BEYOND IMRAD: NEW MNEMONIC DEVICES FOR EFFECTIVE WRITING OF ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Abstract

Mnemonics are techniques for memorization and effective recall. Verbal Mnemonics are list of words or phrases where the first letter of word or phrase represents an item which one want to remember in the same order as given by that phrase or letter. For example, bones of the skull can easily be recalled by the mnemonic Old[Occipital] People[Parietal] From[Frontal] Texas[Temporal] Eat[Ethmoid] Spiders[Sphenoid]. Mnemonics enhance retention of information and ensure prompt but simple retrieval in the correct order.1 Acronyms are abbreviations but pronounced as words. They are often called First Letter Mnemonics. Acronyms are created from the first letter of group of words or names. For example, AIDS is an acronym and stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Both mnemonics and acronyms are memory aids and serve the same purpose of quickly understanding, memorizing and easy retention of long strings of words and difficult sequences and lists.
The most common type of journal article is the original article. Original articles are the primary literature and report new research work. The preferred and standard format of the body original article [after Title and Abstract] was recommended in the beginning of twentieth century and represented by the classical acronym IMRaD [which stands for Introduction, Methods, Results and Conclusion] is still valid and practiced widely. The IMRaD eliminates unnecessary information and permits relevant detail in a sequence.