| Introduction |
- Provides the background and motivation for the study
- Explains why the authors felt it was important to undertake the study
- This is where you're most likely to find the research question that guides the study
- This section may not be labelled and may be combined with a literature review section
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| Literature Review |
- Reviews previous research
- Shows what is already known about the research topic
- Contains more in-text citations than any other part of the paper
- This section may be combined with the introduction. It may also have descriptive headings
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| Methods |
- How the study was conducted
- May contain the following subsections: Participants, Design, Materials or Apparatus, and Procedure
- Should provide enough detail so that other researchers could replicate the same study
- May also be called Method, Materials and Methods, Methodology, or Research Design
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| Results |
- What the study found
- Describes the data collected
- Graphs and charts may be used to communicate the results
- Does not interpret the results
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| Discussion |
- What the authors think the results mean
- The authors interpret the results and provide an answer to their research question
- May include the study's limitations
- May provide explanations for differences between the results of the study and other similar studies
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| Conclusion |
- Final thoughts and suggestions for what should be researched next
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