Parts of a Research Paper

A research paper is not one undifferentiated block of prose. It is a sequence of named, purpose-built sections, each governed by conventions that a peer reviewer, journal editor, or indexing database expects to find in a specific order. Knowing what each part is for — not just what to call it — is what lets a writer draft efficiently instead of guessing at structure section by section.

This page is an orientation map, not a how-to for any single section. Every part below links to CASRAI’s own worked guide for writing that section well; use this page to see how the whole paper fits together, then follow the links for the depth you need.

The core body: IMRaD

Most empirical papers in the sciences, social sciences, and biomedicine organize their central argument using IMRaD: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion, in that order. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) states the rationale directly in its manuscript-preparation recommendations: “The text of articles reporting original research is usually divided into Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections. This so-called ‘IMRAD’ structure is not an arbitrary publication format but a reflection of the process of scientific discovery.” See CASRAI’s IMRaD Structure entry for the acronym’s origin and exact scope, or the IMRaD Structure: A Complete Worked Example guide for a fully annotated sample paper. Not every field follows IMRaD as written — see Humanities Article Structure vs. IMRaD and How Qualitative Research Papers Deviate from IMRaD Structure if your discipline or methodology departs from the default.

The full anatomy, section by section

1. Title page

The title page carries more than the paper’s title. ICMJE’s own manuscript-preparation guidance places “Sources of Support” — grants, equipment, drugs, or other support that facilitated the work or the writing — on the title page as a distinct element from any free-text acknowledgment of individuals, and is explicit that funding sources and affiliations that did not contribute to the work should not be listed, since doing so would be misleading. Under APA Style’s professional-paper format, the title page also carries author name(s), institutional affiliation(s), an Author Note, a running head (all-caps, left-aligned in the page header), and the page number. Style-guide specifics vary by journal and field, but the underlying job is constant: identify the paper, its authors, their affiliations, and who funded the work, before a single word of the argument begins.

2. Abstract

A self-contained summary of the paper’s question, method, results, and conclusion, almost always subject to a strict word limit. See Abstract for the operational definition and Research Paper Abstract: A Worked Example for a real structured abstract broken down section by section. Structured abstracts (explicit Background/Methods/Results/Conclusions subheadings) are increasingly required in biomedical journals — see Structured Abstract Format for how that convention differs across ICMJE, CONSORT, and PRISMA.

3. Keywords

A short list (typically 3–8 terms) that indexing databases and search systems use to surface the paper independent of its title and abstract wording. Keywords are usually chosen to include at least one term absent from the title, so the paper is discoverable under a synonym or a broader/narrower concept a searcher might use instead.

4. Introduction

States the background, the gap in existing knowledge the study addresses, and the specific research question or hypothesis. See How to Write the Introduction Section of a Research Paper for the CARS (Create a Research Space) model — establishing a territory, establishing a niche, and occupying that niche — that underlies most well-constructed introductions.

5. Literature review

Surveys and synthesizes prior work on the topic to show where the present study fits and what it adds. In many journal formats this is folded into the Introduction rather than set off as its own heading; in theses and dissertations it is typically a full standalone chapter. See How to Write a Literature Review for a Research Paper for thematic vs. chronological organization and the synthesis-vs-summary distinction, or The Literature Review Chapter of a Dissertation for the extended, standalone-chapter version.

6. Methods (Materials and Methods)

Describes what was done in enough detail that another researcher could assess the study’s rigor or, ideally, reproduce it: participants or materials, instruments, procedures, and analysis plan. See How to Write a Methods Section of a Research Paper.

7. Results

Reports what was found — the data itself, via text, tables, or figures — without interpretation. Interpretation belongs in the Discussion, not here; conflating the two is one of the most common structural mistakes reviewers flag. See How to Write the Results Section of a Research Paper.

8. Discussion

Explains what the results mean: how they answer the research question, how they relate to prior literature, what they do not show, and what should be studied next. See How to Write the Discussion Section of a Research Paper for the five-move structure (summary of key findings, comparison to prior literature, limitations, implications, future directions) and the pitfalls — overclaiming beyond the data, minimizing limitations, and simply repeating the Results — that most often get flagged in review.

9. Limitations

Some journals require limitations as a labeled subsection rather than a paragraph folded into the Discussion, particularly in clinical and health-services research. See How to Write a Limitations Section of a Research Paper and The Limitations Section of a Research Paper: A Worked Example.

10. Conclusion

A short closing statement of the paper’s main takeaway and its broader significance — distinct from the Discussion’s more detailed interpretive work, and sometimes merged into it rather than set off separately, depending on journal convention.

11. Acknowledgments

Credits individuals who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria — technical assistance, general supervision, or provision of materials, for example. ICMJE’s guidance is explicit that acknowledging someone can imply their endorsement of the study’s data and conclusions, so editors are advised to require that the corresponding author obtain written permission from everyone named here before submission.

12. Declarations: funding, conflicts of interest, data availability

Most journals now require a cluster of standardized disclosure statements distinct from the narrative Acknowledgments: a funding statement identifying the grants and sponsors that supported the work, a conflict-of-interest declaration, and, increasingly, a data availability statement pointing to where the underlying data can be accessed. These are procedural and legal in character rather than narrative, and journals are often strict about their exact wording and placement.

13. References

The full citation list for every source referenced in the text, formatted to the citation style the journal specifies (APA, AMA, Vancouver, and others each have distinct rules for author order, punctuation, and abbreviation). Reference formatting is one of the most common reasons a submission is returned for technical revision before it ever reaches peer review.

14. Appendices and supplementary material

Material that supports the paper but would disrupt its flow if placed in the body — extended data tables, survey instruments, additional figures, or code. Journals increasingly host this as online-only supplementary material rather than a printed appendix.

How the parts differ by paper type

A structured empirical paper follows the sequence above closely. A review article, systematic review, case report, or humanities-style argumentative paper each substitute a different internal logic for the Methods-Results-Discussion core while keeping the same opening (title, abstract, keywords, introduction) and closing (references, declarations) scaffolding. See Humanities Article Structure vs. IMRaD and Literature Review vs. Systematic Review vs. Scoping Review for how the middle sections change shape without the surrounding parts disappearing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the 7 main parts of a research paper?

Different sources count differently depending on whether they treat the title page, keywords, and declarations as separate “parts” or fold them into a shorter list. A commonly cited seven-part version is: title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references. The fuller anatomy above breaks that down further because several of those, especially declarations and appendices, are now routinely required as their own labeled elements.

Do all research papers have all of these parts?

No. A short communication or a letter to the editor may compress Results and Discussion into one section and omit a standalone Literature Review; a case report follows a different structure entirely (see the CARE guidelines for case reports). Always check the target journal’s author guidelines rather than assuming the full IMRaD-plus-scaffolding structure applies.

Where does the literature review go if the journal doesn’t have a separate section for it?

It is folded into the Introduction, typically forming the second half: after establishing why the topic matters, the introduction reviews what is already known and identifies the specific gap the present study addresses.

Is the abstract part of the word count for the paper?

Almost never — journals virtually always specify a separate word limit for the abstract (commonly 150–300 words) distinct from the body word count, and it is drafted and submitted as its own field in most manuscript-tracking systems rather than counted as body text.

Parts of a Research Paper: A Complete Section-by-Section Guide

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