To go the Table of Contents


The Use of Headings in Technical Writing Papers


All papers must have titles; generally, those titles will be first order headings; in the Report, each major section will begin with a first order heading.

While there are many systems of headings, it is important that you learn to use the one specified in this material. Here is a summary of the rationale used for headings:

From these two ideas, it is evident that centering and all caps give the heading most prominence; centering in initial caps or at the left margin in all caps would be next most prominent; and headings in initial caps at the left margin would be at a third level of prominence or importance. Indented headings are at a lower lever of prominence than headings at the margin.

Each paper must have a minimum of three second order headings--an Introduction, a Body or major content section, and a Conclusion. Almost all papers will subdivide the body section; those subdivisions will be signified by the use of third order headings and, in some papers, fourth order headings.

Leave TWO double spaces after a First Order heading -- between the First Order heading and the following heading or text.  Leave ONE double space after a Second Order heading and ONE double space after a Third Order heading.

Headings:


FIRST ORDER



SECOND ORDER

          Text begins on this line; always leave a blank line after a second-order heading. 

Note that in this example, the second order heading is in all caps at the left margin; the 

other option is to center it in initial caps. 

Third Order

    Text begins on this line; always leave a blank line after a third-order heading. Note
that in this example, the third and fourth order headings are underlined; they could also be 

placed in bold-face type and not underlined. If one heading level in bold-faced, then all 

should be; if they are bold-faced, then underlining does not seem necessary.

        Fourth Order. Note that this heading is indented and has the text beginning on the
same line.

 
Here is a second example of heading use, with the second order headings centered:

   
FIRST ORDER

Second Order

     Leave a blank line before and after a second-order heading. Note that this second 

order heading is centered and in initial caps; the other option is to put it in all caps at the 

left margin.

Third Order

    Leave a blank line before and after a third-order heading.
         Fourth Order. The text goes on the same line. Then, the text goes back to the 

margin on the next lint. In this example, the third and fourth order headings are bold-faced 

rather than underlining them.



To go to the top of this page
To go to the Table of Contents