APA Headings: The Five Heading Levels in APA 7 (With LaTeX Examples)

APA headings organize a paper into sections and subsections, and the 7th edition of the Publication Manual (section 2.27) prescribes exactly how each of its five heading levels looks: where it sits on the line, whether it is bold or bold italic, whether it ends with a period, and whether the text starts on the same line or the next one.

This guide is the complete reference: a table of the five APA heading levels with their formatting, the rules that decide which level a heading gets, a worked outline of a student paper, and two ways to produce the same headings in LaTeX, with the apa7 class, which does it automatically, and with titlesec when you cannot use apa7. The heading rules are the same for student and professional papers.

APA Heading Levels: The Five Levels in APA 7

Every heading uses the same font and size as the body text (for example 12-point Times New Roman or 11-point Calibri) and is double-spaced like the rest of the paper. The levels differ only in alignment, emphasis and whether the text runs in.

Levels 1 to 3 stand on their own line and the paragraph that follows starts on a new, indented line. Levels 4 and 5 are run-in headings: they are indented like a normal paragraph, end with a period, and the text of the paragraph continues right after that period on the same line. The period is part of the heading, so it is set in bold (Level 4) or bold italic (Level 5) along with the words before it.

Do not add blank lines above or below a heading, even if the heading falls at the bottom of a page; the double spacing of the paper is the only spacing a heading gets. A few bold, centered labels look like Level 1 headings but are classed separately as section labels (section 2.28): the paper title on the first page of text, and the words Abstract, References, Footnotes and Appendix. Each of those starts a new page.

Rules for Using APA 7 Headings

The formatting table answers "what does a Level 3 heading look like?". These rules answer "which headings should be Level 3?".

• No "Introduction" heading. The first paragraphs of a paper are understood to be introductory, so the manual says not to begin with an "Introduction" heading. The paper title, repeated in bold and centered at the top of the first page of text, acts as the de facto Level 1 heading of the introduction. Any subsections inside the introduction therefore use Level 2, and their subsections use Level 3.
• Use the levels in order. Every main section begins with a Level 1 heading, its subsections are Level 2, their subsections are Level 3, and so on. Never skip a level (a Level 3 directly under a Level 1) and never pick a level because you like how it looks. The number of levels used in one section does not have to match another: Method might go down to Level 4 while Discussion has only a Level 1.
• Two subsections or none. As in an outline, avoid having only one subsection heading within a section. If Method would contain a single Level 2 heading, drop the heading and write the material as part of Method.
• Headings are never numbered or lettered. Use plain headings at every level, with no numbers, letters or outline labels in front of them. In LaTeX this means turning off section numbering, which apa7 does for you.
• Use title case. Capitalize the first word, the first word after a colon or em dash, and every major word (nouns, verbs including short ones such as Is and Are, adjectives, adverbs and pronouns). Capitalize every word of four letters or more, including prepositions such as With and From. Lowercase only short conjunctions, prepositions and articles of three letters or fewer (and, of, the, for) unless they start the heading. Capitalize both halves of a hyphenated major word (Self-Report).
• Headings describe content. Short noun phrases such as Participants, Materials and Procedure are the norm in empirical papers. Keep headings concise, and do not let a heading do the work of the first sentence of the paragraph beneath it.

Worked Example: Headings in an APA Student Paper

Here is the heading outline of a short empirical student paper, with the level of each heading marked. The same outline is typeset in the LaTeX documents below.

Notice how the rules play out. The introduction has no heading of its own; its two subsections sit at Level 2 directly under the title. Method, Results and Discussion are Level 1. Materials has two Level 3 subsections, Working Memory Task and Sleep Diary, and the first of those is detailed enough to need two Level 4 run-in headings, one of which splits again into two Level 5 run-in headings. Results and Discussion need no subsections at all, which is fine: each section uses only as many levels as it needs, starting from Level 1.

