Case study structure
A case study is usually presented as a kind of report, where sections within the body of the report deal with specific
aspects of the case. Your Learning Guide should give you information about how to structure your case study assignment.
For example, you may be asked to focus on certain questions about the case and organise your writing around those
questions (see Nursing example in Case Study Purpose (PDF, 68 kB).
Make sure you check the Learning Guide first, both the assignment instructions and the marking rubric/criteria, to find out
what structure you should use.
A case study report may have the elements shown in the following table. But you MUST check your Learning Guide or ask
your tutor how to structure your case study report for that particular Unit, as expectations can be different.
| Element | Explanation |
| Introduction | Introduces the case, including the background and any previous studies of the issue. |
| Aims | Describes the purpose of the study and the specific questions you are trying to answer. |
| Method | Explains how the study was carried out, e.g. what research methods did you use to collect data: interviews, observations, questionnaires, etc.? What were the circumstances of your data collection? |
| Results | Describes what you found through your investigations, e.g. the main themes that came out in interviews, responses to questionnaires, significant observations. |
| Discussion | Explains the significance of the study and what can be learnt from it. Note that a case study is a study of a particular situation so you can’t generalise the results to all other situations. That means your discussion should focus on what can be learnt about that particular situation and the individuals involved. |
| Recommendations | Provides proposals for future action to solve the problem or improve the situation, e.g. by applying a particular kind of treatment or intervention. |
AssignmentTutorOnline
More information
→ UNSW’s page on Writing the Case Study.
→ Monash University’s Quick study guide, Writing a case study, which provides the essentials of writing a problemsolving case study in an infographic.
Library Study Smart
Case study structure
June 2019
westernsydney.edu.au/studysmart
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