Scientific Report Structure Explained (And How To Write One)

A scientific report at university usually follows the IMRaD format. That stands for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion, and it’s the same structure nearly all published scientific reports follow. Most scientific reports also have a Conclusion, and some have an Abstract, although they’re less common in undergraduate assessments.

But I’m sure you’re wondering what you need to put into each section, and how to make scientific reports easier and faster to write. Let’s start by covering what you need for each section:

The IMRaD Format (With a Few Extras)

Scientific reports are formatted into four main sections:

• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion

These are sometimes bookended with:

• Abstract at the beginning
• Conclusion at the end

Whether you need those extra sections depends on your lecturer, so always double-check your assessment outline or assignment instructions. Sometimes, the discussion and conclusion are combined and renamed as “summary.” Same deal, just different label.

Never Write A Scientific Report In Order

Now here’s the first thing a lot of people get wrong: you shouldn’t write your report in the same order it appears.

Sounds weird, right? But hear me out:

• Don’t write your abstract first. You won’t know what to say until the whole thing is done.
• Don’t start with your introduction. It’s one of the hardest parts to write, and it makes more sense once the rest of the report is finished (trust me!)

Instead, start with the methods. It’s the easiest because you’re just writing down what you already did.

Now, in a scientific report each section is marked separately. So if you don’t include what’s needed in each one, you’ll miss out on marks (even if your overall report is great). Let’s go through each section now, so you know what to include (and guarantee you’ll get the marks!).

Abstract (If Required)

The abstract is a short summary of your entire report. It appears at the start of your report, and often on a ‘title page’. It includes one or two sentences of the key points from each section: intro, methods, results, discussion, and conclusion. Nothing new. No surprises. It’s a just summary, not an analysis. But you only write it after everything else is done. Trust me, it’s much easier that way.

Introduction

The introduction connects your study to the real world. Why did this research matter? What knowledge gap did it fill? Your job here is to explain why your research was worth doing. But that’s not something you can explain clearly if you haven’t done the rest of the report yet.

That’s why the introduction should never be written first. You’ll find it easy once you’ve written your methods, results, and discussion, because by then you’ll actually know what your key findings are and which literature supports them.

At the end of your introduction, you’ll usually include your aim, research question, or hypothesis. If your lecturer gave you a specific question, that’s what you reword here. Follow this structure to make sure you include everything in the introduction section:

• Highlight what is known (in your area of research)
• Identify a gap in the knowledge (background info)
• Explain why it’s important to fill that gap
• Provide summary of what your study did (include here your aim and hypotheses statements

Methods

This is the easiest section to write, and the best place to start. This is just a list of what you did. Step-by-step. Imagine someone wants to copy your experiment and get the same results, they’d follow this like a recipe.

Be specific, but don’t overcomplicate it. It’s just the “how” of your study. Here’s what to include (in order) in your methods section:

1. Samples

• What type of data did you collect; e.g., survey responses, rainfall data.
• The sample group and sample size; e.g., rainfall at 8 different places, on 10 different days, total of 80 samples.
• Where did you collect it – include country, regional area and specifics. If your study was done online then include urls etc as your location.
• Who collected the data (e.g., you vs group of people)

2. Procedure/Sampling method

• How did you collect your data
• What did you use to collect it (e.g., tools, materials)
• Factors or variables collected (e.g., survey – age, education level, or ethnicity etc)
• Always write it in the order of what you did.

Those first two steps are about data collection.

3. Data analysis (you can think of this as results analysis)

• Data preparation or ‘cleaning’ (e.g., removing any outliers)
• Statistics, including your justification for those statistics (if you did any)
• Models; e.g. equations
• Include what hardware or software you used; be specific, including version numbers.

Results

The results section is all about your data. What do the numbers or data say? This is not the place to explain what it means (that’s next). Just report your findings. You should include graphs, tables, or images, but make sure to describe/explain them too.

A good trick: insert your graph first, then explain it in sentences.

The results section should follow the methods section or at least the themes of your aims or research questions. Decide how you will describe your data at the start, that way it will be all the same and comparable. You can choose between

• Raw
• Average
• Median
• Range

Always include your descriptive data e.g. sample number, standard deviation. You can include these in brackets after your main data description to make it easier.

Discussion

This is where the thinking happens. The discussion is where you interpret your results. What was your key finding? How does it compare to other studies? Why might your results have turned out that way? This is also where you connect everything back to the real world or academic field. If the methods and results were about documenting what happened, the discussion is about figuring out what it means.

Tip: You’ll need to bring in other journal articles here to support your ideas and compare your findings to past research.

There are some great free tools out there you can use to make the research and writing easier – read more about them here.

Essentially, to get the marks for the discussion section you need to

• Explain how your results answer your research questions or aims.
• Explain how your results/findings compare to the literature (are they the same? are they different?)
• Explain why your findings matter in the real world (does it change anything for anyone?)

The difference between your results and your findings is what they mean. Your results are just numbers, your findings are what they mean in words. For example, your results could be that it rained 900mm/yr at location X and 600mm/yr at Y. But the finding is that it rained 300mm more per year at X than Y (on average), which was a mountainous and coastal location. This helps you search for relevant literature, e.g,. do other mountainous or coastal regions record high rainfall? do the mountains or coastal location have more impact on the rain?

Conclusion (If Required)

This is a short section, usually 150 words or less.

Your conclusion is not a deep analysis. It’s just a few sentences that highlight:

• What your key finding was
• Why it matters
• Any real-world or practical applications

No fluff. No “in conclusion” needed. Just label it “Conclusion” and get to the point.

Want help writing each section? I’ve made a video walking you through each one step-by-step.