Academic Paper Section Planner
The paper
Section budget
- Introduction900
Establish the context, state the gap and name the question this paper answers.
context · gap in the literature · research question · contribution
- Methods1200
Describe what was done well enough that another researcher could repeat it.
design · sample and setting · materials or instruments · analysis plan
- Results1800
Report the findings with their figures and their uncertainty, without interpretation.
main finding · secondary findings · figures and tables · uncertainty and exclusions
- Discussion1800
Interpret the findings, compare them with prior work and state the limitations.
interpretation · comparison with prior work · limitations · implications
- Conclusion300
Answer the question in one paragraph and name the next step.
direct answer · significance · next steps
Plan
Question: (not stated) Method: (not stated) Contribution: (not stated) Budget: 6000 words Introduction — about 900 words Purpose: Establish the context, state the gap and name the question this paper answers. Elements: context, gap in the literature, research question, contribution Methods — about 1200 words Purpose: Describe what was done well enough that another researcher could repeat it. Elements: design, sample and setting, materials or instruments, analysis plan Results — about 1800 words Purpose: Report the findings with their figures and their uncertainty, without interpretation. Elements: main finding, secondary findings, figures and tables, uncertainty and exclusions Discussion — about 1800 words Purpose: Interpret the findings, compare them with prior work and state the limitations. Elements: interpretation, comparison with prior work, limitations, implications Conclusion — about 300 words Purpose: Answer the question in one paragraph and name the next step. Elements: direct answer, significance, next steps
Checks
No research question: a paper plan starts from the question the study answers.
No method: state the design in a line so the methods budget has something to describe.
No contribution: say what the paper adds that the literature did not have.
Scope and limits
The shares are published proportions: introduction 15%, methods 20%, results 30%, discussion 30%, conclusion 5%. Multiply your total by a share and you have a target before writing a word.
Venues differ, and a systematic review or a theoretical paper will not fit these proportions. Treat the targets as a starting position and adjust them with the section notes in view.
The academic paper section planner splits a total word budget across the five standard sections using published proportions, and flags the shares that have drifted out of range.
What is Academic Paper Section Planner?
The academic paper section planner turns a total word budget into targets for the five sections of a research article. The proportions are published rather than invented: introduction fifteen per cent, methods twenty, results thirty, discussion thirty and conclusion five. Multiplying a stated total by those shares gives every section a number before writing begins, and a plan with numbers is much easier to argue with than a plan that says the discussion will be long.
The proportions encode a view about what a paper is. The results and discussion sections are the paper; everything else supports them. A methods section at five per cent of a six thousand word article is eight hundred words short of repeatable, and the planner says so as a note attached to that section rather than as a general warning. An introduction past a quarter of the paper has stopped introducing and started reviewing, and it gets its own note.
The three statements the plan has to carry are checked by name. The research question is the first: without it, the sections are containers with nothing to hold, and the planner says so. A question running past forty words gets a second check, because a question that needs a paragraph to state will not survive being answered in the conclusion. The method and the contribution are checked the same way, since a methods section budgeted but never described and a contribution never named are the two most common reasons a plan stalls in the second week.
The word budget also makes the venue limit visible. Under three thousand words the planner warns that sections may be squeezed, which is the honest way to say that a short-format article cannot carry a full results and discussion.
Targets are most useful when they are checked twice: once when the plan is made and once when a full draft exists. Compare the actual section lengths with the budget and the differences are informative in both directions. A results section far under its target usually means a finding was left in the discussion, where it reads as interpretation. A discussion far over its target usually means the comparison with prior work has grown into a second review, which belongs elsewhere. Over twelve thousand it suggests checking the venue limit before splitting the difference across sections, because most journals cap the total rather than each part.
The outline it produces is plain text and can be copied or pasted beside the draft: the question, the method, the contribution, the total, then each section with its target, its purpose and the elements a reader expects to find in it. That list of elements is the part writers use most — results expects a main finding, secondary findings, figures and tables, and uncertainty and exclusions, and a section that cannot answer for all four is not finished.
Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored beyond the tab. The planner does not read your draft and cannot tell whether the sections were actually written to their targets; it plans the budget and names the statements the plan depends on.
Revise the plan when the paper changes shape, and expect it to change. A plan made in the first week and never revisited is usually the reason a discussion section is twice its target while the results section reports one finding.
How to use Academic Paper Section Planner
- State the research question in one sentence.
- State the method and the contribution in a line each.
- Set the total word budget the venue allows.
- Read the five section targets and the notes attached to any that look thin.
- Clear the checks and keep the outline beside the draft as the sections are written.
When to use Academic Paper Section Planner vs related tools
Use the paper section planner at the start of a writing block rather than at the start of the project, when the study exists and the article has to be budgeted. Section targets make an overgrown methods section visible in week one rather than in the second review round. When the literature the introduction has to summarise is still a pile of notes, organise it first with the Literature Review Organizer. When the paper is drafted and the abstract has to be written, the Scientific Abstract Builder takes over from there.
Privacy & Security
This tool runs entirely in your browser — no data ever leaves your device. There is no server round-trip, no upload, no logging, and no account required. Your input is processed locally using client-side JavaScript and is never stored, transmitted, or accessible to anyone else. When you close the tab, everything disappears.