Introduction

In order to make your delimited research interesting to others, however, you must place
it in a larger context. For that reason, the introduction of the text must start with
something much more general than your research questions. It is often said that the
introduction should be shaped like a funnel (as it is in the imrad model
above). This means that you should start in a broad and general manner and then
gradually zoom in on your own, more specific topic. The text needs to start with
something that your reader can relate to, and that shows your reader what field your
research will contribute to, as well as how it will do so.
Methods and Materials

In the methods section you should show your reader exactly how you have conducted
your research, that is, what you have done to fulfill your aim and answer your research
questions. First, your reader should understand how you got the results you did, and
second, after reading this section, they should be able to duplicate your research. But
what is meant by "exactly" how you conducted your research? Keep in mind the
significant facts; how you got your results, and what the reader would need to do to
duplicate them. Disregard irrelevant details: you do not, for instance, need to tell your
reader that you went to the library or that you talked to Barbro the librarian. Neither do
you need to tell your readers about all the ideas you had or things you wanted to do but
did not do. Focus on what you did, and account for the choices you made, when
necessary.

Results

In the results section you should account for your results in an objective manner,
without interpreting them (interpreting your results is what you do in the discussion part).
If you posed several research questions, you should account for the results in the same
order that you posed your research questions; the consistency will help make the text
coherent and help your reader understand the information you are presenting.

Discussion

The discussion section of your text is where you interpret your results for your reader.
It is the section of your text that is usually most difficult to write, for here you are
not merely writing about something that you have already done, you have to
write and analyze at the same time. All parts of your discussion should analyze your
results. While you may occasionally need to remind your reader of significant points
accounted for in earlier sections of your text, your discussion should not include too
much repetition from your background or introduction, your methods and materials, or
from your results. Please read the section about the principles of paragraphing and
topic sentences and make sure that each paragraph except the very first one
contains some analysis of your topic. A common outline of the discussion is the
following:

The first paragraph reminds your reader about the aim, preferably hinting at how you
will contribute to the field. You may for example write This is the first study to examine
the correlation between Then you briefly account for the most important parts of
your results, perhaps linking them to your hypothesis if you have one. You may say that
the first paragraph makes for a shortcut into the discussion: it should enable your
readers to understand the discussion without reading all the sections of your thesis.