How to write a successful case study
Writing a case study may be one of the requirements in your academic or professional career. In order to write a successful case study, it is necessary to understand the rudiments. You need to have a clear understanding of the case you wish to study and write about. Before you begin, it is important that you gather all the useful information that is necessary for the success of the report. Keep the message you want your audience to know at the back of your mind so you don't ever forget the message you want to convey.
Stick to the facts. Do not embellish your facts. Do not speculate as to what you think happened. A case study is meant to be a modest description of what happened. If you play with the facts, you may come out as not having your data correct. Let's proceed to the basics to writing a successful case study.
Your case study Title Page
Your case study must contain a title page. The title page must include the full title of the article. It will help people searching over the net to discover your report. Make your title to stand out. Do not be tempted to be vague about the title of your report. Your title page must also contain your name as the author of the article. If there are other contributing authors, be sure to include their names as well.
Abstract
The abstract should either be structured or a narrative. A structured abstract makes use of sub-headings. These are mostly used for scientific case studies. On the other hand, a narrative abstract, makes use of summary of the whole report. There are no headings whatsoever. What the author does is just to summarize the paper in a logical manner. It is much better to write your abstract once you are through with writing your paper.
Introduction
Your introduction will consist of a few sentences usually one or two that explain the context of the case and summarize the article. It is important that you use the introduction to convey to the audience your objective for the paper. You do this by either placing the study in a social or historical context. There is no need to write large introductory notes, few sentences are enough.
Case presentation
Case presentation is where the raw data of the report is presented. The history of the case under the study is explored here. There is actually no need to include all historical information here, just enough to explain how you came to your conclusions. Inclusion of lists at the end of your case presentation is optional. You use your best judgment for this.
Management and outcome
Assuming you are writing a Medical case study, this section simply describes course of the patient's complaint. For other topics, add the complaints that gave rise to the case study. Be sure to include outcome measures if any to show objectivity.
Discussion
This is the time to synthesize all the subsections. Discuss any correlations and inconsistencies.
Finally summarize with any lessons learned from the study.
The final additions to your case study report are your acknowledgements, references, legends, tables and permissions.
