Is copying paragraph structure plagarism? While helping a friend with a research assignment (basically find some studies on a topic, compare them, and then evaluate the work as a whole), I noticed that the professor had provided a sample paper.

They had one paragraph for every study, and they were all in the same exact format. For example:


  [Authors] conducted a [type of study] to investigate [phenomena]. The
  study was conducted at [institution] and involved [N] [types of
  people]. The strengths of this study were [...] etc.


Is it plagiarism to copy this exact format? Or is the structure of paragraphs not something to worry about?
It's not "plagiarism" because you are copying a standard format. That is known as scenes a faire in fiction, but can apply to Academia. This is not only allowed, but encouraged, because you are conforming to a "formula."

You should be worried if you were copying an unusual or original format. That's not the case here.