Headings
Numbered and non-numbered headings are both acceptable styles, though they cannot be used together--you must choose one style and apply it to all the headings in your disquisition.
The most common issues with headings are inconsistent line spacing. Headings, like the paragraph text, should be double-spaced with no additional line spacing above or below the heading.
Contents
- Formatting Requirements
- Troubleshooting
- Resources
Formatting Requirements
Headings identify new sections of your disquisition and must be easy to distinguish from the paragraph text. If you use several levels of headings, the different levels must be easily identifiable from both the text and from the various heading levels. Levels can be established by their placement, their font style (bold, underline, italics), or their number. Examples are provided in this section.
- Formatting – All headings of the same level must share the same formatting throughout the disquisition, including in appendices. For example, if a first level subheading in Chapter 1 is bold, center aligned, and uses title case, then first level subheadings in all other chapters and any appendices must use the same formatting.
- Running headers – Do not use running headers in the margins at the top of each page in the disquisition. Headings should appear only at the beginning of each section.
Examples of numbered and non-numbered headings
Figure 1. Example of numbered and non-numbered subheadings in a disquisition. For numbered headings, it is acceptable for the second and third level subheadings to both be bolded and left-aligned with no other distinguishing features because numbered subheadings are employed. If you elect to use non-numbered headings, all heading levels must be visually distinct.
Issue: Line Spacing
- Headings should be double-spaced, with no extra line spacing or blank lines above or below them.
- In the paragraph settings dialog box, set all headings to be double-spaced with 0 pts before or after.
Use the paragraph settings to modify the line spacing of text. The paragraph settings dialog box can be accessed by right-clicking text and selecting Paragraph... from the context menu or by clicking the dialog box launcher arrow in the bottom-right corner of the Paragraph section of the Home tab on the ribbon.
We recommend using styles to apply format consistently across similar elements in your document. Each heading level will require its own style, and styles can be updated by right-clicking the appropriate style in the style pane on the Home tab then selecting Modify... from the context menu. In the modify style dialog box, click the Format button in the bottom left, then choose Paragraph... from the context menu. Change the line spacing options to be double-spaced with 0 pts before and after. See our template guide on the Formatting Guidelines, Templates, and Forms page for more information on using styles.
Issue: Major Heading Appears in the Middle of Page
- Major headings should share the same formatting: bold font, aligned center to the page, uses ALL CAPS, and appears at the top of a new page.
You can force major headings to always appear at the top of new pages by enabling the "Page break before" option on the Line and Page Breaks tab of the paragraph settings dialog box. We recommend this method over others, such as using blank lines to space out content, because adding blank lines to space out content often results in blank lines appearing in unacceptable places when content shifts due to formatting changes. Using a forced page break ensures the content remains pinned to the top of whatever page it appears on, even if content above it shifts down.

Subheadings
- Centered headings should be fully centered. Do not add spaces or tab spaces before these headings, which causes them to appear off-center.
- Left-aligned headings should be flush with the left 1" page margin. Do not add spaces or tab spaces before these headings, which causes them to be indented.
- All headings of an outline level should be formatted consistently.
- Headings of different outline levels should be formatted differently and visually distinct, using a combination of alignment, bold, italics, or underlining.