· Background: The scientific article in the health sciences evolved from the letter form and purely descriptive style in the seventeenth century to a very standardized structure in the twentieth century known as introduction, methods, results, and discussion (IMRAD). The pace in which this structure began to be used and when it became the most used standard of today's Cited by: Scientific Writing: IMRAD Format A common scientific writing format is IMRAD, which stands for Introduction, Methods, Results, And Discussion. This type of scientific writing is useful for educating and recording knowledge about research processes as Origin of scientific papers s and s Letters and experimental (descriptive) formats coexisted s (second half) Increasing Methods description (“theory – experiment – discussion”) s (early) Organized as in book chapters (heading according to subject) s (second half) Adoption of IMRaD format
The introduction, methods, results, and discussion (IMRAD) structure: a fifty-year survey
Try out PMC Labs and tell us what you think. Learn More. Background: The scientific article in the health imrad format research paper example pdf evolved from the letter form and purely descriptive style in the seventeenth century to a very standardized structure in the twentieth century known as introduction, methods, results, and discussion IMRAD.
The pace in which this structure began to be used and when it became the most used standard of today's scientific discourse in the health sciences is not well established. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to point out the period in time during which the IMRAD structure was definitively and widely adopted in medical scientific writing.
Methods: In a cross-sectional study, the frequency of articles written under the IMRAD structure was measured from to in a randomly selected sample of articles published in four leading journals in internal medicine: the British Medical Journal, JAMA, The Lancet, and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Results: The IMRAD structure, in those journals, began to be used in the s. Conclusions: Although recommended since the beginning of the twentieth century, the IMRAD structure was adopted as a majority only in the s. The influence of other disciplines and the recommendations of editors are among the facts that contributed to authors adhering to it.
Since its origin inimrad format research paper example pdf, the scientific paper has been through many changes. Although during the first two centuries its form and style were not standardized, the letter form and the experimental report coexisted. The letter was usually single authored, written in a polite style, and addressed several subjects at the same time [ 1 ].
The experimental report was purely descriptive, and events were often presented in chronological order. It evolved to a more structured form in which methods and results were incipiently described and interpreted, while the letter form disappeared [ 2 ].
In the early twentieth century, contemporary norms began to be standardized with a decreasing use of the literary style. Gradually, in the course of the twentieth century, the formal established introduction, methods, imrad format research paper example pdf, and discussion IMRAD structure was adopted [ 6 ]. However, imrad format research paper example pdf, neither the rate at which the use of this format increased nor the point at which it became the standard for today's medical scientific writing is well established.
The main objective of this investigation is to discover when this format was definitively adopted. Also, to have a global idea of the articles published during the studied period, articles written without the IMRAD structure will be briefly described. In a cross-sectional study, the frequency of articles using the IMRAD structure was measured at 5-year intervals, during the year period from to A sample of 1 in every 10 issues of 4 leading imrad format research paper example pdf journals in internal medicine was systematically selected to evaluate the articles published in these years.
Imrad format research paper example pdf total of 1, original articles—all those from each selected issue—were examined: from the British Medical Journal, from Journal of the American Medical Association JAMAfrom The Lancet, and from the New England Journal of Medicine. These journals were chosen based on their similarities in target audience, frequency, and lifespan. The journals had to be currently published at the beginning of the 20th century and show no interruptions during the studied period.
The criteria used by the journal for an original article were accepted. Therefore, if an article was labeled original by the journal, it was regarded as such, even though nowadays it might not be considered so. The introduction section had to be present but not necessarily accompanied by a heading. Articles that did not follow this structure were considered non-IMRAD. They could be generally grouped as: 1 continuous text, 2 articles that used headings other than the IMRAD, 3 case reports, and 4 articles that partially adopted the IMRAD structure.
One of the authors Sollaci collected the data. In a randomly selected subsample of forty-eight articles, the data collection was independently repeated after six months.
The frequency of articles written using the IMRAD structure increased over time. Inno IMRAD article could be found.
However, imrad format research paper example pdf, during the following 20 years, tothe frequency of these articles more than quadrupled Figure 1. Imrad format research paper example pdf four journals presented a similar trend: the New England Journal of Medicine fully adopted the structure infollowed by the British Medical Journal inand JAMA and The Lancet in Regarding the non-IMRAD articles, the evolution imrad format research paper example pdf variations of text organization for all journals can be delineated.
In the British Medical Journal and The Lancet, articles that used non-IMRAD headings prevailed from imrad format research paper example pdf A shift to articles that partially adopted the IMRAD structure occurred from to From and beyond, the full structure tends to predominate, imrad format research paper example pdf. Untiltexts with different headings and partial IMRAD headings shared the lead in JAMA. From onward, the complete format is imrad format research paper example pdf most used.
