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last.updated 9.15.13

Discussion/Conclusion

Purpose

While in the results section of an IMRAD essay the writer wants to just report the relevant data they have collected, the discussion section gives the writer an opportunity to interpret the data and answer the research questions. The conclusion, then, gives the writer an opportunity to summarize the article and/or advocate for a certain action the audience should take because of the answers to the research questions. As a class we will work together to understand the entire article and determine what we learned from this particular text about the IMRAD-style academic essay.

Class Discussion I: Wrapping it up

As a class, we will discuss the following questions:

• What questions do you have about the content of this reading and the decisions that Haas made researching for and writing up this article?
• What questions do you have about the IMRAD genre and Haas' use of it?
• What questions do you have about any of the annotations I made?
• If I were to ask you to write instructions for writing up a discussion and conclusion section of an IMRAD essay based upon the Haas article, what would your instructions be?

Activity I: Writing IMRAD Instructions

Open up a document in Google Drive and write step-by-step instructions for writing up a IMRAD essay as if you were writing them for a senior back at your high school.

When you are done, ask the person sitting next to you to read the instructions as if they were your intended audience and comment whether they feel they would be able to follow them well or not. Make revisions based upon your peer's feedback. Finally, share the document with me (kdepew@odu.edu).