Scientific Paper. The IMRAD Structure

1.

Scientific Paper
The IMRAD Structure

2.

What is the section
heading?
IMRAD
STRUCTURE
What content is included
in this section?
I
M
R
A
D

3.

I
What is the section heading?
What content is included in this section?
Introduction
Why did you do it? (actuality, problem,
importance, known, unknown, your research
questions, hypotheses/objectives)
M
R
A
D

4.

What is the section heading?
What content is included in this section?
I
Introduction
Why did you do it? (actuality, problem,
importance, known, unknown, your research
questions, hypotheses/objectives)
M
Methods (and Materials)
How did you do it? (Not only methods used,
but also justifications for using them; what
you did to answer the research questions)
R
A
D

5.

What is the section heading?
What content is included in this section?
I
Introduction
Why did you do it? (actuality, problem,
importance, known, unknown, your research
questions, hypotheses/objectives)
M
Methods (and Materials)
How did you do it? (Not only methods used,
but also justifications for using them; what you
did to answer the research questions)
R
Results
What did you find? (Summarize findings with
headings and informative figures; don’t
discuss)
A
D

6.

What is the section heading?
What content is included in this section?
I
Introduction
Why did you do it? (actuality, problem,
importance, known, unknown, your research
questions, hypotheses/objectives)
M
Methods (and Materials)
R
Results
How did you do it? (Not only methods used,
but also justifications for using them; what you
did to answer the research questions)
What did you find? (Summarize findings with
headings and informative figures; don’t
discuss)
And
D
Discussion
What does it mean, and so what? (Results
explained? Objectives achieved? Implications
for future research and application?)

7.

WHY
HOW
WHAT
SO WHAT
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION

8.

Improving the writing of research
papers: IMRAD and beyond
by Jianguo Wu