This section is an overview of the changes from APA 6th edition to APA 7th edition. In some cases, the differences are small. In other cases, the differences between editions is quite pronounced. Be mindful of these distinctions as you familiarize yourself with APA 7th edition.
APA 7th edition has different rules for student and professional papers. Unless otherwise specified, students should adhere to the student-specific guidelines.
Student papers should include the following
Student papers no longer need running heads, although professional work should still use a running head.
Use headings to help organize your paper. These should flow according to levels of relevance to topics in your paper. For instance, you might include a level three heading entitled The Organization of Information below a level two section entitled Literature Review.
Most headings have stayed the same in the transition from APA 6th edition to APA 7th edition. Even in cases where things have changed (levels three, four, and five), all headings use title case. That means you should format each heading the way you would the title of your paper or another work.
For easy reference, here is a breakdown of each heading level in APA 7th edition.
Begin your paper with the paper title at the top of the first page of text. The paper title acts as a de facto Level 1 heading: It is centered and in bold title case font. Do not use the heading “Introduction”; text at the beginning of the paper is assumed to be the introduction. APA Style headings have five possible levels. Each main section starts with the highest level of heading, even if one section has fewer levels of subheading than another section. For example, in a paper with Level 1 Method, Results, and Discussion headings, the Method and Results sections may each have two levels of subheading (Levels 2 and 3), and the Discussion section may have only one level of subheading (Level 2).
Use Level 2 headings for any headings within the introduction, Level 3 for subsections of any Level 2 headings, and so on.
Avoid having only one subsection heading within a section, just like in an outline. Use at least two subsection headings within a section or use no subsection headings at all (e.g., in an outline, a section numbered with a Roman numeral would be divided into either a minimum of A and B subsections or no subsections; an A subsection would not stand alone).
After the Introduction After the introduction (regardless of whether it includes headings), use a Level 1 heading for the next main section of the paper (e.g., Method).
Use Level 2 headings for subsections of Level 1 headings. Do not label headings with numbers or letters. Level 2 Heading All topics of equal importance should have the same level of heading. For example, in a multiexperiment paper, the headings for the Method and Results sections for Experiment 1 should be the same level as the headings for the Method and Results sections for Experiment 2, with parallel wording. In a single-experiment paper, the Method, Results, and Discussion 1 2 sections should all have the same heading level.
Use Level 3 headings for subsections of Level 2 headings. Do not use abbreviations in headings unless they already defined in the text.
The number of levels of heading needed for a paper depends on its length and complexity. Three levels of heading is average.
Use Level 4 headings for subsections of Level 3 headings. Use only the number of headings necessary to differentiate distinct sections in your paper. Short student papers may not require any headings.
It is not necessary to add blank lines before or after headings, even if a heading falls at the end of a page. Do not add extra spacing between paragraphs.
Use Level 5 headings for subsections of Level 4 headings. In the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Table 2.3 shows how to format each level of heading, Figure 2.4 demonstrates the use of headings in the introduction, and Figure 2.5 lists all the headings used in a sample paper in the correct format. In the Concise Guide to APA Style (7th ed.), this content is found in Table 1.3, Figure 1.3, and Figure 1.4, respectively. Level 5 Heading. The sample papers at the end of Chapter 2 in the Publication Manual and Chapter 1 in the Concise Guide show the use of headings in context. Additional sample papers can be found on the APA Style website (https://apastyle.apa.org)
A handful of additional formatting changes are recommended in the seventh edition. These include the following: