Addressing Level 3 Table of Contents Problems

Trying to get APA format and Microsoft Word capabilities can be a problem at time - especially when it comes to the automatic Table of Contents.

As noted in an earlier posting, if you format each of your headings with a Format Style (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3) MS Word can create a Table of Contents for you.

Problem is that the Level 3 APA heading causes a problem so that it won't register in the Table of Contents. The problem is that the heading is on the same line as the regular text.  See the example below:

Level 3 Example:
     Generation Z. This generation is a unique generation because they will not have lived in a time when the World Wide Web didn't exist.

There are two ways to beat this problem:

1. Don't worry about it.  Be happy with only having levels 1 and 2 in your Table of Contents - Be Done With It.
2. Insert the lines for the Level 3 headings into the Word-Generated Table of Contents and place the Level 3 heading and page number into it manually.

Deciding which of these tactics will be completely up to you.
If you select option 2, I have created a 4-minute video that explains the process.
ALERT:  If you select option 2, you don't use Heading 3 in your formatting.  You just change it to Normal and then bold your heading manually.

Happy Writing 

I would appreciate your feedback on 

how well this addressed your needs.

How to Modify Existing Heading Styles for the APA Format

If you want to create an automatic Table of Contents in Word, then you need to format each of your headings using the appropriate Style format (see an earlier posting).

Word uses Headings 1, 2, 3, etc to identify the position of each title in the Table of Contents.  Therefore, you need to modify each of the Word headings so that they will match the heading formats defined by APA.

I have created a 7-minute video that demonstrates how you can do this.  Remember that you are not creating new styles.  You are modifying existing styles.

Using the Five Levels of Heading in APA Style

Organization is a key element in article/review organization.  This organization is achieved through the headings the writer uses to provide a framework for the reader.

The American Psychological Association has a set of 5 levels that they include in their framework: (The following graphic was shared in the APA Style Blog.)

http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/

Here are some points that you should realize about these headings:

• All of the levels are bolded except level 5
• Level 1 is the only level centered.
• Level 2 is the only level left justified.
• Levels 3 - 5 all end with periods.
• Levels 1 & 2 are the only levels that use Title Capitalization.  Levels 3 - 5 use Sentence Capitalization.
• Levels 4 & 5 are indented.

Here is the beginning of a sample document using these headings. Click here to get to the rest of the document.

http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/

Should You Be So Bold?

The APA format for bolding level 1 headings is Quite Confusing.  Here is a table that lists which headings need to be bolded and which don't.