What sections does an ILE paper usually include?

Before you draft anything, find your program's ILE template or rubric. Many programs publish required headings, and following them exactly makes grading easier for your reviewers. If you only have loose guidance, the outline below reflects a common pattern.

A typical structure

• Introduction: the public health problem, your setting, and the main point of the paper in a few paragraphs
• Background and significance: why the problem matters, supported by literature and data, and the population affected
• Organization and role: a brief description of the site and what you were responsible for
• Project description and methods: what you did, how, and with whom, in enough detail that a reader could follow your decisions
• Products and results: the deliverables you produced and what came of them
• Competency discussion: how your work demonstrated the required foundational and concentration competencies
• Reflection and lessons learned: what changed in your thinking and practice
• Conclusion and recommendations: implications for the organization, the field, or future work
• References and appendices: citations, work products, and any required forms

Where students lose points

The competency discussion is usually the hardest section. A common mistake is treating it as a separate checklist bolted onto the end. Stronger papers weave competencies through the methods and results, then use the competency section to show how they connected. The guide to the competency mapping section walks through that step in detail.

The other weak spot is background that runs too long. Keep it proportionate so most of your pages go to your own work and analysis.

Adjusting the outline

If your program organizes the paper around themes or project phases, follow that. Section order matters less than having a clear argument running through it. For building that argument, see how to write a strong ILE paper.