To our knowledge, the APA style does not distinguish between titles for articles as a whole and dissertations. As such, we have based this style guide on the requirements for titles set out by the APA style guide, 6th edition. The main considerations when writing your dissertation title from a style perspective are: (a) capitalisation in titles and subtitles; (b) quotation marks; (c) numbers; and (d) hyphenated compounds. Each of these considerations is present below with associated examples:
Capitalisation in titles and subtitles
The first letter of a title and subtitle should be capitalised. A subtitle should be separated using a colon or em dash (i.e., — and not the shorter - en dash) and then a single space (i.e., Title: Subtitle OR Title — Subtitle). If a subtitle follows a title that ends with a question mark, a colon should not follow the colon (i.e. Title? Subtitle NOT Title?: Subtitle) [examples in bold below].
Many Forms of Culture
Children Reason About Shared Preferences
Leadership: Why Gender and Culture Matter
Change Over Time in Obedience: The Jury's Still Out, But It Might Be Decreasing
What Makes a Good Team Player? Personality and Team Effectiveness
Does the Stepladder Technique Improve Group Decision Making? A Series of Failed Replications
Do not capitalise articles (i.e., a, an, the) unless they are the first letter of a title or subtitle [bold below]:
What Makes a Good Team Player? Personality and Team Effectiveness
Inferring the Outcome of an Ongoing Novel Action at 13 Months
Do not capitalise prepositions that have three or fewer letters (e.g., as, at, by, in, of, off, on, to, up) [bold below]:
Women and Women of Color in Leadership: Complexity, Identity, and Intersectionality
Sensitivity of 24-Month-Olds to the Prior Inaccuracy of the Source: Possible Mechanisms
Do not capitalise conjunctions, whether coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, for, nor) or subordinating conjunctions (e.g., because, as, since) [bold below]:
Women and Women of Color in Leadership: Complexity, Identity, and Intersectionality
Follow-Up Outcome in Short-Term Group Therapy for Complicated Grief
All adjectives, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, and verbs should be capitalized, in addition to all words that have four letters or more.
Quotation marks
If quotations marks are used in a title, they should be double (i.e., "..."), not single (i.e., '...'):
Preschoolers Infer Ownership From "Control of Permission"
"If You Wrong Us, Shall We Not Revenge?" Social Identity Salience Moderates Support for Retaliation in Response to Collective Threat
Numbers
APA includes quite a number of rules regarding the use of numbers. The following examples are based on the assumption that the rules for using numbers in-text are the same for titles. Whilst it would be worth referring to Chapter 4 of the Concise Rules of APA Style, 6th edition, for more information, we can say that:
Numerals should be used for:
(a) numbers of 10 or more (e.g., 10, 25, 43)
(b) ages (e.g. 24-Months-Old), dates (e.g., 13 June 2009), exact sums of money (e.g., $24.95), scores or points on a scale (e.g., a 5-Point Likert scale), and time (e.g., 1 hr 26 min)
Inferring the Outcome of an Ongoing Novel Action at 13 Months
Sensitivity of 24-Month-Olds to the Prior Inaccuracy of the Source: Possible Mechanisms
Numbers should be spelt out when they are:
(a) numbers that start a title
(b) numbers under 10 (e.g., three, five, seven)
(c) common fractions (e.g., two-thirds)
A Two-Dimensional Model of Intergroup Leadership: The Case of National Diversity
Indentifying Two Potential Mechanisms for Changes in Alcohol Use Among College-Attending and Non-College-Attending Emerging Adults
Hyphenated compounds
When hyphenated compounds capitalised in titles, both words should be capitalised (compared with just the first word in reference lists, for example) [bold below]:
Working Memory Span Development: A Time-Based Resource-Sharing Model Account
Gene-Environment Interactions Across Development: Exploring DRD2 Genotype and Prenatal Smoking Effects on Self-Regulation
Indentifying Two Potential Mechanisms for Changes in Alcohol Use Among College-Attending and Non-College-Attending Emerging Adults
Co-Leader Similarity and Group Climate in Group Interventions: Testing the Co-Leadership, Team Cognition-Team Diversity Model
Follow-Up Outcome in Short-Term Group Therapy for Complicated Grief
If the Concise Rules of APA Style, 6th spiral edition, is not in your university library, it can be purchased on Amazon for around £15/US$24/CDN$32. It is a useful, easily accessible guide to the APA style.
Barrouillet, P., Gavens, N., Vergauwe, E., Gaillard, V., & Camos, V. (2009). Workign memory span development: A time-based resource-sharing model account. Developmental Psychology, 45(2): 303-603.
Cohen, A. B. (2010). Many forms of culture. American Psychologist, 64(3), 194-204.
Fawcett, C. A., & Markson, L. (2010). Children reason about shared preferences. Developmental Psychology, 46(2): 299-309.
Fischer, P., Haslam, S. A., & Smith, L. (2010) "If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" Social identity salience moderates support for retaliation in response to collective threat. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 14(2), 143-150.
Koenig, M. A., & Woodward, A. L. (2010). Sensitivity of 24-month-olds to the prior inaccuracy of the source: Possible mechanisms. Developmental Psychology, 46(4): 815-826.
Miles, J. R., & Kivlighan, D. M. Jr. (2010). Co-leader similarity and group climate in group interventions: Testing the co-leadership, team cognition-team diversity model. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 14(2), 114-122.
Neary, K. R., Friedman, O., & Burnstein, C. L. (2009). Preschoolers infer ownership from ?control of permission?. Developmental Psychology, 45(3): 873-876.
Piper, W. E., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Joyce, A. S., Weideman, R. (2009). Follow-up outcome in short-term group therapy for complicated grief. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 13(1), 46-58.
Pittinsky, T. L. (2010). A two-dimensional model of intergroup leadership: The case of national diversity. American Psychologist, 65(3), 194-200.
Roya, A., & Korabik, K. (2010). Leadership: Why gender and culture matter. American Psychologist, 65(3), 157-170.
Sanchez-Hucles, J. V., & David, D. D. (2010). Women and women of color in leadership: Complexity, identity, and intersectionality. American Psychologist, 65(3), 171-181.
Southgate, V., & Csibra, G. (2009). Inferring the outcome of an ongoing novel action at 13 months. Developmental Psychology, 45(6): 1794-1798.
Twenge, J. M. (2010). Change Over Time in Obedience: The Jury's Still Out, But It Might Be Decreasing. American Psychologist, 64(1), 28-31.
White, H. R., Fleming, C. B., Kim, M. J., Catalano, R. F., McMorris, B. J. (2008). Identifying two potential mechanisms for changes in alcohol use among college-attending and non-college-attending emerging adults. Developmental Psychology, 44(6): 1625-1639.
Wiebe, S. A., Espy, K. A., Stopp, C., Respass, J., Stewart, P., Jameson, T. R., Gilbert, D. G., & Huggenvik, J. I. (2009). Gene-environment interactions across development: Exploring DRD2 genotype and prenatal smoking effects on self-regulation. Developmental Psychology, 45(1): 31-44.
Winquist, J. R., & Franz, T. M. (2008) Does the stepladder technique improve group decision making? A series of failed replications. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 12(4), 255-267.