[Tex/LaTex] When is it appropriate to use \paragraph

best practicessectioningsections-paragraphs

LaTeX provides seven sectioning commands:

\part
\chapter
\section
\subsection
\subsubsection
\paragraph
\subparagraph.

For most of the documents I write or come across, \subsubsection seems to be the deepest sectioning level used. Then there's the "rule" (by Tufte perhaps? I am unable to find the source right now) that suggests that the document outline should not be deeper than three levels, which would leave me somewhere between \subsection and \subsubsection depending on the document class being used. At any rate, I have not yet come across a use case for \paragraph and, thinking about it, I realize I don't know when it would be appropriate to use it. So, that's my question: when, if ever, should \paragraph be used?

Best Answer

I learned in elementary school that a document should not be divided more than the intellectual content deserves. The rule is often breached, especially by lawyers. One reason for numbering down to eight or nine levels is that it is easy for us lawyers to refer to item 2.1.1.2.3.(i)(b)(V)(A) in a complicated legal text, making the text even harder to read and interpret. Then we lawyers are sure you have to visit a lawyer and pay him to help you with the interpretation.

Bringhurst (The Elements of Typographic Style) suggests three levels.

(And: I am a lawyer myself)

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to add an extra level of sections with headings below \subsubsection

You can use the titlesec package to change the way \paragraph formats the titles and set the secnumdepth counter to four to obtain numbering for the paragraphs:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titlesec}

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{4}

\titleformat{\paragraph}
{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{\theparagraph}{1em}{}
\titlespacing*{\paragraph}
{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}

\begin{document}

\section{Test Section}
test
\subsection{Test Subsection}
test
\subsubsection{Test Subsubsection}
test
\paragraph{Test Modified Paragraph}
test

\end{document}

enter image description here

If you want to define a new sectioning command, you can take a look at Defining custom sectioning commands.

If you want to define a fresh new sectional unit below \subsubsection, but above \paragraph, then you will have to do considerably more work: a new counter has to be created and its representation has to be appropriately defined; the sectional units \paragraph and \subparagraph will also have to be redefined, as well as they corresponding \l@... commands (controlling how the will be typeset in the ToC if the tocdepth value is increased); also, the toclevel (for eventual bookmarks) will have to be considered.

Here's an example showing how to obtain this new sectional unit giving you now the option to use \part, \section, \subsection, \subsubsection, \subsubsubsection, \paragraph, and \subparagraph:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage{hyperref}

\titleclass{\subsubsubsection}{straight}[\subsection]

\newcounter{subsubsubsection}[subsubsection]
\renewcommand\thesubsubsubsection{\thesubsubsection.\arabic{subsubsubsection}}
\renewcommand\theparagraph{\thesubsubsubsection.\arabic{paragraph}} % optional; useful if paragraphs are to be numbered

\titleformat{\subsubsubsection}
  {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{\thesubsubsubsection}{1em}{}
\titlespacing*{\subsubsubsection}
{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand\paragraph{\@startsection{paragraph}{5}{\z@}%
  {3.25ex \@plus1ex \@minus.2ex}%
  {-1em}%
  {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\renewcommand\subparagraph{\@startsection{subparagraph}{6}{\parindent}%
  {3.25ex \@plus1ex \@minus .2ex}%
  {-1em}%
  {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\def\toclevel@subsubsubsection{4}
\def\toclevel@paragraph{5}
\def\toclevel@paragraph{6}
\def\l@subsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{4}{7em}{4em}}
\def\l@paragraph{\@dottedtocline{5}{10em}{5em}}
\def\l@subparagraph{\@dottedtocline{6}{14em}{6em}}
\makeatother

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{4}
\setcounter{tocdepth}{4}

\begin{document}

\tableofcontents
\section{Test Section}
test
\subsection{Test Subsection}
test
\subsubsection{Test Subsubsection}
test
\subsubsubsection{Test Subsubsubsection}
test
\paragraph{Test Paragraph}
test
\subparagraph{Test Subparagraph}
test

\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] \subsubsubsection, \paragraph and \subparagraph count not reset when starting a new section, subsection, etc

The immediate problem is that you need the counter for paragraphs to be reset when you start a new subsubsubsection. To do this, all you need to do is add:

\@addtoreset{paragraph}{subsubsubsection}

Note, though, that you probably will also find you want to add some further resets depending on the structure of your document.

More generally, I have to say that the fact that you find the need to do this indicates to me that you need to rethink the structure of your document. Even if you are writing a book or thesis (for which article would not be a suitable class), 9 levels is just going to be confusing. The only exception is probably legal documentation which seems to positively require insane levels of hierarchy. I think you should really be asking what you expect your readers to gain from the structure in terms of clarity. If the answer is nothing or, worse, greater complexity and confusion, you know you need to rethink.

However, this is TeX SE and so I can provide a 'solution' with a clean conscience since the site is not in the business of ensuring people write well, but only of assisting them to write whatever they do in TeX.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\titleclass{\subsubsubsection}{straight}[\subsection]

\newcounter{subsubsubsection}[subsubsection]

\renewcommand\thesubsubsubsection{\thesubsubsection.\arabic{subsubsubsection}}
\renewcommand\theparagraph{\thesubsubsubsection.\arabic{paragraph}}
\renewcommand\thesubparagraph{\theparagraph.\arabic{subparagraph}}

\titleformat{\subsubsubsection}
  {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}{\thesubsubsubsection}{1em}{}
\titlespacing*{\subsubsubsection}
{0pt}{3.25ex plus 1ex minus .2ex}{1.5ex plus .2ex}

\makeatletter
\renewcommand\paragraph{\@startsection{paragraph}{5}{\z@}%
  {3.25ex \@plus1ex \@minus.2ex}%
  {-1em}%
  {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\renewcommand\subparagraph{\@startsection{subparagraph}{6}{\parindent}
  {3.25ex \@plus1ex \@minus .2ex}%
  {-1em}%
  {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
\def\toclevel@subsubsubsection{4}
\def\toclevel@paragraph{5}
\def\toclevel@paragraph{6}
\def\l@subsubsubsection{\@dottedtocline{4}{7em}{4em}}
\def\l@paragraph{\@dottedtocline{5}{10em}{5em}}
\def\l@subparagraph{\@dottedtocline{6}{14em}{6em}}
\@addtoreset{subsubsubsection}{section}
\@addtoreset{subsubsubsection}{subsection}
\@addtoreset{paragraph}{subsubsubsection}
\makeatother

\setcounter{secnumdepth}{6}
\setcounter{tocdepth}{6}

\author{Author}
\title{Title}
\date{2014}

\begin{document}
\tableofcontents

\section{Section 1}
\subsection{subsection 1}
\subsubsection{subsubsection 1}
\subsubsubsection{Subsubsubsection 1}
Some description here
\paragraph{paragraph 1}
Some description here
\paragraph{Paragraph 2}
Some description here
\subsubsubsection{subsubsubsection 2}
Description here
\subsubsubsection{subsubsubsection 3}
description here
\subsubsubsection{subsubsubsection 4}
description here
\paragraph{paragraph 1}
Some description here
\paragraph{paragraph 2}
some description here
\paragraph{Paragraph 3}
\subsubsubsection{subsubsubsection 5}
description here

\end{document}

Excessive levels shown in TOC

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to add an extra level of sections with headings below \subsubsection

[Tex/LaTex] \subsubsubsection, \paragraph and \subparagraph count not reset when starting a new section, subsection, etc

Related Question