APA 7 Resource Center: Formatting

All APA papers must include section headings. There are five headers in all, but you should only use the ones you need, based on the length and complexity of your paper. Thus you should use only the number of headings necessary to distinguish your sections. And note, a brief student paper may have not headings at all!

Recommendations:

• Follow the same rules you would use for an outline. Heading Level 1 is for main sections. Level 2 is for subsections under the Level 1 headings.
• If you have subsections under Level 2, then use Level 3 for those sub-subsections. And so on!
• You should never have one subsection heading within a section, just like an outline.
• Do not label headings with numbers or letters; use a brief title.
• Spacing should remain double-spaced; do not add a blank line after the heading.

For more information see the APA Headings Page.

Annotated Bibliographies can be formatted in different ways. This is just one example. Please check with your instructor to see if they have specific formatting instructions.