The Structure of Academic Texts An important feature of academic texts is that they are organized in a specifi spe cific c wa way; y; the they y hav have e a cle clear ar stru structur cture. e. This stru structu cture re mak makes es it easier for your reader to navigate your text and in that way understand the material better, but it also makes it easier for you to organize your material. The structure should be clear on all levels of the academic tex te xt th the e en enti tire re te tex xt, ea each ch se sect ctio ion, n, ev ever ery y pa para ragr grap aph, h, an and d ev even en sentences. The Structure of the !ntire Text and of !ach Section "ost academic texts in the sciences adhere to the model called imrad, which is an acronym for introduction, methods and materials, results, and discussion. #mrad is often illustrated with the following image $see explanation below%. The model should however be complemented with sections for aims and research &uestions, as these make up the very backbone of the academic text. They often appear towards the end of the introduction, but sometimes after a separate heading. 'elow 'elo w is an over ervi view ew of wh what at sh shou ould ld be in incl clud uded ed in ea each ch of th the e sections of the academic text, as well as advice on how you can make the text coherent and how to structure your text. Aim The aim determines the entire academic text and the content in all its parts. The aim captures what you intend to achieve with your study. (ne example could be that the aim was )to investigate how effective nursing nursi ng interventions interventions are for smoki smoking ng cessation*. cessation*. #t is crucial that the aim is the exact same in every part of the academic text. The title should sho uld hig highli hlight ght the sam same e asp aspect ects s as the explic explicit it aim aim,, and all the subse&uent parts should have the same focus. +esearch &uestions
The aim is often rather general, and may have to be narrowed down with research &uestions. +esearch &uestions are, in other words, specific &uestions that will enable you to reach your aim. or the example above, the research &uestions could be )-hat nursing interventions exist* and )/ow many patients are still smoke free after one year*. +emember that there must be a clear link between your aim and your research &uestions, but they should not be identical. (nly ask &uestions that will help you to fulfi l your aim. #f you have several research &uestions, you should consider the order of these. #s there a logical order, so that some &uestions may only be understood after having read others Are some &uestions more important than others 0lace the research &uestions in an order that makes sense to you and then keep to the order in the rest of your thesis. 1our aim and your thesis must be delimited and narrow, as we can only research a small part of the world in our studies. That is the reason that the parts that concern what we have done in our study 2 methods and results 2 are narrow in the imrad model above. #ntroduction #n order to make our narrow research interesting to others we must however place it in a larger context. or that reason the introduction of the text must start with something much more general than your research &uestions. #t is often said that the introduction should be shaped like a funnel $as it is in the imrad model above% 2 that means that you should start in a broad and general manner and then gradually zoom in on your own specific and narrow topic. The text needs to start with something that your reader can relate to, and something that shows what field your research will cont ribute to, and how. The introduction should provide everything the reader needs to know in order to understand your aim, but also to understand why the aim is important. 3onvincing your reader that your aim is important often entails showing that there is something we do not know, but that we would benefit from knowing 2 perhaps in order to pr ovide better care or develop a new drug or a new treatment method. #t could also entail indicating that there is a problem with an existing method and that
alternative methods are needed. -hen you have accounted for the context and pointed to the importance of new knowledge in the field, your reader will be well prepared when you present your aim and research &uestions towards the end of the introduction. $As mentioned above, the aim and research &uestions are sometimes placed under a separate heading, which may be placed right aft er the introduction.% 0lease note that the introduction may also be called background. Sometimes the two terms are used for the exact same thing, but sometimes there is a difference. There may be a short introduction that raises interest and gives a very short introduction to the field, and which is followed by a more extensive background section. Sometimes your instructions specify what parts your thesis or assignment should include, and what should be included in each part 2 but if not, you could ask your teacher. #f you are writing a thesis you can also examine previous theses from your field in order to get an idea how they normally look. $4ust remember that theses may differ from each other significantly, so in order to get a good perception, it may be a good idea to look at several theses.%
"ethods and "aterials #n the methods section you should show your reader exactly how you have conducted your research, that is, what you have done to be able to fulfill your aim and answer your research &uestions. irstly, your reader should understand how you got the results you did, and secondly, they should be able to duplicate your research. 'ut what do we mean by )exactly* how you conducted your research 1ou do not need to tell your readers that you went to the library or that you talked to 'arbro the librarian. 5either do you need to tell your readers about all the ideas that you had but did not use. The most important thing is to focus on what you actually did in your study, as well as account for the choices you made, when necessary.
