FORMAL OR INFORMAL?

8. Subheadings

Subheadings are always used in reports in business and in scientific case-studies, and not usually used in essays in subjects like English or History. Essays in more formal subjects like Social Sciences sometimes use subheadings and sometimes don't. In general, the more formal you want your assignment to look, the more you should use subheadings.

If you're writing a long essay (3,000 words or more) then you should consider using subheadings, whatever subject you're working in. Subheadings are useful in a long piece of work because breaking a long essay up into smaller bits makes it clearer. Subheadings can also help to make the structure of a long argument clear.