THE STRUCTURE OF ACADEMIC WRITING

Academic writings usually describe a survey, a laboratory experiment, a field experiment, a

classroom observation or an academic activity.

An academic writing follows a defined structure. It has an introduction, the body and a
conclusion. The body is usually made up of the literature review, the methodology, the findings
and the discussion of the findings. Each part has sub-headings under it.

Note that, in general, all academic writings (reports/ long essays /project
works/thesis/dissertations) follow this structure.

The main parts of an academic writing are as follow:

Introduction

 Background of the study

 Statement of the problem
 Research questions or hypothesis
 Significance of the study

Literature review

 Review studies related to your study

 Explain the theory that underpin your study

Methodology

 Research design
 Data collection
 Description of data collection tools/ instruments
 Data analysis

Results/ Findings

 What you discovered

 Comments on accuracy of results

Discussion of Results

 The meaning and application of your main findings.

 Comments on how your findings relate to other studies and theories.

Conclusion

 Summary of your work

 Suggestions for further research
 Recommendations
In addition to the main parts of a report/long essay/project work, the preliminary pages of the
main write-up usually include:

 The table of content

 Declaration
 List of tables/diagrams
 Abstract

An abstract

An abstract is a summary of an academic writing. The length of an abstract is usually between

150-250 words. An abstract is written after the project is completed. It is important for you to
know how an abstract is written. We are therefore going to look at the structure of an abstract.

The structure of an abstract

An abstract is written following these structures:

 Introduction
 The purpose/objective of the study
 The method used to conduct the study
 The product/results/findings of the study
 Conclusion