in the APA format is Times New Roman. Use only this font type for your cover page and don’t bold or italicize anything.

  5. Set the font size.
  6. The papers in the APA format use the font size of 12p. Some students like to write their titles in larger sizes, but this will be considered a mistake by your teacher.

  7. Make a running head.
  8. On the left side of the title page’s header, you should write the phrase “Running head: EXAMPLE TITLE.” The part that is written in all caps should be a short version of your title.

  9. Insert a page number.
  10. Use the automatic function in a text processing program to create a page number in the right corner of a page. Your cover page should be titled as the first page.

  11. Center the text.
  12. By default, the text is aligned to the left. You should make it center aligned because all the information except for the running head and the page number should be written in the center.

  13. Write the title.
  14. Press “Enter” for several times to start writing approximately a third of the way down the page. Write the title of your research paper. The words should start with capital letters.

  15. Write your name.
  16. Press “Enter” after the title and write your full name on this line.

  17. Write your professor’s name.
  18. The name of your instructor or professor should be written on the line below your name.

  19. Write the information about your institution.
  20. On the next line, you should indicate your class and course (for example, “World History C1298”).

  21. Write the date.
  22. Write the date of submission on the line below.

These are the basic rules for creating a cover page in the APA format. Consult your teacher to know whether your institution has some individual requirements.