GENERAL STRUCTURE OF A RESEARCH

ARTICLE

"If you want to understand today, you have to search

yesterday."

DR. NEHA DUBEY (P.T)

PhD, MPT(Neuro), MIAP, Ex-B.L.S
FACULTY AT DEPTT. OF PHYSIOTHERAPY
U.P.U.M.S, SAIFAI
 What is Research?
• The word research comes from the French word
'recherche,' meaning 'to search'
or
• RE+SEARCH:
Where RE means: again and again and
SEARCH means: to find out something.
• This is a process for discovering or seeking new
knowledge or a systemic and organized way to find
answers to questions.
Definition by various Researchers
• According to B.W. Tuckman (1978); An
older description of research may be
explained with the five characterizations
spelling out the word:‘MOVIE’,
Where; M stands for mathematical
precision and accuracy, O stand for
Objectivity, V verifiability, I mean
impartiality, and E stands for Expertness.
BASIC CYCLE EXPLAINING THE
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
OBSERVATION

ASK NEW ASK A

QUESTION QUESTION

DEVELOP SEARCH
INTERVENTION LITERATURE

SHARE RESULT
CONSTRUCT
HYPOTHESIS

ANALYZE DATA AND TEST WITH AN

DRAW CONCLUSION EXPERIMENT

COLLECT DATA
 Step-By-Step
Approach to a Scientific Method
1. Selection: The first step is to select an interested topic in
which the researcher wishes to conduct his/her research.

2. Question: Once the topic is decided, then there is a need

to create a related scientific question. It usually starts by
asking a question about something the researcher
observes. It must contain the following phrases “How,
What, When, Who, Why, or Where”.
 Step-By-Step
Approach to a Scientific Method
3. It is mandatory to keep a lab notebook as it contains a
detailed and permanent account of every step of the project,
from the initial brainstorming to the final data analysis and
research report. There are many kinds of lab notebooks
available, ranging from composition notebooks to student
laboratory notebooks etc.

• Bound Composition Notebook Student Laboratory Notebook

 Step-By-Step
Approach to a Scientific Method
4. Try to find its relevant answer searching through various
reviews, literature, databases, or from other internet
sources.
(PubMed, PubMed Central, Cochrane, MeDline, PedRo, etc.)
5. Next construct a hypothesis or make predictions on the basis
of limited evidence for further investigating the question.
6. Test your hypothesis by doing experiments to make sure
whether the prediction you made is accurate or not. Try to
repeat the test several times to make sure that the first result
was not just an accident. (Pilot Study)
 How to test hypothesis?
SET UP THE HYPOTHESIS
(Every hypothesis test requires the analyst to state a null
hypothesis and an experimental hypothesis.)

SELECT A SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL

(Researchers more often choose significance levels equal to
0.01, 0.05

Test Statistics
(It might be a mean score, proportion, difference between means
and proportion, z-score, t-test, chi-square, etc)

Critical Values
(By using the distribution of test
Statistics, level of significance ᾳ, type of test like two tailed, right
tailed or left tailed, we obtain the critical values).

Decision
(The critical values and test statistics values are compared in order
to make decision about rejecting or not rejecting the null
hypothesis.
 Step-By-Step
Approach to a Scientific Method
7. Once the experiment is complete, collect the
measurements and analyze them to see if they support
the hypothesis or not.
8. The analysis done can help the researchers to draw a
conclusion that summarize how the results support or
contradict with the original hypothesis.
10. State whether the results support or contradict the
hypothesis.
11. Next is to share the result by publishing the final report in
a scientific journal or by delivering a talk in a scientific
meeting in the form of a paper or poster presentation.
 GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE
RESEARCH ARTICLE
BEGINNING MAIN TEXT (IMRAD) SUMMARY WITH
OTHER DETAILS
1 Title 4 Introduction 8 Conclusion
(What did you/others do? Why
did you do it?)

