First-page geometry and preliminary metadata requirements diverge substantially across APA 7th, MLA 9th, and Chicago 17th edition guidelines. While APA constructs a dedicated title page, MLA prescribes a flush-left four-line heading, and Chicago requires distinct cover page geometry, creating manual formatting difficulty for students.

The title page is the first thing a grader sees and the easiest place to reveal that you mixed up the styles. APA builds a full structured title page, MLA skips one entirely by default, and Chicago pushes the title a third of the way down the page.

Here is exactly what each style requires, so the first page is right before a single word of body text matters.

Comparison at a Glance

Element	APA 7th	MLA 9th	Chicago 17th
Separate page?	Yes, always	No, unless requested	Yes, always
Title position	Upper half, bold, centered	Below the heading block, centered	One-third down, centered
Author line	Name, affiliation, course, instructor, date	Name, instructor, course, date (top-left block)	Name and class info below the title
Page number	Top right, starts at 1	Surname + number, top right	Omitted on title page (footnote convention varies)
Running head	Professional papers only	None	None

APA 7th Edition: The Structured Title Page

APA student papers list, centered and double-spaced in the upper half: title (bold), author name, affiliation, course number and name, instructor, and due date. Professional papers add a running head and an author note; student papers need neither unless your instructor asks.

The title goes in title case — capitalize major words, not articles or short prepositions. The full element-by-element build is in our guide to formatting an APA title page.

MLA 9th: The No-Title-Page Style

MLA’s default is a heading block in the upper-left corner of page one — your name, the instructor’s name, the course, and the date, each on its own double-spaced line — followed by the centered paper title on the next line. No separate page, no bolding, no italics on the title.

Create a separate title page in MLA only when an instructor explicitly requests one; when they do, they usually specify the layout. The surrounding page setup — margins, header, and spacing — is covered in the MLA 9th edition formatting guide.

Chicago 17th: The Third-Down Title Page

Chicago title pages are deliberately spare. The title sits roughly one-third down the page in title case, followed several lines later by your name, and then course information and date if the instructor wants them. No page number appears on the title page itself; numbering resumes on the following page, often with the body starting at page 1 or the front matter in Roman numerals.

Chicago papers most often pair this title page with notes-bibliography citations — the citation mechanics are in understanding footnotes and endnotes in Chicago style.

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