Multiple Experiments

 


Multiple experiments should discuss the method and results of each experiment separately. Include a short discussion of the results if appropriate. Label the experiments "Experiment 1," "Experiment 2," etc. These subject headings should be centered. The next subject headings (Method, Results) are italicized and flush left under the experiment label. The Method and Results (and sometimes a Discussion section) appear under each experiment heading.

 

Headings:

No matter how many levels of subheading you use in a section, the heading structure for all sections follow the same progression. Each section starts with the highest level of heading, even if one section has less subheadings than another. According to APA guidelines, there are five possible formatting arrangements, according to the number of levels of subheadings. Because there is no heading for "Introduction," if the introduction contains headings, the first heading and later ones are assigned the highest level of heading. Each subheading must have at least one counterpart at the same level within a section. The format of the five levels of headings is:

CENTERED UPPERCASE HEADING (level 5)

Centered Uppercase and Lowercase Heading (level 1)

Centered, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading (level 2)

Flush Left, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Side Heading (level 3)

Indented, italicized, lowercase paragraph heading ending with a period. (level 4)

As an example of headings formatted for all five levels would be:

EXPERIMENT 1: AN INTERVIEW VALIDATION STUDY (level 5)

External Validation (level 1)

Method (level 2)

Participants (level 3)

Sleep-deprived group. (level 4)

*For short articles, one level of heading may be sufficient. For many articles, two levels of heading meet the requirements. In a single-experiment study, three levels of heading are commonly used. In a multi-experiment study, the three headings may look different or four headings may be required. An example of a multi-experiment study with four levels is:

Experiment 2 (level 1)

Method (level 2)

Stimulus Materials (level 3)

Auditory stimuli. (level 4)

 

For an example of an APA-style paper with multiple experiments, click here.

For a checklist, click here.

 

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