2 Abstract 5 Methods 9 Acknowledgem

(How did you do it?) ents
3 Keywords Result References
6 (What did you find?) 10

And
7 Discussion 11 Supplementary
(What does it all mean?) data
 GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE
RESEARCH ARTICLE
1 Title page Part 1 (Mandatory)
1. Article title.
2. Author names.
3. Author affiliations.
4. Corresponding author information
Part-2(Depending on the Journal)
5. Headers – Running title, First Author name.
6. Footnotes – Funding, Conflict of Interest, etc.
7. Keywords.
8. List of Abbreviations.
9. Miscellaneous: word count, article type, etc
2 Abstract There are two types of abstract (Structured/ Unstructured)

3 Keywords Keywords are used for the paper indexing and must be written after the
abstract. They're the manuscript label. However, when searching for
keywords, avoid words with broad meaning and words already in the title
Unstructured Structured
Abstract Abstract
GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH ARTICLE
4 Introduction 1) Defines the statement
2) Summarizes recent research related to the topic.
3) Highlights the gaps in current knowledge or conflicts.
4) Sets the originality of research by demonstrating the
need for research in the field.
5) Gives a clear idea of the objective reading, why the
research was done.

5 Material and 1) Describe the number and source of Study.

Methods 2) Describe the study criteria (Inclusion and Exclusion
criteria).
3) Describe the sample selection, study design, Variables,
experiments, with date and other information.
4) Describe the complete procedure of the study used along
with the outcome measurements, treatment, and analytical
methods, etc.
5) Describe the statistical methods including confidence
interval, etc.
GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH ARTICLE
6 Result 1) Describe the data in simple terms.
2) Clearly state the statistical tests used with all relevant
parameters: e.g., mean and standard deviation (SD), etc.
3) Once described, evaluate the pattern observed and
explain the significance of the results for greater
understanding. This can only be done by referring to the
published research.
4) The result should be a critical analysis of the data
collected.
5) Prepare the figures and tables

7 Discussion Discussion should always collect all the information in one

whole at some point. The researcher should describe and
discuss the overall study/story. If there are gaps or
inconsistencies in the study/story, researcher should
address these and suggest ways to confirm the findings or
pursue the research.
 GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH ARTICLE
8 Conclusion 1) This section shows how the work progresses from the current
state of knowledge.
2) Without a clear conclusion section, reviewers and readers will
find it difficult to judge the work and whether it is worth
publishing in the journal.
3) Repeating the abstract, and or listing experimental results is a
common error in this section. Insignificant statements of results are
unacceptable.
4) Describe the clear scientific justification of the work done.
5) Suggest future experiments and highlight those scheduled to
begin.

9 Acknowledgements This section allows thanking people who contributed to the

manuscript, but not to the extent that justifies authorship. For
example, the researcher can include the technical help with writing
and proofreading. Probably the most important thing is to thank a
grant or fellowship from your funding agency.
 GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH ARTICLE
10 References Some of the main styles are:
a) APA (“Kumari, R.; Singh, K.P.; Dubey, G.; Srivastava, M.R.; Awasthi, A.A.;
Janardhanan. R. (2020). Astigmatism as a Cause of Headache - A Clinical Study.
International Journal of Medical Science and Current Research, 3(4), 364-371.
Doi………………………..” )
b) MLA (“Kumari, Ragini, Singh, Kavindra Pratap, Dubey Gaurav, Srivastava,
Mrinal Ranjan, Awasthi, Anachal Anant, Janardhanan. Rajiv. Astigmatism as a Cause
of Headache - A Clinical Study. International Journal of Medical Science and Current
Research, vol. 3, no. 4, 2020, pp. 364-37”. )
c) Vancouver (“Kumari R, Singh P, Dubey G, Srivastava M, Awasthi A, Janardhanan
R. Astigmatism as a Cause of Headache - A Clinical Study. IJMSCR. 2020 Jul-Aug;
3(4): pp. 364-371”.)
5) Check the following
 Spelling and format of writing the author names.
 Year of publications
 Usages of "et al."
 Punctuation
 Whether all references are included and cited in according to the journal.
6) Many software are available in the market such as End Note or Mendeley, to
format and include the references in the paper.
11 Plagiarism Check for plagiarism through software’s like Turnitin, Urkund, or many free
software’s are also available online like SmallSeotools, Dupli Checker, etc.
 "Research is to see what
everybody else has seen and
to think what nobody else
has thought”.
By: Albert Szent-Gyorgyi.

THANK YOU