AWA: Academic Writing at Auckland

Research Reports may be required in final year or graduate level courses and are usually carried out independently, with the aim to generate new knowledge. A research question is developed, justified and embedded in the existing literature on the topic, and the writer demonstrates strong understanding of research methods and an ability to discuss results and their implications.  Research Reports can use topic-specific sections or the standard IMRD (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) sections. They can be presented as dissertations, long essays or research articles (Nesi & Gardner, 2012, p. 136-138).