Overview of IMRaD structure
IMRaD refers to the standard structure of the body of scientific manuscripts (after the Title and Abstract):
- Materials and Methods
- Discussion and Conclusions
Not all journals use these section titles in this order, but most published articles have a structure similar to IMRaD. This standard structure:
- Gives a logical flow to the content
- Makes journal manuscripts predictable and easy to read
- Provides a “map” so that readers can quickly find content of interest in any manuscript
- Reminds authors what content should be included
BUT… although the sections of the journal manuscript are published in the order: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, this is NOT the best order for writing the sections of a manuscript. One strategy is to write your manuscript in the following order:
- 1. Materials and Methods
- 2. Results
These can be written first, as you are doing your experiments and collecting the results.
- 3. Introduction
- 4. Discussion
- 5. Conclusion
Write these sections next, once you have decided on your target journal.
- 6. Title
- 7. Abstract
Write your Title and Abstract based on all the other sections
Following this order will help you write a logical and consistent manuscript.
Use the different sections of a manuscript to ‘tell a story’ about your research and its implications.
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Original URL: http://www.springer.com/authors/journal+authors/journal+authors+academy?SGWID=0-1726414-12-846104-0