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©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     54

The first scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, was 

founded in 1665.1 At that time, and for more than 2 centu-

ries thereafter, scientific manuscripts did not have a stan-

dardized form or style. However, in the 1940s, a standard 

structure began to emerge. Decades later, in the 1980s, a 

standard structure was widely adopted for original research 

manuscripts in the sciences.2,3

 Most research manuscripts are now written in a 

standard structure known as IMRaD (Introduction, 

Methods, Results, and Discussion).2,3 In this structure, 

the Introduction describes the background of the study, 

the Methods describe how the study was carried out, the 

Results report what the study found, and the Discussion 

explains what the study findings mean.

 This standard IMRaD structure makes the process of 

developing and publishing manuscripts more consistent 

and easier to manage. This structure helps authors organize 

their ideas and ensure they include all the important ele-

ments of the study. The IMRaD structure also helps editors 

and reviewers evaluate manuscripts more easily. And the 

structure helps readers to quickly locate specific informa-

tion without going through the entire paper.3

 The IMRaD structure has another valuable feature. 

This structure helps authors to tell a story with the most 

common story structure: the three-act structure.

THREE-ACT STORY STRUCTURE
The three-act structure contains 3 acts separated by 2 plot 

points (Figure 1A). In Act 1, the story starts with the Setup, 

or exposition, which is when readers learn about the setting 

and characters in the story. At the end of Act 1 is Plot Point 

1. Here, readers encounter the Tension, or an inciting inci-

dent. This tension engages readers’ curiosity, excitement, or 

other emotion so that they want to keep reading the story.

 Act 2 is the Action in the story. The Action builds momen-

tum, further engaging readers as the story approaches Act 3. 

Near the peak of the Action, the story hits Plot Point 2. At  

this point, readers reach a cliffhanger that heightens their 

emotions to entice them to keep reading the story.

 In Act 3, the story peaks at the Climax and then ties 

everything together in the Resolution, or denouement. In 

this way, Act 3 relieves the tension, or the heightened emo-

tions, created at the end of Act 1.

THREE-ACT STORY STRUCTURE IN MANUSCRIPTS
The IMRaD structure of manuscripts maps onto the three-

act story structure (Figure 1B).

Crystal R. Herron, PhD, ELS / Managing Director, Redwood Ink, San Rafael, CA

The Intrinsic Story Structure of Original Research Manuscripts

CONSCIOUS WRITING

Figure 1. Three-act story structure in original research manuscripts. 
A) Three-act structure commonly found in stories. B) Three-
act story structure found in original research manuscripts that 
follow the standard IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and 
Discussion) structure.

http://www.amwajournal.org


AMWAJournal.org     55The Intrinsic Story Structure of Original Research Manuscripts

Act 1
Setup
In a research manuscript, Act 1 is the Introduction section. 
This section is the exposition of the story, when readers learn 
about the characters and setting of the study. For example, 
the characters in a manuscript might be proteins, drug com-
pounds, diseases, or patients. And the setting might be a  
particular cell type, organ, hospital, or population.
 Act 1 also includes any other background details that 
might be important for readers to know to understand the 
story in the study. For example, readers may need to know 
statistics about a particular condition, why existing drugs are 
ineffective, or how the structure of a mutated protein influ-
ences a particular disease state.
 These background details help to frame the purpose of 
the study—what problem the study aims to address. This 
purpose helps readers understand the relevance and signifi-
cance of the study. And it helps to frame the Tension.

Tension
The Tension in a manuscript is the research question at the 
end of the Introduction. This question describes what the 
characters need to accomplish in the story. In other words, 
how can the characters help to solve the problem you framed 
in the Setup?
 The Tension also needs to state what specific question the 
study proposes to answer and how that question is connected 
to the problem framed in the Setup. For example, does the 
new drug need to slow disease progression? Or does the 
gene mutation need to improve organ function? This framing 
sparks curiosity and excitement in readers to entice them to 
keep reading into Act 2.

Act 2
Action
In a research manuscript, the Action includes the Methods 
and Results sections. The Methods section starts the Action 
by describing what happens to address the question in the 
story. In other words, what approach was used, what exper-
iments were carried out, what data were collected, and what 
analysis was done in the study?

The second part of the Action is the Results section. This 
section builds on the momentum created in the Methods 
section by reporting the findings in the study. These find-
ings build on each other as the story approaches Act 3. At 
this point, readers learned the study findings, but they may 
not yet have a clear understanding of whether the findings 
answered the study question. This moment creates a cliff-
hanger that propels readers into Act 3.

Act 3
Climax
The Climax is the first paragraph of the Discussion section. 
This paragraph describes whether the characters answered 
the question raised with the Tension. To maximize the  
impact of the Climax, this paragraph needs to remind read-
ers of the study question, summarize the key findings of the 
study, and state how those findings answered the question  
in the Tension. This structure reinvigorates and then  
satisfies readers’ curiosity and excitement about the study.

Resolution
Act 3 also contains the rest of the Discussion section, includ-
ing the final conclusions paragraph. The Discussion section 
explains how the characters and their setting changed as a 
result of the Action in the study. In other words, how do the 
findings fit within the existing body of literature? Do they 
support or contradict findings published in other studies? 
And, importantly, how do the findings advance the field?
 At the end of Act 3 is the Conclusions paragraph. This 
paragraph is the denouement of the manuscript that ties the 
entire study together by (1) reminding the reader of the prob-
lem in the Setup, (2) reiterating the question that creates the 
Tension, (3) highlighting the main study findings in the Action, 
(4) stating how the findings answer the question in the Climax,
and (5) emphasizing how the study advances the field in the 
Resolution. In this way, the Conclusions paragraph leaves 
readers with a clear concept of the overall relevance and 
significance of the story in the study.

BUILDING THE STORY
The three-act story structure includes 5 stages—Setup, 
Tension, Action, Climax, and Resolution—that can be con-
densed to form the abbreviation STACR. Each of the STACR 
elements has an important function in a story that helps 
to engage readers and keep them reading. These STACR 
elements also map onto the IMRaD structure of original 
research manuscripts, creating a built-in story structure  

that engages and informs readers about a research study.

Author declaration and disclosures: The author notes no  
commercial association that may pose a conflict of interest in  
relation to this article.

Author contact:  crystal.herron@redwoodink.com

References
1. History of The Royal Society. The Royal Society. Accessed 

October 27, 2022. https://royalsociety.org/about-us/history/
2. Sollaci LB, Pereira MG. The introduction, methods, results, and 

discussion (IMRAD) structure: a fifty-year survey. J Med Libr 
Assoc. 2004;92(3):364-367.

3. Wu, J. Improving the writing of research papers: IMRAD and 
beyond. Landscape Ecol. 2011;26,1345-1349.

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https://royalsociety.org/about-us/history/



