The Introduction

In my opinion, the Introduction is the second most important bit of writing you will do in a paper. (The most important is the abstract.) It is where you convince people that your paper is worth reading now. It is not where you convince people that your paper is worth remembering and citing later – That comes from the body of the paper. – And you remind them of that in the conclusion. – But you want enough about the conclusions in the introduction to keep them interested. Thus, the conclusions need to highlight the important results.

When should you write your introduction Many say to write it last: – You know your questions and answers – You know what you have to contribute – You know how you found your answers – You know why what you do is important Some say write it first – It makes you think why what you are doing is important – It helps give an order to the rest of the paper I say, outline the introduction first, but plan on writing it several times – Anytime you make a revision of the paper you should return to the introduction, and make it fit the paper.

Necessary components of the Introduction Good, interesting beginning General description of the topic Motivation – Why the topic helps or hurts someone Why the topic helps or hurts someone – Why the topic is puzzling – Why the topic is controversial Why the topic is controversial – Why the topic is often observed Why the topic is often observed Clear statement of the research question – Make it obvious – Get to it early (in this example it is in the second paragraph).it early

Necessary components of the Introduction (continued) Related literature/topics – What others have done, and how it relates to your work – How your work contributes to the body of knowledge – This may be a full literature review, or may be just an introduction to the topic, with the literature review in a separate sectionfull literature reviewintroduction to the topic Contributions of the work – Be clear what is the important finding(s) Be clear what is the important finding(s) – Can be question, conclusion, model, approach

Necessary components of the Introduction (continued) Explain the approach Some people like to provide a “road map”road map – This is optional, but most papers have it.

Some hints about Introductions Accurately portray your findings – Don’t make them out to be stronger than they are – Compare to relevant literature Never say “no one has looked at this before”. If you can’t place your work in the literature, the editor will think it is not important. Don’t say “this is interesting” or “this is important” (it is insulting and should be obvious, although I will contradict this advice later). Don’t get too specific about methods or data – don’t discuss variables, for example.

Some hints about Introductions (continued) The introduction should totally motivate your paper. – Thus, every result or intuition contributes to this motivation. – Implies that every paper should have only one main purpose. Avoid phrases like “research has found” or “studies have shown”. Just be direct. Remain focused. Rewrite the introduction many times. LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME OF YOUR EXAMPLES.

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