ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the ideal(s) of textual structures inherent in the poetics of clarity are analysed. The chapter focuses specifically on prevalent ideals of textual structures expressed in authorial guidelines and manuals of style, and how they are embodied in research article examples from natural science, social science, and the humanities. Particularly one structure is prevalent, namely the IMRAD structure. Yet even though IMRAD is the dominant structural ideal, other structural ideals exist with different degrees of specificity and rigidity. Particularly the texts from philosophy and literary studies embody an open structure. However, beneath these disciplinary variations reside a set of widely disseminated general ideals of textual organisation, namely textual atomism and logical succession securing the construction and progression of one main argument. While the degrees of atomism and succession vary in the different texts, most texts embody some variation of these organisational principles. Meanwhile, some literary studies texts appear to transgress the general structural ideals inherent in the poetics of clarity.
