In most professional literature, there are several common sections and you may be required to use many of these sections in your final research document.
Abstract: Briefly explain the problem and how your research attempted to resolve the issue, the type of data you gathered, and the results. This may be the only section viewed by others deciding the relevance of your material, be succinct and clear.
Introduction: Begin with a description of the issue and why others in the profession may be interested. Describe how and why the issue is a concern, stimulate interest for others in the profession in your topic.
Literature Review: Summarize the results of previous studies and publications about this topic. This summary provides the reader with prior knowledge on the topic and an awareness of how the issue has developed, and the current status of research when you began your study of the topic. The complete citation for each source is included in the list of sources at the end of the document as well.
Method: Describe how your data was gathered, including the tools, equipment, formulas, selection of participants. This information needs to be clearly presented so that future studies may duplicate the process with comparable results.
Results: Present the results of the study. Provide tables and graphs of the composite results, and a sampling of individual responses. Do not discuss the implications of these results, but only the results.
Discussion: Explain the implications of the results. Discuss how the information could be used in the profession, and recommendations based on the results of the study. This is often the most important element of a journal article.
Conclusion: Describe the next steps to implement the material learned through the research study. What additional research is needed on the topic? What problems has this research study revealed that need to be addressed?
Acknowledgements: Recognize the support received for the study, whether organizations, government agencies, or other institutions. This is a frequent feature of books published, but rarely included in journal articles.
Bibliography or References or Works Cited: A list of sources referred to in the material. Most formats require the sources to be listed in alphabetical order, and require specific elements for each citation. Chicago Manual of Style requires the title of “Bibliography”; APA requires the title of “References”; MLA requires the title “Works Cited”.
Sample MLA Paper
Sample Chicago Manual of Style Paper
