APA 7 Style: Formatting Student Papers

Guidelines Specific to Student Papers

APA 7 (2020) has introduced new guidelines for student papers that differ from the guidelines for professional papers being submitted for publication. Make sure to check with your professor or instructor on whether they prefer that you use the student or professional format for your work.

1. Title Page for Student Papers 
2. Headers
3. Text

Common Guidelines for all APA-Format Papers

Guidelines for Professional APA-Format Papers

Title Page for Student Papers

APA 7 (2020) introduced a new version of title page for student papers that is different from papers being submitted for publication. A student-paper title page should include the following:

1. The title. The title should,
   1. be clearly and succinctly specify the main variables and/or topic of the paper.
   2. be written in the top-half of the page.
   3. be bolded and centred.
   4. use title case capitalization:
      1.  Capitalize the letter of the first word, a word following a colon, and any significant words.
      2. Do not capitalize the following: articles [a, an, the], prepositions [of, for, with, etc.], or conjunctions [and, but, or, etc.].
2. Two double-spaced lines after the end of the title
3. The Author(s) name(s).
4. Affiliation.
   1. On the line following the author’s name, write the name of the department or program the paper is being written for and the name of the University. Separate the two elements with a comma. For example, if you are writing a paper for Nursing, the affiliation line would read as follows:
      1. School of Nursing, Trent University
5. The course code (number) and name of the course.
   1. Use departmental abbreviations used by your university. Separate the course code and the name of the course with a colon. For example, a paper submitted to Psychology 2600 would read as follows
      1. PSYC 2600: Introduction to Learning
6. The name of the course instructor
7. Due Date.
   1.  Include the Month, Day, and Year the paper is due, placing a comma between the day and the year.

Sample Student-Paper Title Page 

Headers

Page numbers should be written in the top right corner of the header. The title page should be page 1. In contrast to APA 6 (2010), APA 7 (2020) does not require a running head for student papers.

Text of the Paper

The body of the paper should begin on a separate page that follows the title page. On the first line of the first page of the text of the paper, write the title of the paper. The title should be bold and centred. On the following line, begin the text of the paper.

Sample Student-Paper First Page