The New England Journal of Medicine had a slightly different pattern. Untilcontinuous text, non-IMRAD headings, and case reports predominated. Afterthe IMRAD structure takes the lead. As an example, Figure 2 shows the text organization in the British Medical Journal from to The ascending curve represents the IMRAD articles. It is the same as shown in Figure 1and the descending curves represent all other forms of text organization. A similar tendency was observed for The Lancet, JAMA, and the New England Journal of Medicine.
One interesting finding is that during the initial period of our study, the order of the IMRAD headings did not follow today's convention; results could be presented before methods or discussion before results, and, although a few articles followed the IMRAD structure in the s, they were not the same as articles written with the IMRAD structure in the s.
Information, which today is highly standardized in one section, would be absent, repeated, or dispersed among sections in earlier articles. Gradually and progressively, the IMRAD structure was adopted by the studied journals.
Untilimrad format research paper example pdf, articles were organized in a manner more similar to a book chapter, mainly with headings associated with the subject, and did not follow the IMRAD structure. From tothe IMRAD structure was partially adopted, and, afterit began to predominate, attaining absolute leadership in the s. The authors did not find definite reasons explaining the leadership of the IMRAD structure in the literature.
It is possible that sciences other than medicine might have influenced the growing use of this structure. The field of physics, for example, had already adopted it extensively in the s [ 7 ]. This structure was already considered the ideal outline for scientific writing in the first quarter of the 20th century [ 89 ]; however, imrad format research paper example pdf was not used by authors [ 10 ].
After World War II, international conferences on scientific publishing recommended this format [ 11 ], culminating with the guidelines set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, formerly known as the Vancouver Group, first published in the late s [ 12 ]. According to Huth [ 13 ], the wide use of the IMRAD structure may be largely credited to editors, who insisted on papers being clearly formatted to benefit readers and to facilitate the process of peer review.
According to Meadows [ 14 ], development and changes in the internal organization of the scientific article is simply an answer to the constant growth of information.
The IMRAD structure facilitates modular reading, because readers usually do not read in a linear way but browse in each section of the article, looking for specific information, which is normally found in preestablished areas of the paper [ 15 ]. Four major leading journals of internal medicine were examined, imrad format research paper example pdf. It might be assumed that patterns set by these journals would be followed by others; nevertheless, caution should be taken in extrapolating these findings to other journals.
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Journal List J Med Libr Assoc v. J Med Libr Assoc. PMCID: PMC Luciana B. SollaciMS, imrad format research paper example pdf, Library Director 1 and Mauricio G. PereiraMD, DrPH, Professor of Epidemiology 2, 3. Sollaci 1 William Enneking Library Sarah Network of Hospitals Brasilia, Federal District Brazil Find articles by Luciana B.
Mauricio G. Pereira 2 University of Brasilia Department of Health Sciences Brasilia, Federal District Brazil 3 Catholic University of BrasiliaFaculty of MedicineBrasilia, Federal District Brazil Find articles by Mauricio G.
Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Sollaci: rb. bsb anaicul ; Mauricio G. Pereira: rb. bnu arierepm. Received Aug; Accepted Jan. Copyright ©Medical Library Association. This article has been corrected. See J Med Libr Assoc. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Background: The scientific article in the health sciences evolved from the letter form and purely descriptive style in the seventeenth century to a very standardized structure in the twentieth century known as introduction, methods, results, and discussion IMRAD.
METHODS In a cross-sectional study, the frequency of articles using the IMRAD structure was measured at 5-year intervals, during the year period from to RESULTS The frequency of articles written using the IMRAD structure increased over time. Open in a separate window. Figure 1. Figure 2. A history of scientific and technical periodicals: the origins and development of the scientific and technical press — Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, Scientific discourse in sociohistorical context: the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, — Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, Phoenix, AZ: Oryx, The evolution of medical research writing from to the case of the Edinburgh Medical Journal.
How to format your research paper
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Origin of scientific papers s and s Letters and experimental (descriptive) formats coexisted s (second half) Increasing Methods description (“theory – experiment – discussion”) s (early) Organized as in book chapters (heading according to subject) s (second half) Adoption of IMRaD format Abstract samples: The Bad and the Better Here are two examples of the same abstract. Sample one is an example of a badly written abstract; sample two is an example of a well-written abstract. will make enzymes effective and what will make prove something (it is rare for writers to use that word). Sample 1: This experiment will determine what · What is an IMRaD report? “IMRaD” format refers to a paper that is structured by four main sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. This format is often used for lab reports as well as for reporting any planned, systematic research in the social sciences, natural sciences, or engineering and computer sciences
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