By Dalat TESOL
A beginner’s guide to reading and writing applied linguistics research with clarity and confidence
🎓 Why This Matters
Whether you’re a graduate student beginning your research journey or a novice scholar preparing your first manuscript, understanding the anatomy of a research paper is essential. Academic writing may seem overwhelming at first, but once you recognize its common structure, it becomes more accessible—and even enjoyable.
A well-structured paper doesn’t just showcase findings. It tells a story: of a problem, an exploration, and a contribution.
📖 The Standard IMRaD Structure (and Beyond)
Most empirical research papers in applied linguistics follow the IMRaD format:
Introduction – Method – Results – Discussion
But beyond these four, there are other key components that appear before and after the main sections. Let’s go through each one.
1. 📄 Title and Abstract
🔹 Title
The title should be concise, informative, and reflect the main focus of the study.
✅ Good titles include:
- Key variables
- Target population
- Methodology (if important)
Example:
“Exploring the Effects of ChatGPT on Vietnamese EFL Students’ Writing Self-Efficacy: A Mixed-Methods Study”
🔹 Abstract
A 150–250 word summary of the study, often written last but placed first. It typically includes:
- The research problem
- Purpose and methods
- Main results
- Key implications
💡 Tip: Read abstracts from top journals to learn how to compress complex ideas clearly.
2. 🔍 Introduction
This is where you tell readers:
- What’s the problem?
- Why does it matter?
- What’s been done already?
- What gap are you addressing?
- What are your research questions or hypotheses?
📌 Key features:
- Includes literature references
- Ends with a clear purpose statement or RQs
- Connects global issues to your local context
Example (purpose statement):
“This study investigates how generative AI tools impact writing confidence among intermediate Vietnamese EFL learners.”
3. 🧪 Methodology
This section answers: How did you conduct the study?
It needs to be detailed enough that someone could replicate your work.
📌 Key subsections may include:
- Participants: Who, how many, and how selected?
- Instruments: What tools (e.g., surveys, interview guides, rubrics)?
- Procedures: What steps did you take?
- Data Analysis: What statistics or coding methods did you use?
Example:
“We used Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis approach to code 13 interview transcripts.”
🧠 Important: Be transparent and ethical—include consent, anonymity, and ethical clearance info.
4. 📊 Results / Findings
This section presents what you found, without too much interpretation.
- Quantitative: Include tables, graphs, test scores, means, p-values.
- Qualitative: Present categories or themes with sample quotes.
🔍 Tip: Label tables and figures clearly. Use narrative to guide the reader through them.
5. 🧠 Discussion
This is where you interpret your findings.
Key questions to guide this section:
- What do the results mean?
- How do they compare with previous studies?
- What new contributions do they offer?
- Why might these results have occurred?
🧩 The best discussions link findings back to the literature and to the research questions.
6. 🎯 Conclusion
A brief final section that:
- Summarizes the main insights
- Highlights limitations
- Suggests future research directions
✍️ Keep it short, focused, and forward-looking.
7. 🧾 References
Every source cited in-text must appear here, formatted exactly according to APA 7th style.
🛠 Tip: Use Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote to manage references and reduce errors.
8. 📎 Appendices (Optional)
Include:
- Full questionnaires
- Interview protocols
- Sample coding frameworks
- Transcripts (if allowed)
Only if they are relevant and referenced in the paper.
🧪 Example Paper Outline (Applied Linguistics, Mixed-Methods)
| Section | Sample Heading |
|---|---|
| Title | Investigating AI and Writing Confidence |
| Abstract | Summary of problem, method, results |
| Introduction | Rationale, literature gap, RQs |
| Methods | Participants, survey, interviews |
| Results | Statistical trends + thematic codes |
| Discussion | Interpretation + contributions |
| Conclusion | Summary + implications |
| References | APA 7 list |
| Appendix | Interview guide |
🔍 Final Reminders
- Think of each section as answering a specific question:
- Intro: Why this study?
- Method: How did you do it?
- Results: What did you find?
- Discussion: What does it mean?
- Clarity, logic, and flow are more important than complex words.