IMRAD

• Research proposals in STEM disciplines typically follow a well-defined I-M-R-A-D structure: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.
• The conclusion of the paper includes a brief summary of the main ideas or key takeaways and their implications for future research.
• The conclusion section discusses potential limitations of the study (if relevant).
• The conclusion section provides a brief overview of the main claims and/or key ideas put forth in the paper.
• The conclusion section suggests future research (these should be clearly related to the content of your paper).
• The Introduction section of a research paper provides the necessary context for understanding the scope and purpose of the research, summarizes how relevant scholars have approached the research topic to date, and describes how the research contributes to the scholarly conversation.
• The Methods section of a research paper describes exactly what was done to gather the data used in the paper, providing enough detail for readers to understand the data collection process.
• The Results section of a research paper presents the data gathered from the methods, including charts, graphs, and other visual aids.
• The Discussion section of a research paper presents the main conclusions of the paper, and may include a roadmap for the rest of the paper.
• The results section provides:
• The methods section should not be written as a set of instructions or commands but as descriptions of actions taken.
• Highlights of the most important results are also included in the results section.
• The results section provides a presentation of the data obtained through the means described in the methods section in the form of tables and/or figures.
• Tables should be as succinct as possible, including only vital information (often summarized) and figures should be easy to interpret and be visually engaging.
• By presenting these as separate sections, you’re able to discuss all of your results before moving onto the implications.
• Statements that summarize or explain what the data show are included in the results section.
• For example, 250ml of distilled water was poured into the 1000ml beaker.
• Engagement with sources that are relevant to your work, where you should compare and contrast your results to those of similar researchers.
• An explanation of the results that you found, and why these results are important and/or interesting.
• The methods section describes what was done to gather data.
• Some papers have separate Results and Discussion sections, while others combine them into one section, Results and Discussion.
• By presenting these as one section, you’re able to discuss specific results and move onto their significance before introducing another set of results.
• The methods section outlines the data gathered through the methods described above and explains what the data show.
• The discussion section explains why the results described in the previous section are meaningful in relation to previous scholarly work and the specific research question your paper explores.
• When adding your written explanation to accompany these visual aids, try to refer your readers to these in such a way that they provide an additional descriptive element, rather than simply telling people to look at them.