APA Headings in LaTeX with the apa7 Class

The apa7 document class implements the 7th-edition rules, headings included, so you write ordinary LaTeX sectioning commands and the class takes care of the formatting. The mapping is simply the five standard commands in order:

Use \documentclass[stu,12pt]{apa7} for a student paper and \documentclass[man,12pt]{apa7} for a professional manuscript; headings are formatted identically in both modes. Headings are unnumbered by default, the title is repeated at the top of the first text page as the de facto Level 1 heading (add the donotrepeattitle option if your instructor does not want that), and for Levels 4 and 5 the class appends the period itself, so write \paragraph{Stimuli} rather than \paragraph{Stimuli.}; if you do type the period, apa7 notices and does not double it. Title case is your job: the class does not change the capitalization of what you type.

This is a complete, compilable student paper containing every heading from the worked outline. Compile it with pdflatex.

\documentclass[stu,12pt]{apa7}
\usepackage[american]{babel}

\title{Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Working Memory in Undergraduates}
\authorsnames{Jordan A. Rivera}
\authorsaffiliations{{Department of Psychology, University of Michigan}}
\course{PSY 240: Cognitive Psychology}
\professor{Dr. Maria Lopez}
\duedate{October 19, 2026}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

% The title is repeated here as the Level 1 heading of the introduction.
Sleep deprivation is one of the most common stressors reported by
undergraduates, yet its effect on working memory remains contested.

\section{Method}                     % Level 1
\subsection{Participants}            % Level 2
Forty-eight undergraduates took part in exchange for course credit.

\subsection{Materials}               % Level 2
\subsubsection{Working Memory Task}  % Level 3
Participants completed a visual 2-back task.

\paragraph{Stimuli}                  % Level 4 (run-in)
Letters were presented in black 36-point Arial on a grey background.

\paragraph{Procedure}                % Level 4 (run-in)
Each block lasted four minutes.

\subparagraph{Practice Trials}       % Level 5 (run-in)
Ten practice trials preceded the first block.

\subparagraph{Test Trials}           % Level 5 (run-in)
Four test blocks followed.

\subsubsection{Sleep Diary}          % Level 3
Participants logged bedtime and wake time for seven nights.

\section{Results}                    % Level 1
Accuracy was lower after 24 hours of wakefulness.

\section{Discussion}                 % Level 1
The results extend earlier findings to a student sample.

\end{document}

The class also sets the 1-inch margins, double spacing and page numbers, and \maketitle builds the student title page from the \course, \professor and \duedate fields; the APA title page guide covers those commands and the professional-paper equivalents (\shorttitle, \authornote, \abstract). If you would rather not install anything, the Octree APA template opens an apa7 student paper ready to edit in your browser.

APA Headings Without apa7: The titlesec Package

Sometimes you are stuck with article: a departmental template, a co-author who will not change class, or a journal that wants APA-style headings but its own layout. The titlesec package can restyle the five standard headings to match the APA levels. The preamble below does that and nothing else; it does not build a title page or format references.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[letterpaper,margin=1in]{geometry}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{titlesec}

\doublespacing
\setlength{\parindent}{0.5in}

% APA headings are not numbered.
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}

% Level 1: centered, bold, title case
\titleformat{\section}{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries\centering}{}{0pt}{}
% Level 2: flush left, bold, title case
\titleformat{\subsection}{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{}{0pt}{}
% Level 3: flush left, bold italic, title case
\titleformat{\subsubsection}{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries\itshape}{}{0pt}{}
% Level 4: indented, bold, ends with a period, text runs in on the same line
\titleformat{\paragraph}[runin]{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{}{0pt}{}[.]
% Level 5: indented, bold italic, ends with a period, text runs in
\titleformat{\subparagraph}[runin]{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries\itshape}{}{0pt}{}[.]

