7th Edition

Heading Levels Template:

Student Paper

The following template demonstrates how to use heading levels in an APA Style

student paper.

Please note that the page numbers in this template are part of the template; that is,

the text of a student paper should start on page 2, after the title page.

Title of Paper

Begin your paper with the paper title at the top of the r page of text. The paper title

section may have only one level of subheading (Level 2).

Level 2 Heading in the Introduction

Use Level 2 headings for any headings within the introduction, Level 3 for subsections of

any Level 2 headings, and so on.

Level 2 Heading in the Introduction

Avoid having only one subsection heading within a section, ju like in an outline. Use

at lea two subsection headings within a section or use no subsection headings at all (e.g., in an

outline, a section numbered with a Roman numeral would be divided into either a minimum of A

and B subsections or no subsections; an A subsection would not and alone).

Level 1 Heading for Fir Main Section After the Introduction

All topics of equal importance should have the same level of heading. For example, in

a multiexperiment paper, the headings for the Method and Results sections for Experiment 1

should be the same level as the headings for the Method and Results sections for Experiment

2, with parallel wording. In a single-experiment paper, the Method, Results, and Discussion

2

3

sections should all have the same heading level.

Level 3 Heading

Use Level 3 headings for subsections of Level 2 headings. Do not use abbreviations in

headings unless they already dened in the text.

Level 4 Heading. It is not necessary to add blank lines before or after headings, even if a

heading falls at the end of a page. Do not add extra spacing between paragraphs.

Level 5 Heading. Use Level 5 headings for subsections of Level 4 headings. In the

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Table 2.3 shows how

to format each level of heading, Figure 2.4 demonrates the use of headings in the introduction,

and Figure 2.5 lis all the headings used in a sample paper in the correct format. In the Concise

Guide to APA Style (7th ed.), this content is found in Table 1.3, Figure 1.3, and Figure 1.4,

respectively.

Level 5 Heading. The sample papers at the end of Chapter 2 in the Publication Manual

and Chapter 1 in the Concise Guide show the use of headings in context. Additional sample