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How to set Text & Heading Styles (Add-in)

Shane
Updated

Found in the PERRLA ribbon tab, the Text & Heading Style icon allows you to choose the proper format for any text in your paper.

There are two ways to use the available styles:

  1. Select the style you want and begin typing. 
  2. Highlight existing text, click the Text & Heading Style icon, and select the format you want to apply. 

PERRLA for Word (desktop):

PERRLA Word Desktop - Text and Heading Styles.gif

PERRLA for Word (Word for Web):

PERRLA for Word for Web - Text and Heading Styles.gif

In all, there are nine styles available:

  • Paragraph
  • Headings 1 through 5
  • Block Quote
  • Reference
  • Annotation

More about heading styles

Headings show where each section of your paper starts – think of them as labels within your paper. APA, MLA, and Turabian papers can all use multiple levels of headings.

Heading 1 is the largest style (for major sections), while Heading 5 is the smallest (for the smallest sub-sections). Unless you're writing a very long paper or dissertation, you'll probably only ever use one or two heading levels.

Always start with Heading 1, then use other heading levels for sub-sections. For example, use Heading 2 for a sub-section under a Heading 1 section, and return to Heading 1 when moving to the next major section.

APA 7 headings

There are five headings recommended by APA 7:

  1. Heading Level 1: bold, centered, Title Cased
  2. Heading Level 2: bold, flush left aligned, Title Cased
  3. Heading Level 3: bold, italicized, flush left aligned, Title Cased
  4. Heading Level 4: bold, indented, Title Cased, ends with a period, the heading is part of the first line of the paragraph.
  5. Heading Level 5: bold, italicized, indented, Title Cased, ends with a period, the heading is part of the first line of the paragraph.

APA 7 headings should not be numbered in your text.

MLA 9 headings

There are five headings recommended for MLA 9:

  1. Heading Level 1: bold, flush left aligned, 14 point font
  2. Heading Level 2: italics, flush left aligned, 14 point font
  3. Heading Level 3: flush left aligned, 14 point font
  4. Heading Level 4: bold, flush left aligned, 12 point font
  5. Heading Level 5: italics, flush left aligned, 12 point font

MLA 9 headings should not be designated using numbers or letters unless you are working in a discipline where using them is conventional.

MLA headings should always be on their own line within the text of your paper.

Turabian headings

There are five headings recommended by Turabian:

  1. Heading Level 1: bold, centered, Title Cased
  2. Heading Level 2: regular type, centered, Title Cased
  3. Heading Level 3: italicized, flush left aligned, Title Cased
  4. Heading Level 4: regular type, flush left aligned, sentence cased
  5. Heading Level 5: bold, indented, sentence cased, ends with a period, the heading is part of the first line of the paragraph.

Turabian headings should not be numbered in your text.

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