The Structure of a Research Report

• Title page – This contains the title of the research and the name of the author(s).
• Abstract – This is a short summary of the entire report. It includes the objectives of the research, the method used, the results, and the conclusion.
• Introduction – Sometimes called the background, this section provides the foundation for the paper. It describes the purpose and focus of the research and gives an overview of the content of the other sections of the paper.
• Methodology – This describes in detail how the research was conducted. It discusses the setting and context of the research, design of the study, population and sampling strategy used, intervention used (if applicable), equipment, and instruments and procedures used for data collection and data analysis.
• Results – These are the key findings about the research question as well as secondary findings. They do not include the author’s interpretations or opinions.
• Discussion – This part answers the research question. It presents the interpretation of the results.
• Conclusion – In this part, the author states his or her hunches, speculations, or inferences based on the interpretation of results.
• References – These are listed at the end of the report and formatted according to the prescribed style guide.
• Appendix – This contains additional documents that were used in the study.