Manuscript Preparation, Copyediting, and Proofreading

Q. I am writing a short essay using Chicago style for the first time and I seem to remember that I need to put a heading or title at the beginning of each paragraph or point. Is this right? Would I need to title my intro/thesis and conclusion paragraphs as well?

A. Chicago style does not require subheadings in any work, and normally it’s not a great idea to chop up a text into individually headed paragraphs. A title at the top of each chapter is enough. If your chapters fall into easily identifiable chunks and you think subheadings would aid navigation, use them. Subheads are most helpful when you’re writing a reference work and the reader will be searching for something specific, or when a chapter is very long and the reader might want to browse to a particular topic within it.