IMRAD Outline

1. Introduction
1. provide research question
2. explain the significance
3. review of background or known information on your topic
2. Methods
1. describe your methods for gathering information
2. explain your sources of information, both primary and secondary
3. Results
1. describe what you found out from your research.
2. develop each point thoroughly, as this is the main section of your research paper
4. Discussion
1. explain the significance of your findings
2. describe how they support your thesis
3. discuss limitations of your research

IMRAD Outlining
In many of your courses in the sciences and social sciences, such as sociology, psychology, and
biology, you may be required to write a research paper using the IMRAD format. IMRAD
stands for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. In this format, you present your
research and discuss your methods for gathering research. Each section of the IMRAD structure
can take several paragraphs to develop.

This structure is also sometimes referred to as the APA format, but be sure not to confuse this
with the APA format for documentation of your research.

IMRAD Outline

1. Introduction
1. provide research question
2. explain the significance
3. review of background or known information on your topic
2. Methods
1. describe your methods for gathering information
2. explain your sources of information, both primary and secondary
3. Results
1. describe what you found out from your research.
2. develop each point thoroughly, as this is the main section of your research paper
 4. Discussion
1. explain the significance of your findings
2. describe how they support your thesis
3. discuss limitations of your research

IMRAD Outlining
In many of your courses in the sciences and social sciences, such as sociology, psychology, and
biology, you may be required to write a research paper using the IMRAD format. IMRAD
stands for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. In this format, you present your
research and discuss your methods for gathering research. Each section of the IMRAD structure
can take several paragraphs to develop.

This structure is also sometimes referred to as the APA format, but be sure not to confuse this
with the APA format for documentation of your research.

IMRAD Outline

1. Introduction
1. provide research question
2. explain the significance
3. review of background or known information on your topic
2. Methods
1. describe your methods for gathering information
2. explain your sources of information, both primary and secondary
3. Results
1. describe what you found out from your research.
2. develop each point thoroughly, as this is the main section of your research paper
4. Discussion
1. explain the significance of your findings
2. describe how they support your thesis
3. discuss limitations of your research

5.

6.

7. Collaborative Research
 8. Tutorial
9. - Introduction - Types of Collaborations - Collaborative Situations - Collaborative Situations cont.
- Collaborators' Expectations - Written Agreements - Types of Agreements - Other Formalized
Agreements - Business/ Financial Issues - Liability Issues

10. Case Studies

11. - The Price of Collaboration - A Possible Co-Author - Supporting Documentation - Facilitating
Sharing

12. Assessment
13. - Quiz

14. Resources
15. Bibliography Regulations & Policies Glossary

16.
17. Collaborative Research:
Collaborative Situations

18. Collaborative Situations

19. As seen from the preceding examples, faculty and other researchers collaborate in many
ways. Collaboration is defined by one source: "To work jointly with others or together
especially in an intellectual endeavor" (Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary).
The definition opens a broad umbrella under which we can place many forms of
collaboration.
20. For instance, researchers in the same laboratory or academic department may work
together on a sponsored project. They may make equal contributions to the project, or one
researcher may be leading a project while another is providing expertise on a smaller or
more narrowly defined aspect of the project. Researchers may be members of different
departments at the same institution. This can occur within the same general discipline, or
it could be part of an interdisciplinary project.
Example: the National Science Foundation funds a project at a university’s business
school in which the PI is studying the financial status of individuals having varying
academic degrees. In this project, the PI might have one or more collaborators in the
economics department who will be collecting economic data from Department of Labor
databases.
21. Interdisciplinary projects occur when researchers from different academic disciplines are
involved in a project in which, for instance, they are looking at a problem from different
perspectives, or when a project involves a complex set of questions that cross disciplines.
22. Example: The National Institutes of Health funds a project concerning how certain
chemical compounds affect animal and human tissues. Such a project might involve
chemists, biologists and statisticians who specialize in epidemiolo