At the most basic level, headings provide a reader with information about what is in each section of a document. However, headings can also provide visual cues to a reader about what information belongs in which section. (This is called the hierarchy of information). MSWord adds a third dimension to headings through its use of heading styles to build automated tables of contents.

From a writer's point of view, headings help you organise your information. They help you group similar information together and create a logical flow of information through your documents. In this respect, headings are crucial: if you use headings well, your documents will be easier to write and your readers will more easily be able to find the information they are looking for.

The Scribe Template provides three pre-formatted heading levels. Just to keep things simple, these styles are called Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3. The easiest way to think of these headings is as follows:

• Heading 1, or first level headings, are chapter titles;
• Heading 2, or second level headings, describe sections of a chapter; and
• Heading 3, or third level headings, describe sub-sections of a section.