#t is helpful if you begin your methods section by writing something overarching about your method, mentioning your study design. #f you tell your readers right away that your work is a literature review or that your method is to interview nurses using a semi6structured interview, it is easier for the readers to understand than if you go straight to the details about your search process or the study group, without telling your readers what you intend to do with them. +esults #n the results section you should account for your results in an ob7ective manner, without interpreting them $that you do in the discussion part%. #f you study several aspects related to your research &uestions you should account for the results in the same order that you posed your research &uestions; the consistent order makes the text coherent and helps your reader follow your points. #t may help your readers if you use illustrations such as tables and charts when presenting your results. The illustrations should be clearly linked to your text, but you should not repeat all the information provided in the chart. #nstead you can account for the most important aspects, that is, tell your reader what you want them to observe. 0lease note that tables and charts should be understandable without reading the body text, so it is important that you have a caption that indicates what your picture illustrates. 8iscussion The discussion part is the part in which you interpret your results, and it is also the part that takes longest to write. The reason is that you do not merely write about something that you have already done 2 you actually write and analyze at the same time. All parts of your discussion should focus on the analysis of your results 2 there should not be too much repetition from your background, your methods and materials, or your results $sometimes you may need to remind your readers about things that you have accounted for in these parts, but there cannot be too much focus on them%. 0lease read the section about the principles of paragraphing and topic sentences and make sure that each paragraph 2 except the very first one 2 contains some
analysis of your topic. A common outline of the discussion is the following The first paragraph reminds your reader about the aim, preferably hinting at how you will contribute to the field. 1ou may for example write )This is the first study to examine the correlation between 9* Then you briefly account for the most important parts of your results, perhaps linking them to your hypothesis if you have one. 1ou may say that the first paragraph makes for a shortcut into the discussion it should enable your readers to understand the discussion without reading all the sections of your thesis. The rest of the discussion should analyze and discuss your results. #t may be helpful to keep the following &uestions in mind -hat do your results mean
/ow do they relate to previous research -hat are the reasons for potential differences between your study and previous research -hat do potential similarities indicate /ow may your method have affected your results
-hat are the strengths and weaknesses of the study /ow do they affect your results /ow are your results important to future development -hat are the clinical implications, for example -hat kind of research is needed in the field in the future, and
why #t is also common to divide the discussion into two parts, a results discussion and a methods discussion. #f you do that, you first focus on the results of your study, and then scrutinize your methods. 3onclusion #n your conclusion you should fulfil your aim and account for what you have found in your study. -hen you write your conclusion you have a golden opportunity to check and make sure that all the parts of your
thesis are connected and that the same parts are central in each part of the text 2 in other words, that you actually do what you promise to do. 0lease remember that the conclusion should not merely be a brief repetition of your results 2 in that case your discussion would seem fairly pointless. ocus instead on what your results may imply after careful consideration $consideration that you have outlined in your discussion%. /owever, accounting for what you have found in your study does not mean that you can or even should say anything for sure 2 clear conclusions cannot often be drawn from a small study, if ever. ocus instead on what your results may imply 2 and it rarely hurts to note that more research is needed. The Structure of 0aragraphs The academic text has an expected structure even in each paragraph. !ach paragraph should begin with something more general and then gradually become more specific. !ach paragraph should also be about one thing, and each paragraph should add something new and contribute with something that no other paragraph contributes with. To be able to achieve a clear structure in each paragraph you can use topic sentences. The Structure of Sentences Sentence structure also affects your text and how it is perceived. -hat comes first in a sentence is often given more attention and appears to be most important. +ead more about the structure of sentences. "aking 1our Structure :isible and #ndicating /ow 8ifferent 0arts +elate to !ach (ther A clear structure also entails that different parts are clearly connected to each other. Two ways of achieving a clear structure are to use transition words and start sentences with what your readers have 7ust read about.
