Updated by GC SST Summer 2021
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Section 2: Formatting Major Headings
General Information on Heading Styles in Microsoft Word:
Similar to Word automatically applying the Normal style to the body text of a document,
Word also automatically creates Heading styles. These can be found in the Styles menu
and include labels such as “Heading 1,” “Heading 2,” “Heading 3,” etc. Word
automatically creates another heading style for you each time you apply a Heading style
to a heading. This means that when you first apply Heading 1, Word automatically
generates Heading 2 style for you.
Steps to Modify the Major Heading Styles:
Similar to modifying the Normal style and applying this to the main text in your
document, you can also modify the Heading 1 style and apply this style to all major
headings. Note: Depending on your version of Microsoft Word, Step 2 may not work.
Instead, you can right click on the style you wish to change and select Modify. This will
bring up the Modify Style box.
1. On the Home tab, find the Styles section. In this section, locate the style called,
“Heading 1.”
2. Do not click on the “Heading 1.” Click the arrow located at the bottom right of
the Styles box, which brings up the Styles box drop menu.
3. Move your mouse to “Heading 1.” The Paragraph symbol will change to an
arrow. Click on the arrow. Another box will pop up. Click on Modify. The Modify
Style box will pop up.
4. As discussed above, the Modify Style box includes all of the same information
found on your toolbar. When we discussed modifying the Normal Style using this
box, we noted you could change the default settings for your font size and font