What should you do if you need more than five heading when writing an APA paper?

Question

(I don't know if this question is appropriate here. I'm going to take a chance.)

If you're writing a paper according to the APA (American Psychology Association) standard and you need more than five levels of headings, what is the appropriate way to solve this?

According to the APA manual (Sixth Edition, page 63), there are five levels of headings that you can use. However, there is nothing mentioned about what to do if you need more than this.

Answer 1

The link provided by @John Smithers Five Essential Tips for APA Style Headings which is sourced directly from the APA style blog indicates that a student paper or lengthy article might require two or three levels of headings. However, only something on the scale of a dissertation would require use of a fourth or even fifth level heading. The article is dated July 2009, but it pertains to the APA Publication Manual, Sixth Edition, which remains the most current version as of August 2011.

So if you were writing a paper according to the APA guidelines, you should not use more than three levels of headings, unless writing a lengthy research paper or thesis. Only in that instance would five levels be appropriate. There is no need for a sixth or higher heading according to APA guidelines.

Answer 2

I am really having a hard time imagining a paper that would need more than five levels, so my first suggestion would be to give a hard look at the structure of your paper to make sure you're presenting the information as clearly as possible. If you've done this and decided that you do need more levels:

The OWL suggests that APA also allows numbered seriation, bullet points, and letters within paragraphs.

If that doesn't work for you, from my own head, I wonder if you could add categories to the other end of the spectrum via chapters, or parts. I know that's not typical for APA papers, but I don't think it's typical to need more than five levels, either!

Alternatively - if you're writing this for school, ask your teacher/prof. If you're writing it for publication, contact the publisher and see what they'd prefer.

Good luck with it!