The examples below are from 76,350 full-text PubMed research papers that I analyzed in order to explore common ways to start the Materials and Methods section.
Research papers included in this analysis were selected at random from those uploaded to PubMed Central between the years 2016 and 2021. I used the BioC API to download the data (see the References section below).
Examples of how to start writing the Methods section
The Methods section is the recipe for the study: it should provide the reader enough information to replicate the study without looking elsewhere. [for more information, see: How to Write & Publish a Research Paper: Step-by-Step Guide]
The Methods section can:
1. Start by mentioning the approvals acquired to conduct the study
For example:
“The study protocol was approved by the institutional research commissions of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH; Basel, Switzerland) and the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d’Ivoire (CSRS; Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire). Ethical approval was granted by the ethics committee of Basel (EKBB; reference no. 316/08), and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Côte d’Ivoire (reference no. 124/MESRS/DGRSIT/YKS/sac).”
Source: taken from the Methods section of this PubMed article
2. Start by mentioning the study design
For example:
“This cross-sectional study was performed among students and staff of one of the largest government-funded universities in Malaysia.”
Source: taken from the Methods section of this PubMed article
3. Start by mentioning the date, duration, and place of the study
For example:
“This cross-sectional study was a part of the Student Mental Health Survey that was conducted at Akita University between May 20 and June 16, 2020.”
Source: taken from the Methods section of this PubMed article
4. Start by mentioning the source of the data
For example:
“This study used three datasets from the 2007, 2013–14, and 2018 Zambian Demographic Health Surveys (DHS).”
Source: taken from the Methods section of this PubMed article
5. Start by mentioning the sample size
For example:
“Data were acquired on 30 patients with schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls.”
Source: taken from the Methods section of this PubMed article
6. Start by justifying the use of the main material or method
For example:
“In order to describe the infectious disease progression we use the minimal and prototypical SIR model.”
Source: taken from the Methods section of this PubMed article
Common words used to start a Methods section
Here’s a list of the most common words used at the beginning of the Methods section:
- “This study was approved by…”
- “This study was conducted at…”
- “This was a retrospective study…”
- “This cross-sectional study was conducted…”
- “This study was conducted in accordance…”
- “This study was performed in accordance…”
- “All procedures were approved by the…”
- “Written informed consent was obtained from…”
References
- Comeau DC, Wei CH, Islamaj Doğan R, and Lu Z. PMC text mining subset in BioC: about 3 million full text articles and growing, Bioinformatics, btz070, 2019.