% No extra space around headings: APA papers are double-spaced throughout.
% Unstarred on purpose: \titlespacing* would remove the indent of the
% paragraph after a Level 1, 2 or 3 heading, and APA keeps that indent.
\titlespacing{\section}{0pt}{0pt}{0pt}
\titlespacing{\subsection}{0pt}{0pt}{0pt}
\titlespacing{\subsubsection}{0pt}{0pt}{0pt}
\titlespacing{\paragraph}{\parindent}{0pt}{\wordsep}
\titlespacing{\subparagraph}{\parindent}{0pt}{\wordsep}

\begin{document}

\section{Method}
\subsection{Participants}
Forty-eight undergraduates took part in exchange for course credit.

\subsection{Materials}
\subsubsection{Working Memory Task}
Participants completed a visual 2-back task.

\paragraph{Stimuli}
Letters were presented in black 36-point Arial on a grey background.

\paragraph{Procedure}
Each block lasted four minutes.

\subparagraph{Practice Trials}
Ten practice trials preceded the first block.

\subparagraph{Test Trials}
Four test blocks followed.

\section{Results}
Accuracy was lower after 24 hours of wakefulness.

\end{document}

Line by line: \setcounter{secnumdepth}{0} switches off numbering at every level. Each \titleformat takes the font for the heading (\normalsize keeps it at body size, \bfseries and \itshape give bold and bold italic, \centering centers Level 1), an empty label since there is no number, and for Levels 4 and 5 the [runin] shape plus a trailing [.] that appends the period after the heading text. The \titlespacing lines remove the vertical space article normally adds around headings, so the double spacing carries through, and set the left indent of the run-in headings to \parindent with a normal word space (\wordsep) between the period and the first word of the paragraph. Keep them unstarred: the starred \titlespacing* suppresses the indent of the paragraph after a Level 1, 2 or 3 heading, and APA wants that paragraph indented like any other (apa7 indents it for you). Margins, paper size and line spacing come from geometry and setspace; the page size and margins guide explains those options.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many heading levels does APA 7 have, and how many should I use?

APA 7 defines five heading levels. Use only as many as your paper needs, always starting at Level 1 and working down in order: a short student paper often needs just Levels 1 and 2, and a journal-length empirical paper rarely needs more than three. Every section begins with a Level 1 heading, even if one section has fewer subsections than another.

Does an APA paper have an "Introduction" heading?

No. The first paragraphs of a paper are understood to be introductory, so APA 7 says not to begin with an "Introduction" heading. The paper title, repeated in bold and centered at the top of the first page of text, acts as the de facto Level 1 heading. Subsections inside the introduction therefore start at Level 2.

What changed in APA headings between the 6th and 7th editions?

Levels 1 and 2 are unchanged. In APA 6, Level 3 was an indented, bold, sentence-case paragraph heading ending with a period, Level 4 was the same in bold italic, and Level 5 was indented italic. APA 7 moved Level 3 to a flush-left, bold italic, title case heading on its own line and made Levels 4 and 5 the indented, title case, run-in paragraph headings. All five levels are now in title case.

How do I make APA headings in LaTeX?

Use the apa7 document class: \documentclass[stu,12pt]{apa7} for a student paper or [man,12pt] for a manuscript. Its \section, \subsection, \subsubsection, \paragraph and \subparagraph commands produce Levels 1 to 5 with the correct alignment, bold or bold italic font, run-in layout and terminal period, and headings are unnumbered by default. Without apa7, the titlesec package can restyle the standard article headings to match.

Next Steps

Headings are one part of an APA paper; these guides cover the rest:

• APA Title Page Format – Student and professional title pages, running heads and the full apa7 preamble
• Sections in LaTeX – How \section and friends work in any document class, numbering and the table of contents
• Page Size and Margins – Letter paper and 1-inch margins with the geometry package
• Bold, Italics and Underline – The emphasis commands behind each heading level
• LaTeX Tables – APA-style tables with booktabs

Free LaTeX Tools

• APA Template – A ready-to-edit apa7 student paper, headings included
• LaTeX Preview – Paste either document above and see the PDF without installing TeX
• AI LaTeX Generator – Describe your paper and get a starting document