The main difference between an argumentative research paper and an IMRaD report is the format and presentation of information. The format of an IMRaD is very structured, while a argumentative based paper has a loose format that is left for the author to decide how it is structured. Also, in an argumentative paper the data is mostly just described in the text, rather than presented with various visuals.

With an argumentative essay, the format usually is something along the lines of having a paragraph designated for each major point that is being discussed. The author might include a point, and counterpoint for each paragraph. They could also have a cause and effect relationship and allocate a paragraph for each. The format of the IMRaD report is much more rigid. It consists of an abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion, each component covering a specific purpose. Finding information in an IMRaD report is easy because you know where to look for any type of information you need.

The presentation of information is also very different for each genre of writing. An argumentative paper discusses the topic quantitatively, mostly describing the the information that was researched. An IMRaD report discusses the data both quantitatively and qualitatively by using things such as visuals, graphs, charts etc. It also discusses how the information was obtained, rather than just presenting the final results and what they mean.