Beyond Bold Text

Who Should Read This Article?

• All faculty
• All employees who create any documents, webpages, etc.

Quick Summary

• Always use formal headings to structure your papers, documents, webpages, etc.
• Don't rely on only formatting to indicate a heading in your content.
• Avoid using the "Title" or "Subtitle" headings in Microsoft Word or Google Docs; use Headings 1-6 instead.
• Don't jump multiple levels of heading in subheadings (don't skip from Heading 2 to Heading 5, for example).
• Use only one Heading 1 in a document as the title.

The Case for Proper Headings

Imagine that you are reading a paper. It's a wall of text with no guidance about the types of information in the document or their relative importance. How do you navigate it? How do you quickly find the information you need?

For students (or anyone!), this is a real challenge. And for people using assistive technology to process information, it becomes even more difficult. Even if you apply formatting to try to indicate the structure or reading order, you only help some, not all, of our community. Formatting provides a visual illusion of organization, but to a screen reader, it's the equivalent of plain text. Using formal headings provides genuine structure to information and will prevent anyone who relies on assistive technology from facing that overwhelming and frustrating "wall of text."

At Pepperdine University, each of us is called to "Do Unto Others." Therefore, taking a few seconds to add and mark headings in your documents or webpages is the right thing to do to answer this call and help deliver on our University mission.

Beyond mission, morals, and legal requirements, there are other benefits to using headings.

The Benefits to You of Using Headings

• Provides a Document Outline in Microsoft Word and Google Docs so you can quickly navigate your work
• Allows tools like Microsoft Word or Google Docs to create an automatic Table of Contents
• Offers an easy way to apply formatting changes to all headings in seconds

The Benefits to Others of Using Headings

• Provides a Document Outline in Microsoft Word and Google Docs to quickly navigate the work
• Eases cognitive load by making a document easier to read, navigate, and search
• Supports assistive technologies to meet legal and ethical requirements

How to Add Formal Headings to Your Content

Microsoft Word

1. Highlight the text you want to convert into a heading.
2. Go to the Home tab in the top ribbon.
3. Locate the Styles gallery.
4. Select the appropriate heading level (reserve Heading 1 for the main title, use Heading 2 for chapters or major sections, and so on).

Tip: Once you apply a heading, you can manually change the formatting of the text. When done, with your cursor still in the heading, right-click the style name in the Styles box and choose "Update Heading to Match Selection." You can also right-click the heading and choose "Modify" for advanced formatting options.

Google Docs

1. Highlight the text you want to convert into a heading.
2. Choose the Styles drop-down menu in the toolbar (it defaults to Normal text).
3. Select the appropriate heading level (reserve Heading 1 for the main title, use Heading 2 for chapters or major sections, and so on).

Tip: Open the Document Outline panel on the left (View > Show outline) to visually review your document hierarchy in real time. Similar to Word, you can manually format your new heading text, select the Styles drop-down menu, go to the heading name, and choose "Update Heading x to match." This will apply your formatting to all other instances in your document.

Pepperdine Canvas LMS

1. Open any Canvas Page, Announcement, Assignment, etc.
2. Choose Edit.
3. Highlight the text you want to convert to a heading.
4. In the rich text editor, select the Paragraph (or Blocks) drop-down menu.
5. Select the appropriate heading level (e.g., Heading 2 for major sections on the page, Heading 3 for sub-sections, etc.).

Note: Canvas automatically reserves Heading 1 for the main page title, maintaining the accessible hierarchy for you.

Best Practices for Headings

• Follow a clear, structured reading order. For example:
  • Heading 1: Reserve for the document or paper title. There should only be one instance of Heading 1 in your document.
  • Heading 2: Use this for major section or chapter headings.
  • Heading 3: Use for sub-sections of each heading 2.
• Don't skip or jump multiple heading levels. For example, don't use Heading 2 and then Heading 5 simply for formatting preferences. A well-structured outline might look like:
  • Heading 1
    • Heading 2
      • Heading 3
    • Heading 2
      • Heading 3
        • Heading 4
      • Heading 3
• Avoid empty headings, that is, blank lines with a heading style applied.
• Avoid using the Title and Subtitle styles. In Google Docs, for example, these are not part of a document's structure. Use the standard Heading 1-6 options instead.
• Don't place a heading style on paragraph content simply for formatting or visual impact.

Additional Resources

• HEAL Framework
• ACCESS Checklist
• Faculty Resources for Digital Accessibility

Thank you for supporting all members of our Pepperdine community by adopting digital accessibility best practices!