IMRD and other common scholarly source formats

Reading IMRD and other common source formats

1. IMRD & Other Common Scholarly Source Formats

2. What is IMRD? 01

3. In short, IMRD is a common scholarly source format. It is most typically used in the sciences or social sciences. Becoming familiar with its format will make it easier for you to critically read and find the information most crucial for your own research project.

4. How is it formatted? Abstract I ntroduction & Lit Review R esults D iscussion M ethods Conclusion & References 1 4 2 5 3 6

5. A source’s abstract will provide an overview of the article. This is a good place to start, as it will let you know if the article will be useful for your purposes or not. Read it to know if you want to read the rest of the article! Section 1: Abstract

6. Section 2: Introduction & Lit Review The end of the introduction will typically have a thesis or hypothesis . If there is a thesis, it will be supported throughout the article. If there’s a hypothesis, pay close attention, because it may not end up being true by the end of the article! The intro & literature review section is a great place to get an overview of the topic and find other sources. Be sure to pay attention to when your source is citing other sources, so that way you cite properly in your own project.

7. Section 3: Methods The methods describe how the researchers conducted their study. Some of the details may not be relevant to you unless you are conducting your own fieldwork study. However, you’ll want to get the main point of what type of research was conducted. Also, you’ll want to think about the limits of the study. For example, was only a certain demographic interviewed or surveyed?

8. The results section is where you will find the nitty-gritty of the results of the study. There will often be charts and graphs here that may be difficult to understand. Be sure to get the main ideas here, but you may not need to focus on all the minor details. Section 4: Results

9. The discussion is where to focus the most of your energy when reading an IMRD formatted article. This section is where the author tells you what the results mean and why they are important. So, spend lots of time going over this section. Section 5: Discussion

10. Section 6: Conclusion & References Some articles will have a separate conclusion . Some will have it with the discussion. One thing to look for in the conclusion is a suggestion for future research. This part can help you justify your own research study in a proposal or fieldwork paper. The references section will show all of the sources used in the article. Don’t forget to look for other useful sources on the reference list or works cited page!

11. For a video walkthrough of IMRD, check out this video.

12. What are other common formats of scholarly sources? 02

13. Arts and Humanities Articles Within the Arts and Humanities, scholarly articles are set up more like essays, rather than scientific experiments. Because of this, there is typically not a standard format. Many authors will often have their own unique headings to split up their papers or articles. This is because in the Humanities scholars are making logical arguments based on evidence rather than conducting experiments.

14. Arts and Humanities Articles, cont. Despite this, the following sections are generally (but not always) included in humanities scholarly articles: Abstract : brief summary, usually included Introduction : provides background and a thesis “statement” that is typically longer than a sentence Discussion/Conclusion : runs through the entire article and does not have a separate section like the science Works Cited: list of resources used by the author(s)

15. Academic books will typically cover one topic in quite a bit of depth. They can be useful if you’re looking to explore a specific topic from different angles. Chapters w ill often explore a specific aspect o f a larger topic. Books / Book Chapters

16. Understanding common source formats can help you navigate scholarly sources with more ease!