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Writing An Introduction The Introduction Answers The Questions

The introduction should begin generally by grabbing the reader's interest and explaining the importance of the research question. It then provides background context on previous related work to allow the reader to understand the scope and significance of the study. The introduction concludes by specifically stating the research goal and how the current study contributes to addressing the problem.

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71 views

Writing An Introduction The Introduction Answers The Questions

The introduction should begin generally by grabbing the reader's interest and explaining the importance of the research question. It then provides background context on previous related work to allow the reader to understand the scope and significance of the study. The introduction concludes by specifically stating the research goal and how the current study contributes to addressing the problem.

Uploaded by

JOsh Lopez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Writing an introduction

The introduction answers the questions:

• What am I studying?
• Why is it an important question? Why should the reader read on?
• What do we know already about it?
• What basis do I need to provide (such that the reader can
understand my study)?
Introduction as an inverted triangle: moving from very general to very specific:

General: including a “hook” to grab your readers

Background
Context
Previous research
Key references

Specific: what is it you are contributing to the problem


The introduction

• includes a statement of the goal of the study: why it was undertaken


• sets the context for your proposed project and must capture the reader's interest
• explains the background of your study starting from a broad picture narrowing in on your
research question
• give sufficient background information to allow the reader to understand the context and
significance of the question you are trying to address
• reviews what is known about your research topic as far as it is relevant to your thesis
• cites relevant references
• all cited work should be directly relevant to the goals of the thesis
• give enough references such that a reader could, by going to the library or on-line, achieve a
sophisticated understanding of the context and significance of the question
• try to cite those who had the idea or ideas first, but also cite those who have done the most
recent and relevant work.
• this is not a place to summarize everything you have ever read on a subject
• explain the scope of your work, what will and will not be included (if you are answering only
part of the question you are posing)
• should be at a level that makes it easy to understand for readers with a general science
background, for example your classmates (or your class advisor)
Some writing tips

• For long introductions give the reader already an indication earlier of what question you'll
be addressing.
• Be sure to include a hook at the beginning of the introduction. This is a statement of
something sufficiently interesting to motivate your reader to read the rest of the paper, it is
an important/interesting scientific problem that your paper either solves or addresses. You
should draw the reader in and make them want to read the rest of the paper.
• It can be useful to sketch out the introduction backwards, start with the specific focus of
your study and work upward to the broader context. It is hard to write a good introduction
until you know what the body of the paper says. Consider making a concept map, it will help
to identify the elements you need in the introduction.

• You can break up the introduction section into logical segments by using subheads.
Writing an Introduction: class exercise

Introduction to a published paper from the scientific


literature

14 sentences have been scrambled into random order.

Break up into small groups of 2-3

Try to unscramble and put the sentences back in proper


order, moving from general to specific and from overall
background to statement about this particular paper

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