IMRAD Format
The IMRAD format is a very useful model to use when you are conducting research. It
allows you to organize your research paper in a way which is consistent with
standardized formats for papers. In short, the model stands for: Introduction – Method –
Results – And – Discussion
Swales, J and C. Feak (2000) English in Today’s Research World: a Writing Guide,
Michigan: Ann Arbor
Introduction
In the introduction, you will touch on topics leading up to your central research
topic. This includes offering an account of past research that has dealt with the topic of
interest. The introduction follows the Abstract which is normally placed immediately
following the title. Thus, the following common order: Title -> Abstract -> Introduction ->
Method -> Analysis -> Results -> Discussion – Conclusions.
The introduction covers a much wider range of topics as it also includes things
that would normally be considered to be in the periphery of a research question. For
instance, if your central thesis is centered on current IT trends in Engineering, the
introduction could also touch on the historical background to this phenomenon as well
include descriptions and definitions of key topics to be covered in the paper. If you are
going to use acronyms, it’s important that you at least once – in the beginning – explain
what the acronym stands for.
Method
The method section deals with the way by which you have acquired your results.
You should also mention the nature of research project, whether it’s qualitative or
quantitative in nature. Qualitative research papers – which are typically found in the
social sciences – investigate the how and the why of decision making and usually have
a smaller but more focused sample size. Quantitative research however make us of
systematic empirical tools to quantify and assess data sets by means of statistics and/or
computational techniques. The latter is very common in the natural sciences. Finally,
the research questions could be stated in this section.
Results
In this section, you present your results. These are the actual findings that you’ve
compiled in conducting your research and could include statistical data or the results
from interviews. It’s important that you present and compile your results in a manner
that is coherent and easy to follow. Remember to be thorough as this section is the
central part of your thesis.
Discussion
In this section, you will explain what your results actually ‘mean’. How do they
correlate with your int ital research questions? What interesting relationships did you
discover and how do you think this could be explained. You can also mention any
limitations on your research and explain why the reasons for these limitations. The
discussion could be ended with suggestions for future research. Following the
discussion, you can have an independent header entitled ‘Conclusions’ in which your
conclusions are stated in a straightforward manner.
Reference:
Adam, Abderisak (2019). IMRAD Format Explanation. Retrieved from: [Link]
[Link]/imrad-format-explanation
