How to Add Your Name & Page Number in a College Paper

Professors appreciate receiving college papers that are formatted correctly. A lesson learned in college that you take with you is that a formatting error encourages others to overlook the work you put into writing the paper. Incorrect formatting detracts from your paper so the people who read it might not take it seriously. Microsoft Word is the word processor that you would typically use to write your college papers, although other word processors have similar options to edit the header in the insert option.

Start your word processor, such as the 11.6.1 version of Microsoft Word. Create a new document or open an existing paper.

Go to the "Insert tab" on the menu. Click on "page numbers."

Keep the position for the page numbers at top of the page, in the header, with the alignment to the right.. Show the number on the first page unless you have a title page. Start the page numbers on the second page if you have a title page.

Press the "OK" button. Double click inside the header.

Press the tab bar until the cursor is near the page number in the heading. Type your last name. Add a single blank space between your last name and the page number.

Double click outside the header to begin writing your paper.