Title Abstract Introduction Keywords Materials and Methods Results Discussion Conclusion
Acknowledgements Supplementary Materials References
The title gives the reader the first indication of what the paper is about. It should adequately describe the article's content, be informative, concise and accurate. The writer should avoid including abbreviations, formulae and jargon in the title.
The abstract is usually about 250 words long and it is a short summary of each of the main sections of the research paper. The abstract states the scope and objectives of the research, the methods used, the main findings and the main conclusion drawn from the research. The abstract provides the reader with basic contents of the research paper in order for them to decide on the relevancy of the paper to what they are looking for and thus decide as to whether they want to read it in its entirety.
Keywords are words or phrases that readers will use in order to discover the research article. The author/researcher should use words or phrases that suggest what the topic is about. In writing keywords, only established abbreviations should be used.
The Introduction gives a background information on the concept being researched on. It gives insights on what the study is trying to achieve. Key points to include in the introduction include:
The section gives details of how the research was conducted. It gives details about the participants/subjects that were involved, the study design, the materials that were used, and the study procedure. For the materials used, all their technical specifications should be stated including any reagents that may have been used.
The results section reports the main findings of the study. Two main components make up the findings: an overall description of the experiments conducted (without repeating the details previously provided under methods) and the second component is presentation of the results. When writing the findings, it is important to use sub-headings in order to keep results of the same type together. The results also provide statistical analysis of the results depending on the type of study and data collected as well as a description of the analysis procedure that was used.
This section can be merged with the results section. It interprets what the results are about and how they correspond to the problem that was stated at the introductory part. It also gives a scholarly comparison to the available literature as reflected in the literature review. The discussion section also offers an explanation of how the research results now contribute to the body of knowledge.
The conclusion needs to be clear and provide a summary of the results and discussion. It also describes study limitations and suggests future experiments or areas for future research based on the gaps that were not filled by the research.
This is the section where the author/researcher acknowledges people who contributed to the article either financially, intellectually or in other means. The following should be considered to be included when writing acknowledgements:
These are additional information that support the methods or findings of the article and these may help in the reproducibility of the findings. Such as; raw data, processed data e.t.c.
These are an alphabetized list of the sources that are cited in the paper. In writing the references and citations it is important to align to the style prescribed by the publisher. The references used should be current and relevant to the research. The aim should be to use references that are atleast 10 years old depending on the field of study.