Structure of a journal paper

Some guidance when writing a journal paper might be very welcome. Writing it can be a long process if no structure is followed. Therefore, it might be handy to get some structure at multiple levels. One of those levels is the structure of the journal paper itself. This article discusses the set-up of a journal paper and goes into detail how to write the abstract. 

Journal paper structure

To create uniformity and enlarge the readability of journal papers, they generally follow the same structure. A journal paper very often follows the following specific structure:

  1. Abstract;

  2. Introduction;

  3. Methods;

  4. Results;

  5. Discussion;

  6. Conclusion 

What information each of those sections contains and tips for writing each section can be found in the file in the upper right corner!

Writing the abstract

To give an indication how the file you can download can help you at a more in-depth level writing each individual section, how to write the abstract will be discussed. This article thereby provides you with a clear structure how the abstract is build up. A abstract most often contains the following elements:

  1. A brief statement of the context;

  2. The knowledge gap your work aims to fill;

  3. A brief description of your methods;

  4. Your results;

  5. The main conclusion. 

By following this structure, you are able to give the reader directly a great deal of information and insight in your work. 

For more information about the other sections and how they are build up can be found in the file in the upper right corner!