Within a chapter or article, section headings are structural markers and guides for the reader, not part of the text itself. Start each section as if the reader hasn’t read the heading—as the Chicago Manual puts it, “The first sentence of text following a subhead should not refer syntactically to the subhead; words should be repeated where necessary” (1.55).
To take an example from my dissertation (sorry!):
| Isolation and Community These themes appear frequently in scholarship on World War II–era exile and migration to the United States. | Isolation and Community Themes of isolation, both personal and professional, appear frequently in scholarship on World War II–era exile and migration to the United States. |
| “These themes” refers back to the words in the heading, which doesn’t work. | Repeating “isolation” in the first sentence avoids this problem. (This one is what I actually wrote, fortunately! |
For further info and reflections on the role of subheads, see this post from Katie Van Heest of Tweed Editing.
Erin K. Maher, Ph.D. 