Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

The Introduction reminds the reader what is already known about the subject. It includes information about previous studies, and explains what has not been investigated previously. Finally, there is usually a statement of the objective, or purpose of the research (why they did it).

In the case of clinical research, the Methods section gives details of the people who were studied – the participants in the research. The method section also contains information about any intervention carried out, for example medication, operations. It gives details of the steps taken in the study, how the participants were chosen, and includes the main things measured, such as blood levels. Finally, there is information about statistical analysis.

The Results section tells what was found, the findings of the study.

The Discussion section contains explanations, and claims for the importance of the study. It may also list limitations, or parts of the study which were unsatisfactory, and suggest what research needs to be done in the future. There is usually a Conclusion, which is sometimes a separate section.

At the end of most articles, there is a short section called Acknowledgements. In this the authors thank people who have helped them in their research. Finally, there is a list of References – the books and articles which the authors have used.

Structured abstracts

An abstract is a type of summary, and may be found in special collections of abstracts, or in conference programmes, as well as at the beginning of a research article. Many journals require contributors (authors wishing to publish their articles in the journal) to provide a structured abstract – an abstract which is divided into specific sections.

The BMJ abstract

The British Medical Journal structured abstract is divided into the following sections:

Objective

Design

Setting

Subjects

Main outcome measure

Results

Conclusion

Objectives

Statements about objectives often contain the following verbs:

assess We assessed whether…

determine The aim of our study was to determine whether…

investigate We investigated the…

evaluate This study evaluated the…

Main findings

The Discussion section usually begins with a summary of the main findings. This is related to the objective of the study. Typical verbs include:

show We have shown that…

confirm Our study confirmed that…

provide evidence These findings provide strong evidence that…

If the results are less certain:

suggest These results suggest that…

and with negative results:

fail to This study failed to show that…