5.22 Reference numbers

Page numbers are usually written in Arabic numerals, but in prefatory material they may be written as lower-case Roman numerals:

• page vii of the Foreword
• page 7 of the Introduction

Within the body of the text, volume numbers may be indicated by Arabic or Roman numerals or be spelled out. Numbers of chapters and other major divisions of a book may be spelled out, but are more often written in Roman or Arabic numerals—the tendency being away from Roman numerals in the case of both chapter and volume numbers. Verse numbers and those of minor divisions of a book are written as Arabic numerals:

• I Kings 9:1–4
• Volume 18, Section 8

Paragraphs may be numbered 1, 2, . . . ; clauses within paragraphs, 1),  2), . . . . Groups of paragraphs may be numbered with Roman numerals. In citations from legislation and the like, numbers and letters designating parts of a section should be enclosed in parentheses, with no space between them:

• section 123(4)(b)(ii)

See also 4.30 Parts of a book or document.

5.25 Roman numerals

Roman numerals are becoming increasingly rare, but they still have the following uses:

• names of rulers, aristocrats, and the names of ships, racing cars and space vehicles:
  • harles IV
  • Pius XII
  • Bluenose II
  • Saturn V
• numbers of volumes, chapters, tables, plates, acts and other divisions of a book or play (now often replaced with Arabic numerals):
  • salm XXIII
  • Volume XII
  • Appendix III
  • Act II, Scene iii (act number in upper case, scene number in lower case)
    Iliad xi.26
• Government of Canada Statutes:
  • Schedule IV
  • Part III
• years, centuries and recurring events of major importance:
  • CMLXLV (in very formal contexts)
  • XIX century (or 19th century)
  • XXIII Olympiad

Do not use ordinal forms (st, nd, th, etc.) with Roman numerals.

Lower-case Roman numerals may be used for page numbers in preliminary matter (preface, foreword, table of contents, etc.), subclauses and subordinate classifications in a series.

Note that a bar over a letter in a Roman numeral multiplies its value by 1000:

• _
  D = 500 000
• _
  V = 5000

11.16 Headings

Headings (or heads) are used to introduce a change of subject in a report or other document and to indicate a hierarchy of topics. They are designed to guide readers and enable them to find the pages where a particular topic is discussed. The size and appearance of a heading should match its importance, and the same type of heading should be used consistently throughout a document to indicate subdivisions with the same degree of subordination. Headings that are of equal importance should have parallel grammatical structures.

You can set off the heading by various means depending, among other things, on how many levels of heading there are. These means include capitalization (full or initial letter only), underlining, centring, spacing, type size and the use of italic or boldface type. The specific means chosen to indicate the gradation of headings matter less than consistency in using them. The system adopted should be as simple as the nature of the text will allow.

Limit the number of levels of headings to three or four; otherwise the structure of your document will be cumbersome and complicated. If there are many headings or subheadings of equal importance, a numbering system, as used in this guide, can help to distinguish among them for reference purposes. Letters can be used for further subdivision of topics. This is less confusing than a system using several levels of numbers and producing subdivisions such as 1.4.2.3. Another common method of numbering combines both Roman and Arabic numerals with letters and, if needed, parentheses:

Punctuation should be kept to a minimum in headings, and the wording should be as succinct as possible without being ambiguous. No periods are required, except in run-in heads.

Unless a heading is centred or full capitalization is used, only the first word and proper nouns are normally capitalized. In centred headings, capitalize the first letter of each word except the following (unless they are the initial word):

• articles
• short conjunctions (fewer than four letters)
• short prepositions (fewer than four letters)

Do not footnote a heading.

11.19 Pagination

The preliminary matter is numbered with Roman or Arabic numerals in the bottom centre of the page. The title page is understood to be the first page, although no page number appears. The pages of the body of the text, beginning with the introduction, are numbered with Arabic numerals in the upper centre, lower centre or upper right corner of the page. A combination of chapter number and page number is sometimes used for long reports with several chapters written by different authors (i.e. 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, etc., for the first chapter). The pages of appendixes are numbered independently, often with a combination of the appendix letter and Arabic numerals (i.e. A-1, A-2, A-3, etc., for Appendix A). When supplementary matter is generated by the author, it can be paginated as a continuation of the report.

© Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada, 2013
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