How to Make a Cover Page

In some way, a good research paper is similar to dramatic literature. Do you really think your professor is excited to read countless research papers and essays? When writing a paper, student should bear in mind one simple rule: a paper should stand out among others. Thereby, your professor will remember both your work and you.

And how can we do this? The first step is to write an original cover page.

A cover page is the first thing your professor sees when you hand in a paper. Depending on the style you have to use – APA, MLA, Turabian, etc. – the actual content of your cover page may vary. Still, there is some basic information that cover pages should include regardless of the style used:

* The title of your paper should be catchy, which means it should be intriguing, short but contain the main idea of your work. Try to avoid wordiness and effusiveness.
* Your name. There is not much to tell about it, really.
* The name of your professor. No, seriously, try to avoid typos. They hate it for some reason.
* The date of submission.

Styles and imagination

MLA is the simplest style. Cover pages formatted in MLA contain only basic info mentioned above. The only thing to do here is to come up with a catchy title.

APA introduces a bit more place for imagination. APA style presupposes a short summary on a cover page.

This is where your creative talents can step in. Present interesting information in your summary on the cover page. Though do not repeat the text itself. You should hint and intrigue. Admit that it would be boring if you tell everything on the cover page. Depict the main idea of your research avoiding specific details.

And our advice for you is: check all the peculiarities of cover pages with your teacher in order to avoid mistakes. Teachers tend to have their own requirements.

This post originally appeared on http://blog.aplusa.org.uk/index.php/2010/01/29/how-to-make-a-cover-page/