Use frequent descriptive subject headings and subheadings to reveal the structure of your document. Headings identify the subjects that are treated in sections of your document. Headings are part of a writer's forecasting strategy. They help the reader navigate through your document.
Note how the subject heading in the following example signals a shift to the reader.
In North America, yellow fever has not been reported since 1905, when an outbreak in
New Orleans, La., resulted in some 5000 cases and 1000 deaths.24 But in recent
years, much of the southeastern United States has been reinfested with A aegypti
mosquitoes, and a yellow fever outbreak could occur.25
Improving Yellow Fever Surveillance
In Africa, efforts to improve surveillance for yellow fever were initiated in 1993 in response to
the resurgence of this disease. These efforts have been carried out in the context of ongoing
national communicable disease programs, using . . .
--S. Robertson, et al., "Yellow Fever: A Decade of Reemergence," Journal of the American Medical Association
Be sure that your headings are specific enough to be useful:
| Rather than | Use |
|---|---|
| Problem | Component contamination |
| Method | Microanalysis of surface contamination |
| Conclusion | Contaminants found |
