Headings
APA style uses a five level format for headings. Regardless of the number of levels in a section, the headings should follow this progression.
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Level of heading
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Format
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1
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Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
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2
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Flush Left, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading
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3
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Flush Left, Boldface Italic, Title Case Heading |
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4
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Indented, Boldface Title Case Heading Ending With a Period.
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5
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Indented, Boldface Italic, Title Case Heading Ending With a Period. |
Lists and Seriation
Lists may be helpful when discussing key points in sections or even sentences. Separate paragraphs or sentences in a series should be identified by an Arabic numeral. Numbered lists may indicate an order to items that is not intended; bullets may be desired instead then. Each item should be written in sentence form, followed by a period.
Lists of short things within a sentence should be done as follows: Her options were to be (a) a psychologist, (b) a sociologist, or (c) a nurse. Within a sentence, use commas to separate three or more elements; use semicolons to separate elements that have internal commas. When discussing longer items, you may choose to use a bulleted list, which should be capitalized and punctuated like a normal sentence.