Structural templates in scholarly writing
I'm interested in the different ways that academic essays can be structured. Of course there is the 5-paragraph style learned by most Americans in secondary school:
Introduction
Argument 1
Argument 2
Argument 3
Conclusion
And there's this more advanced structure often taught in English 101 type courses in college:
Introduction
Background
Argument
Counterargument and Refutation
Conclusion
What are some other ways to structure an academic paper? Side question: I've read several popular (as opposed to scholarly) articles which lack an introduction and/or conclusion (more often the conclusion). Is this ever acceptable in a scholarly work?
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I've always written my History using 3x5 cards and reading what I think are the salient aspects from a Primary Source. My first work concerned the use of lead shot as a contributing factor in the decline of the North American duck population. (Seriously. I was 14 years old when I wrote it.) So I went to "the Library" and read all the articles arguing for and against said argument then established my thesis and wrote and footnoted accordingly.
If it is a scientific paper published in an academic journal the format is:
Abstract (summary of your topic and the results).
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results
Discussion/Conclusions
Reference list.
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