The Structure of an Academic Paper

Nick J Fox University of Sheffield

Introduction

• Practical issues.

• Quantitative and Qualitative.

• Considering the audience.

• Outline of the structure.

• Section by section.

• Hints and tips.

• Improving the quality.

Practical Issues

• Arrange a block of time to write the paper, or a regular slot (e.g. a day a week).

• Find a place to write without interruptions. N.B. ScHARR ‘Write Club’ most weeks in library.

• Don’t use displacement activities to avoid starting (e.g. reading e-mail or cleaning).

• Take a break every two hours.

• Set yourself a daily target e.g. 1000 words or a section of the paper.

Quantitative/Qualitative

Quantitative papers

1500 – 4000 words

Adopts standard ‘scientific’ structure

Focuses on data rather than theory

Numerical/statistical

May use tables or graphical representations

Qualitative papers

5000 – 8000 words

More flexible or innovative structure

Rarely tests a hypothesis

May use theory explicitly

Textual

May use pictures or other non-verbal content

Audience

• Before you start writing: who is your audience?

• Academic and Research

• Practitioner

• Policy-makers

• Public/Users

• If you want to reach more than one of these: should you write two (or more) papers?

• Choose your journal to meet the audience profile

Paper Structure • Introduction: scene setting and rationale.

• Contexts (literature; theoretical perspectives; academic debates; current policy).

• Research Design and Methods.

• Results or Findings.

• Discussion: re-visits issues raised in ‘contexts’ in the light of your data.

• Optional short conclusion.

Title and Abstract

• Draft a title that sums up what the paper is about, incorporating key words (for online searching): ‘Health, ethics and environment: a qualitative study of vegetarian

motivations’.

• Check if your chosen journal requires a structured or an unstructured (narrative) abstract.

• Draft an abstract: this will help you organise your paper as you write it.

• When you have finished the paper, review and revise the title and abstract.

Contexts

• Relevant literature.

This section may also explore:

• Previous studies or findings.

• Current issues or debates.

• Theoretical perspectives.

• Policy issues.

Design and Methods

Explains and justifies: • Epistemological commitments (positivist, naturalistic, etc.).

• Setting (who, where, when).

• Research design/methodology (RCT, case-control, survey, interviews etc.).

• Methods (experiment, questionnaire, observation, interview etc.).

• Data analysis methods (statistics, thematic analysis etc).

• Ethical issues and approval.

Results or Findings

• What you found during your research.

• It will be 30 – 40% of a qualitative paper, 50 – 60% of a quantitative paper.

• Quantitative research: summarise data numerically; use appropriate tables or figures; report statistics in standard format (e.g. value, P-value, confidence interval).

• Qualitative research: summarise and organise textual data using themes to report principal findings.

• Section can be sub-divided, to add clarify to the report.

Tables and Figures

• Tables can be used to summarise quantitative data or to offer comparisons.

• Figures can offer a graphical means to represent findings.

• Use them sparingly, and only as a means to enhance understanding of your data by readers.

• You still need to refer to the principal findings in the text of your paper.

Discussion and Conclusion

• Discuss the main findings critically.

• Refer back to the contexts, re-interpreted in the light of the data.

• Practice, policy or theoretical implications.

• Shortcomings.

• Future research.

• Optional conclusion (or ‘Key findings box’) summarises the answer to the research question and what has been learnt from the research.

Findings or Discussion?

• Findings section is where you report your data in terms of the appropriate analysis.

• Discussion is where you make links between your analysis of the data and the literature, theory or relevant policy, and where you show the importance of your findings for scholarship, practice or policy.

Getting the balance Word length Quantitative Qualitative

Abstract 200 200

Introduction 300 500

Contexts 500 1300

Methods 300 800

Results 1500 3000

Discussion and Conclusion 600 1500

References 600 1200

TOTAL 3500 8000

Some hints and tips

• Write your question and your audience on a post-it note and attach to your computer screen,.

• Choose your journal before you start writing.

• If you used mixed methods in your research, consider writing two papers.

• Make sure you know your conclusions before you finalise the abstract, introduction and contexts.

• In a WORD document, create all the sub-headings for the paper first, then fill in the content to allocated word-counts.

Improve the quality

• Ask yourself: what is new about what I am saying in this paper?

• Use simple language and avoid jargon, non-explained abbreviations, and UK-specific materials.

• Get a friend or colleague to read the draft and offer criticisms.

• Proof-read, and don’t rely on spell-check.

• Set your final draft aside overnight and read it through again before you submit it.

Overcoming blockages

• Everyone gets writer’s block sometimes.

• Create separate files for each section and amalgamate at the end.

• Before you start a section, summarise in two sentences what you want it to say.

• If you are struggling with a section of the paper, work on a different part.

• If still blocked, do something (academic) different for a while, then go back to it.

• Set defined study breaks and don’t have other breaks.

The Structure of an Academic Paper