The IMRAD Essay (and its variations) is arguably the most common genre used in academic contexts as well as many professional contexts in the sciences and social sciences. Many principles of this genre are also found in the grants submitted in the humanities. Therefore, learning the processes for composing a well-researched IMRAD essay will prepare you for many writing situations during and beyond college. Since you are taking a writing course, this essay will be about a writing or literacy issue (see Literature Review for example topics).
You have completed much of the work needed for this essay by fulfilling the requirements for the...
Write a 2000-2500-word essay using the format of...
- Introduction–Includes what the problem is (e.g., the debate about mandatory testing) and the research question (what you want to learn from your research). This draws on your Research Proposal.
- Literature Review–Can be a part of the Introduction or its own section. Covers what has already been said about the topic and sets up previous research that your results will be responding to in the Discussion section; this draws from your Literature Review.
- Methods–What did you do for your primary research? Detail this in a way that your audience could pick it up and do the same research. Also explain your decisions in light of how you believed the decisions you made are helping you to answer your research question. This draws on your Research Proposal.
- Results–This is just the raw data, no interpretation. Present this in paragraphs. If you include transcripts, tables, or figures, make sure that you describe them rather than letting them stand on their own. This draws on your Response #11: Analyzing And Reporting Data and maybe Response #10: Arguing With Visuals.
- Discussion–This is the interpretation of the data. First you will want to answer your research questions using your data. Then you will want to discuss how your data answer the research question compared to how other literature (from the literature review) would answer it; think about this as putting your data into conversation with previous research. You may also choose to include a conclusion in which you suggest a course of action based upon what your research revealed. This draws on the Response #11: Analyzing And Reporting Data and maybe Response #10: Arguing With Visuals.
- Works Cited or References (not included in the word count). If you are citing sources from your Literature Review, this information should be found there.
Remember that you will need to answer your research questions and develop an argument based upon the synthesis of your results. As you compose this essay, it is recommended that you draw from and appropriately revise text from previous submissions rather than writing everything anew. However, FrankenPapers–a paper that just 'stitches together' all of these texts by cutting and pasting them together without considering the instructor's comments, rethinking what you have written, and creating cohesion between the different pieces–will receive a grade no higher than a C.
Logistic:
- 2000-2500 words
- double-spaced
- Complete rough draft is due by April 9, 2019 and shared with your assigned collaborator (see shared Activity Folder). Also submit your draft to the instructor through Google Classroom. Please note that the instructor is just checking for completion and will not be reviewing it. The instructor has already reviewed this work in previous Responses. Non-submission of a draft will result in a 10% deduction of your Assignment grade.
- On April 16, 2018 submit the final draft to the instructor on the "Student Work" page for "Assignment #4: IMRAD Essay" in the Google Classroom
- 200 points
In addition to the general evaluation criteria, the instructor will be looking for evidence of...
- an understanding of the problem or issue you have chosen
- an understanding of your audience, scholars and instructors in the field of writing studies and/or linguistics
- whether you write this using academic conventions, especially those for an IMRAD essay.
- a research process that starts with identifying a problem, moves to developing research questions that address the problem, then to designing and detailing a research plan that appropriately answers the questions, onto reporting the relevant results to your study, and then drawing reasonable conclusions and an informed argument that answers your research questions.
- an academic or professional persona; this means you should adopt a professional tone and publish a well-edited paper
- appropriate use of conventions, including MLA, APA, or an appropriate citation formatting