 Introduction
 Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 What
is your research question?
• This might be phrased as an actual question or
simply as a statement of what this report is
about.
 What
did you find out?
 “The
purpose of the introduction should
be to supply sufficient background
information to allow the reader to
understand and evaluate the results of
the present study without needing to
refer to previous studies on the topic.”
(Todorovic)
 What
information does the reader need
to understand your research?
• Is there something specific about the
demographic you are studying that your reader
should know?
• Is there something about the research site that
the reader needs to know?
• Is there something about the particular aspect of
writing that your reader should know?
 Why have you undertaken this research?
• What is your interest in this research topic?
• What possible biases might you have as a
researcher?
• Do you have a personal stake in this research?
*These are questions that you would normally not
answer in an IMRaD report, though you might reveal if
you were receiving funding for this research from an
outside party. However, I am asking you to consider
them for this project because, as we talked about last
class, “writing” can be a very personal, messy thing.
 Remember
the formula we used for
introductions with the last paper – forget
it.
 The intro will not have a catchy opening
sentence, a shocking statistic, or an
anecdote. Instead, you will start stating
background information.
 How
did you collect, measure, and
analyze the data?
 Use subheading to enable skimming
 Common
subheadings include:
• Participants – number, criteria for selecting,
relevant demographic information
• Research Sample – what you collected and
criteria
• Procedures – how did you go about collecting
the data? Observations, interviews, surveys, etc.
• Analysis – how was the data analyzed? Include
formulas, statistical procedures, and equations,
etc.
 Subheadings
I’m expecting you to have:
• Participants
• Procedures
 Observations – How did you go about observing?
How did you keep records? Under what
circumstances did you do your observations?
 Interviews – How did you record the interviews? How
did you develop your interview questions?
 Surveys – How did you distribute your survey? How
was the data counted?
 What
did you find out?
 Use tables, charts, graphs, and words to
focus your readers attention on the most
important trends or conclusions.
 We will talk more about creating charts,
tables, and graphs out of data on Tuesday.
 What
does it all mean?
 Some reports might label this section as
“Conclusion,” “Implications,” or
“Recommendations.” Some reports might
have both a “Discussion” and a
“Conclusion” or “Recommendation”
section.
 Generally
this section will explain how
these finding support, contradict, or
further our discussion of this topic.
 Begin
by summarizing the main points of
the Results section – emphasize the
bottom line.
 Discussion flaws and limitations in your
study and suggest ways the study might
be done better.
 What recommendation would you make
to me as a writing teacher based on your
findings?
 An
Appendix is a document attached to
the end of a report or article that contains
information that had some bearing on the
research itself.
• Sondra Perl’s article included an appendix with
writing samples from Tony and an example of a
“style sheet” in which she had recorded what
was happening at each point in time in the
composing process.
 If
you have only one document or one
type of document to include, you would
label it as “Appendix” with a subheading
titling the document (“Survey
Questions”)
 If you have more than one appendix, you
refer to them as Appendix A, Appendix B,
etc.
I
do want you to include any survey
questions, interview questions, or writing
samples that you might reference in your
report.