After jotting the title and the abstract of the paper, the next thing that your readers will have a look at is your introduction. It is, therefore, imperative to have a firm and robust beginning. It is the only chance you have of convincing people to continue reading through your paper. The introduction has a lot of purposes it serves. It provides the reader with the background of your research. It also introduces your items and the topic and provides an overview of the study. A good intro will encourage readers to continue reading your paper. Here are some of the tips to write an efficient introduction.
- Begin on a broad perspective and narrow it down
- Provide the aims and the vitality
- Have a thorough citation but avoid overdoing it
- Quit providing many citations for a single point
- State the research question or hypothesis clearly
- Keep it short
- Be sure to show and avoid telling
- Do not provide too much detail
- Check the requirements of your journal
- Last remarks
In the initial paragraph, provide a brief description of the research area and pinpoint your focus on the particular points. It will go along to ensure that your topic falls into the broader scope and hence will make your work get accessed by a large audience.
State what you wish to achieve and what your reader should base their interest in while finding out whether you have nailed it or missed it.
After narrowing down your focus to the particular topic you have, cover the latest and relevant literature in line with your research. The review of the literature should get completed but not lengthy. It would be best if you understood that you are not jotting a review. If you realize that you have stuffed your intro with many citations, review them instead of writing all of them.
Providing a lot of citations for a point might make the intro look vague and overly done. Your professor might also question your understanding of the concept if all you do is refer to other people’s work hence losing the originality.
When researching the sciences, you can help frame your research by framing your research. For exploratory studies and formal sciences, you could state a research question. You don’t necessarily need to say a research question is an interrogative form. You can instead twist the problem in a declarative way.
Avoid jotting lengthy introductions. The best target is between 500 to 1000 words. To get the most transparent guidance, consider checking the guidelines of the journal.
The main goal of your introduction is to tell the reader why the research is worth reading. Instead of loosely saying the topic or subject is important, show the audience why it is vital.
If you are writing a paper in a field that mostly sums up the study’s main results before telling the methods, you should keep off from stating too many detailed results. The products should get developed in the body of the paper so that the reader fully understands.
Several journals have requirements that get specific for the intro in the guidelines for the writers. For instance, you might get given a maximum word count for the project you get given.
When you start jotting your project, plan for the intro first. It will guide you through the rest of the paper. You will get to provide details about your background, the aims, the research question, or the hypothesis. The introduction is an integral part of the paper as it sets the scene for all that follows through. Several authors must jot the methods, discussion, and results in completion before coming back to the article to write the introduction.
