With the publication of the sixth edition of the APA manual in July 2009, the style of headings has been significantly revised.
Rules of application:
- APA heading styles are arranged in hierarchical order, level 1 being the most general and level 5 the most specific:
- Use level 1 for the title of your paper, for chapters or main sections, and for such elements as an abstract, a table of contents, an appendix, endnotes, and references
- Use levels 2-5 to divide or subdivide chapters or main sections of your paper
- Do not number headings in your paper; use wording that concisely describes the content.
- Do not follow a heading immediately with another heading; there must be intervening text.
- In APA style, “Introduction” is not used as a heading; the introduction follows immediately after the title of the paper.
- In formal APA research reports, “Conclusions” is allowable as a subheading of the final chapter. For shorter student papers, labeling the conclusion is not usually necessary but may be preferred by some professors.
- Do not vary the type size for headings; headings should be of the same font and size as the text— preferably, Times New Roman 12.
- Maintain double-spacing before and after headings; do not leave additional lines blank. Three exceptions are these:
- If a heading falls on the last line of a page, move it to the top of the next page, so that it is not stranded from its textual content
- Level 1 headings, required for elements such as an abstract, a table of contents, a chapter, an appendix, endnotes, references, etc., should always be positioned at the top of a page
- A formal title page has special spacing requirements
FURTHER INFORMATION:
For further information, please see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition), published by the American Psychological Association in July 2009. For additional information online, visit the official APA website at www.apastyle.org or see the APA Formatting and Style Guide at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.
© 2010, Wheaton College Writing Center