Writing a Research Paper › Module 2: Structure
Context, content, conclusion
Lesson 1 of 3 · 2 min
Mensh and Kording point out a pattern that works at every level of a paper: context, content, conclusion.
- Context: what the reader needs to know first, and why they should care.
- Content: the new thing.
- Conclusion: what it means; the takeaway.
At every scale
| Level | Context | Content | Conclusion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole paper | Introduction | Results | Discussion |
| Abstract | Background and gap | What you did and found | Why it matters |
| Paragraph | First sentence: the topic | Middle: the evidence | Last sentence: the point |
- Whole paper
- Context: Introduction
- Content: Results
- Conclusion: Discussion
- Abstract
- Context: Background and gap
- Content: What you did and found
- Conclusion: Why it matters
- Paragraph
- Context: First sentence: the topic
- Content: Middle: the evidence
- Conclusion: Last sentence: the point
Paragraphs that work
The first sentence tells readers what the paragraph is about. The last sentence tells them what to take away. A reader skimming only first and last sentences should still follow the argument.
ExampleWeak first sentence: "We trained models using several methods." Strong first sentence: "Colour augmentation helped most when training data was scarce." The strong one tells readers what to look for in the rest of the paragraph.
Why readers love it
Readers are always predicting what comes next. When the structure matches their prediction, reading feels easy. When it doesn't, they get lost, even if every sentence is correct.
RememberContext, content, conclusion: for the paper, the abstract and every paragraph.