We explain what the elements of a monograph are, what each of them is used for and their main characteristics.
What are the elements of a monograph?
A monograph is an expository or argumentative writing that is prepared at the end of a work of research, whether documentary, experimental or of any kind.
Of amonograph Precision, verifiability, impartiality and clarity are expected, since it is the document that is delivered to third parties to account for the matter investigated, the findings found and the conclusions extracted from them.
In fact, the various academies that exist use the monograph as the most common mechanism for verifying the knowledge acquired or the execution of a specific experimental program.
Elements of a monograph
The elements that make up any monograph are more or less invariable, although ideally they should be adjusted to the nature and character of the research work.
For example, if it is an experimental matter, surely there will be a section of evidence and graphs that render the data statistics obtained; while a bibliographic documentation does not require it, but rather a bibliography detailed.
Broadly speaking, we can structure any monograph in:
- Cover and preliminary pages. It is about the presentation of the research work, where all the information Primary required to know what it is about: identification of the researchers, tutors, academy, the subject and the specific title of the work, as well as the date of its preparation. On the preliminary pages there may be dedications, acknowledgments or even captions, if they are considered to illustrate the spirit of the content.
- Index. Whether placed at the beginning or at the end, the index should appear in every monograph to allow readers to navigate between its parts quickly and comfortably. It should detail the home pages of each chapter with their respective main sections.
- Introduction. Introducing a monograph is the opportunity to provide the reader with all the contextual information necessary to begin reading the monograph. This goes from a general approach to the subject, from problems that interest, the research background, the importance of the subject for the academy (or the researcher, or the humanity), to previous information without which it would be much more difficult for the reader to understand the content of the research.
- Developing. Development is the content as such of the research, divided and hierarchical into chapters and sections, according to the structural needs of the information presentation. Ideally, each chapter should address a specific general theme, responding to a objective of the investigation or clarify a stage of the experimental procedure separately. You can count on visual, statistical or verbatim support, as required.
- Conclusions.. The moment of closing, to summarize the most important of all that has been said and to link it with other major, or later, topics that are not strictly the scope of the investigation. It is the moment to interpret the results obtained during the development, to relate the findings or establish the deductions that are necessary to obtain something concrete and definitive from the work carried out.
- Notes or annexes. An optional section. In some cases, textual citations or references that do not fit in the footer (or it is preferred not to place there), or also tables, graphs, lists, etc., may go here. which would be very cumbersome to include in the development. It will suffice to refer to them at the appropriate moment of development by means of a “(see fig. 4)” or the like.
- Bibliography or textual references. Documentary section in which the books, magazines, brochures or any material that has served us during the preparation of the work. Any data, reference or citation in the monograph must be referenced here with their respective bibliographic data: author, year of publication, publisher, pages consulted, etc.