There are some basic requirements to follow when structuring an academic text. The requirements can differ between subjects and supervisors, so make sure to find out what applies before writing your text.

During your studies, you will have several opportunities to practice writing academic texts. What sections need to be present in your text will differ from assignment to assignment, and between different subjects. Here follows an instruction on the most common sections included in academic texts. If you want more tips on writing academically you can head to our website.

An illustration of the different sections in a larger academic text

Title, abstract, index

The introduction to a longer academic text, such as an essay, should include a title page, an abstract/summary, and an index. This is to give the reader an insight into the essay's contents and structure.

Main body

The main body of the text is the largest section, and this is where you discuss your methods and present your results. The main body often includes the sections: introduction, purpose, previous research/background, theory, method, material, results, discussion/analysis, and conclusion. In some disciplines are all mandatory, but not all. It varies between subjects.

In the introduction the reader should get an overview of the essay and an introduction to the subject. The purpose and research question are the most important parts of the introduction. Everything else you write in this section should relate back to the purpose of the text.

In an academic essay it is important to describe the theoretical standpoints and central terms of your chosen research topic. Under the heading Methods, the methods used for the study should be presented. You should also motivate why you have chosen a specific method, and why that method works best for your purpose. The description of your method needs to be as thorough as possible, to make sure someone else could be able to replicate your study if they wanted to.

Under the heading Results you will present the results of your study. This should be followed by either Discussion or Analysis, where you will analyse the outcome of your study, and make conclusions based on the result. This section is where you will present most of your own arguments.

Conclusion/Summary

In the conclusion you will provide a summary of your text and what your conclusions are. You can also present your conclusions from the result and discussion/analysis sections here if you have not already done that in the previous sections. Here, you can also look to the future and suggest some further research ideas on your research topic. You should also end with a reference list and eventual attachments. Attachments could be things like survey questions, recorded interviews, detailed data you have used as a base for your research, a table of figures, etc.

Reference list

In the reference list you should list all the sources you have mentioned in your essay. The sources should be listed regardless if it is books, articles, information from the web, or other types of information. Using someone else's text, ideas, or thoughts without referencing them is called plagiarism and that is not allowed.

Here is a video from Lund's University on structuring information in your academic writing (6.38 min):