APA STYLE HEADINGS
UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
WRITING CENTER
WHAT ARE HEADINGS?
You want to use headings in your papers to separate and
classify paper sections.
There are five heading levels in APA format.
Regardless of the number of levels, you always use the
headings in order, beginning with level 1.
SO WHAT ARE THE RULES
FOR EACH LEVEL?
Level 1:
Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings
Level 2:
Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
Level 3:
Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period.
Level 4:
Indented, boldface, italicize, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period.
Level 5:
Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period.
CAN I SEE AN EXAMPLE?
Study 1 (Level 1)
Method (Level 2)
Participants. (Level 3)
Procedures. (Level 3)
Measures. (Level 3)
Depression Scale. (Level 4)
Results (Level 2)
Discussion (Level 2)