IDENTIFYING THE STRUCTURE OF ACADEMIC TEXTS

Texts are structured in different ways in different subjects, but the majority of reading
that undergraduates do falls into just three categories:

1. An argumentative/thesis structure
2. A problem – solution structure
3. A report structure

The purpose of an argumentative text is to persuade the reader to accept a point of view,
an opinion or perhaps a new truth. In a way, a problem – solution text also presents an
argument and attempts to persuade the reader that the solutions presented are workable
and worth implementing. A report does not present an argument, but it may still be
biased if all the facts are not presented. It is important to find out whether the facts
have been taken from a credible source.

The Structure of Academic

Texts
An important feature of academic texts is that they are organized in a
specific way; they have a clear structure. This structure makes 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
text: the entire text, each section, every paragraph, and even
sentences.
The Structure of the Entire Text and of Each Section

Most academic texts in the sciences adhere to the model called imrad, which is an
acronym for introduction, methods and materials, results, and discussion. Imrad is often
illustrated with the following image (see explanation below).

The model should however be complemented with sections for aims and research
questions, 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.

Below is an overview of what should be included in each of the 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. One example could be that the aim
was “to investigate how effective nursing interventions are for smoking cessation”. It is
crucial that the aim is the exact same in every part of the academic text. The title should
highlight the same aspects as the explicit aim, and all the subsequent parts should have
the same focus.

Research questions

The aim is often rather general, and may have to be narrowed down with research
questions. Research questions are, in other words, specific questions that will enable
you to reach your aim. For the example above, the research questions could be “What
nursing interventions exist?” and “How many patients are still smoke free after one
year?”. Remember that there must be a clear link between your aim and your research
questions, but they should not be identical. Only ask questions that will help you to fulfil
your aim.

If you have several research questions, you should consider the order of these. Is there
a logical order, so that some questions may only be understood after having read
others? Are some questions more important than others? Place the research questions
in an order that makes sense to you and then keep to the order in the rest of your
thesis.

Your 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 – methods and results – are narrow in the imrad model
above.

Introduction

In order to make our narrow research interesting to others we must however place it in a
larger context. For that reason the introduction of the text must start with something
much more general than your research questions. It is often said that the introduction
should be shaped like a funnel (as it is in the imrad model above) – 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 contribute 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. Convincing 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 – perhaps in order to provide better
care or develop a new drug or a new treatment method. It could also entail indicating
that there is a problem with an existing method and that alternative methods are
needed. When 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 questions towards the end of the introduction. (As mentioned above,
the aim and research questions are sometimes placed under a separate heading, which
may be placed right after the introduction.)

Please 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 – but if not, you could ask your teacher. If you are
writing a thesis you can also examine previous theses from your field in order to get an
idea how they normally look. (Just 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.)

Methods and Materials

In 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 questions. Firstly, your reader should understand how you got the results you
did, and secondly, they should be able to duplicate your research. But what do we mean
by “exactly” how you conducted your research? You do not need to tell your readers
that you went to the library or that you talked to Barbro the librarian. Neither 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.

It is helpful if you begin your methods section by writing something overarching about
your method, mentioning your study design. If you tell your readers right away that your
work is a literature review or that your method is to interview nurses using a semi-
structured 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.

Results

In the results section you should account for your results in an objective manner,
without interpreting them (that you do in the discussion part). If you study several
aspects related to your research questions you should account for the results in the
same order that you posed your research questions; the consistent order makes the text
coherent and helps your reader follow your points.
 It 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. Instead you can account for
the most important aspects, that is, tell your reader what you want them to observe.
Please 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.

Discussion

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 – you actually write and analyze at the same time. All parts
of your discussion should focus on the analysis of your results – 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). Please read the section
about the principles of paragraphing and topic sentences and make sure that each
paragraph – except the very first one – 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. You may for example write “This is the first study to examine
the correlation between …” Then you briefly account for the most important parts of
your results, perhaps linking them to your hypothesis if you have one. You 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. It may be helpful to
keep the following questions in mind:

 What do your results mean?

 How do they relate to previous research? What are the reasons for potential
differences between your study and previous research? What do potential similarities
indicate?

 How may your method have affected your results?

 What are the strengths and weaknesses of the study? How do they affect your results?

 How are your results important to future development? What are the clinical
implications, for example?

 What kind of research is needed in the field in the future, and why?
It is also common to divide the discussion into two parts, a results discussion and a
methods discussion. If you do that, you first focus on the results of your study, and then
scrutinize your methods.

Conclusion

In your conclusion you should fulfill your aim and account for what you have found in
your study. When 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 – in other words, that you actually do what you promise to
do.

Please remember that the conclusion should not merely be a brief repetition of your
results – in that case your discussion would seem fairly pointless. Focus instead on
what your results may imply after careful consideration (consideration that you have
outlined in your discussion).

However, accounting for what you have found in your study does not mean that you can
or even should say anything for sure – clear conclusions cannot often be drawn from a
small study, if ever. Focus instead on what your results may imply – and it rarely hurts
to note that more research is needed.

The Structure of Paragraphs

The academic text has an expected structure even in each paragraph. Each paragraph
should begin with something more general and then gradually become more specific.
Each 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. What comes first in a
sentence is often given more attention and appears to be most important. Read more
about the structure of sentences.

Making Your Structure Visible and Indicating How

Different Parts Relate to Each Other

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 just read about.