The American Psychological Association encourages the use of headings to help readers follow the organization of a paper. Headings will also help you organize your evidence.

For an original research report, the major headings often follow a standard model: Method, Results, Discussion. The introduction is not given a heading; it consists of the material between the title of the paper and the first heading.

For a literature review, headings will vary. The student who wrote about treatments for childhood obesity used four questions to focus her research; the questions then became headings in her paper:

Outlines can also help you organize your evidence. Some writers prefer to start with a formal outline, perhaps using complete sentences. Other writers sketch an informal plan that organizes ideas in bold strokes.