This question stems from the context of working with international researchers, each of whom have their own view on the depth and breadth needed. All comments gratefully received.
Hello Jessica Lichy,
Generally speaking, the introduction is the first encounter of the prospective readers with academic papers ,and as a result, the authors' main purpose is to attract the attention of the readers by writing an influential introduction. To be effective, however, introductions do not have to be long; rather, a concise, interesting, and carefully written introduction may hold the readers' interest much better than a lengthy one. As such, an effective introduction first priority should be highlighting the thesis statement providing the readers with sign posts guiding them to follow the evidential bases laid out for proving the targeted research topic.As you have rightly observed, researchers do not agree on a fixed standard concerning the depth of their introduction; however, they all follow the same principles you have mentioned in your comments.What is certain, introductions have utility and researchers' differential treatment of writing them does not change the generic principles of rhetorics in presenting a topic to an expectant audience.
Best regards,
R. Biria
My understanding is based on the work of Martyn Shuttleworth:
- It works upon the principle of introducing the topic of the paper and setting it into a broad context, gradually narrowing down to a research problem, thesis and hypothesis. A good introduction explains how you mean to solve the research problem, and creates ‘leads’ to make the reader want to delve further into your work.
I'd like to hear differences of opinion.
Hello Jessica Lichy,
Generally speaking, the introduction is the first encounter of the prospective readers with academic papers ,and as a result, the authors' main purpose is to attract the attention of the readers by writing an influential introduction. To be effective, however, introductions do not have to be long; rather, a concise, interesting, and carefully written introduction may hold the readers' interest much better than a lengthy one. As such, an effective introduction first priority should be highlighting the thesis statement providing the readers with sign posts guiding them to follow the evidential bases laid out for proving the targeted research topic.As you have rightly observed, researchers do not agree on a fixed standard concerning the depth of their introduction; however, they all follow the same principles you have mentioned in your comments.What is certain, introductions have utility and researchers' differential treatment of writing them does not change the generic principles of rhetorics in presenting a topic to an expectant audience.
Best regards,
R. Biria
Enough detail to serve as a "road map" to the project so that readers will understand its overarching logic and how the components of the plan fit together. I find that providing more detail than this is revealing too much up front; instead, additional detail should naturally unfold in each plan component.
It must be brief and having the clue to the depth of the following papers.
And what about the level of detail for the overarching plan of research?
When writing an introduction, how much depth of detail do you ascribe to describing the plan?
Think there is no hard & fast rule on writing up an introduction section because different researchers / scholars / authors have different ideas how they want to depict their introduction section. Some introduction section includes bird eye view of the research, research background, research problem / problem statement, research objectives, research questions, definition of terms, summary of each chapters etc. Key criteria of introduction section is it is attractive, capable to introduce the research to readers & entice them continue to read up the entire thesis / article.
Suggesting just casually write the introduction section during initial research by emulating your previous experience or other researchers' write up, then revisit / enhance the introduction section again when the author had completed the entire thesis / article. Since introduction section is the 1st section of a thesis / article, there is higher tendency for the author to re-read this section numerous times & perfecting it before progressing to other chapters / sections of the write up.
Personally, I consider the introductory part of our papers as the most sensitive section that must be carefully written to aid readers to know the caveats of the entire research. It should be a strong motivating teaser for researchers, even scammer-researchers to fall in love and read the paper till the very last page. The writeup of the introductory section is often compared to a funnel that often starts with a broader context and skilfully narrowed to the main specifics, the exact inquiry of the research.
A good introduction of a paper must aim at:
1. Helping readers to understand the paper
2.Appreciate the importance of the research
3. Identify the question(s) addressed by the research.
The order I usually follow is:
1. Start from the broad context to give the whole section a background information of the research
2. Review related literature to justify the essence of the research and ground it theoretically
3. Introduce the academic gaps or vacuum in the knowledge that has been caerfully filled or addressed by the research
4. Discuss why the academic gaps in the field of research are important to be filled and the immese benefits institutions, individuals and societies would get from the research
5. State the exact research questions or hypothesis that underpins the research.
Best regards
Dickson Adom
In the introduction, you are attempting to inform the reader about the rationale behind the work, justifying why your work is an essential component of research in the field.
These links may help you
https://explorable.com/how-to-write-an-introduction
https://edusson.com/blog/research-paper-introduction-example
http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/introduction
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/15276/how-to-write-a-strong-introduction-into-a-research-paper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPkwnf_PheM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dkRsTqdDA
http://libguides.astate.edu/c.php?g=14501&p=78098
https://www.usu.edu/markdamen/WritingGuide/24intro.htm
INtroductions are an invitation to read and need to be compelling, presenting your main point as early as possible, so that readers can decide whether to continue reading or not. Introductions work as a half-open door into your study: you want readers to peek into what's inside without opening the door completely to reveal it all. In other words, you do not want to state all your points in the introduction, otherwise readers will not need to read your paper. I usually achieve this by stating my main point and a couple of the most interesting ideas, but suggesting nuances that will be developed in the rest of the paper.
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