What Should Be Included in a Compelling Introduction for a Research Paper?

What Should Be Included in a Compelling Introduction for a Research Paper?

As mentioned, the introduction is the second thing that the audience will be reading after the title and abstract and therefore good introduction is key. This is the chance to convince readers and reviewers that your research topic is interesting and its presentation in your paper should be of their interest. 

First of all, the introduction for academic papers also bears several objectives. They include: Explaining the context of your study, stating the problem, providing an overview of the paper, and providing an overview of the paper and its main objectives. So, it is necessary to provide readers with clear examples of strengths and weaknesses of your technique, etc. A good introduction will help create a good image and make the audience interested in further reading the Methods, Results, and Discussion sections. 

The following tips mostly relate to full paper and letters which present original research intended for publication or you can always opt to buy dissertation introduction. Even though some tips will be relevant to papers in some disciplines more than others.

Begin with a wide-angle view then narrow it in

To start, you want to provide a general framework with regard to the research area and then progressively define it at the level of specificity of your work. That should add to the better understanding of the place of your chosen topic among the existing subject matter and make the results of the work comprehensible to those individuals who may not be directly connected to the topic at hand. However, students these also get their introduction done from the best dissertation writing service uk you can also take them into consideration for best results.

List the objectives

Most papers rejected for reasons that will read, ‘Lacks significance of the topic’ or ‘Lack of clear motivation’ omit this point (BAW, 2022). Describe what you want to accomplish and why your reader would want to know whether or not you succeed. Gruning and Kassekert define the basic structure of the communications objectives as “We want to accomplish X because it will help us attain Y”. 

Appropriate citations 

After a clear identification of the specific topic of engaging research paper one should ensure that adequate coverage of the latest literature relevant to the study is done. Therefore, you should be able to cover the literature in a way that will enable you complete your review without including information that will make the paper very long, but at the same time not as lengthy as a review article. But rather than referencing each individual item that is summarized in the review, one might opt to employ review articles if they discover that their introduction is long and heavily referenced.

Sensible amount of citations

Consider the following sentence: It says: ‘Many studies have found a significant association between X and Y [4-15].’ This is cluttering too many studies at one go. For example, while the list of citations [4-15] may give a reader a general idea about the subject, this sentence does not explain enough about the previous research done. If all these sources are relevant to be cited, then each of them should be further explained in detail. 

Clearly state hypothesis or research question

In empirical sciences, formulation of hypothesis is also a technique of defining the research since it involves seeking answers to research questions. For research in formal sciences or exploratory research, you could consider stating a research question instead: Here, the research question: “Is X related to Y?” Research questions do not necessarily need be in the form of a question; you can put it in this sentence form: “In this study we investigate the relationship between X and Y. It is true that research questions and hypotheses are effective since they give the paper focus and make it easier to navigate. 

Provide a brief description of the paper

An organizational overview is relatively conventional in some disciplines than in others. That is especially true for a field like technology, though it is less seen in a medical related context. In the last of the first part, give an outline of the subsequent sections if the nature of your paper supports such a feature across disciplines. 

Keep it short 

One should ensure that the introduction is not too lengthy, as will be seen from the following. . A good example is between 500 and 1000 words but it is recommended that the author learn the length from the specific journal that they intend to submit the article to. 

Check the journal requirements 

Individual requirements regulating the structure of the introduction may also be given in the guidelines for authors of the journals (Microsoft, 2021). For instance, there could be a specific number of words that one is allowed to use or there could be a set format that should be followed, such as coming up with a hypothesis statement, a summary of one’s main findings among others. 

Don’t add everything 

In the introduction, if your paper type is among the academic fields that prefer offering the study main results’ summary before presenting the methods, it is important to avoid giving detailed results because these results require certain development in the other sections to be well understood. 

Show, don’t tell 

The introduction’s job is to explain why the subject of study merits further investigation. One of the biggest mistakes is to start the presentation with the phrase “Subject X is crucial.” Instead of stating what is crucial, prove that the subject is crucial. For instance, instead of writing: ‘The development of new materials is crucial in the automobile industry’, the writer could complete it powerfully like this: ‘Developing new materials is vital in the automobile industry as it seeks to manufacture cars that are stronger and lighter thus enhancing safety and efficiency in fuel consumption.’

Concluding remarks  

One of the first things that need to be developed when starting writing a paper is an introduction. It is a useful tool to help you write your paper; the contents of the introduction part including the background on the study, objectives and hypothesis/ research question to be addressed can assist you in writing other parts of your paper. This is really one of the most important chapters and it is not unusual to write methods, results and discussion before coming back and polishing the introduction. 

References

Microsoft. (2021, August 10). How to write an introduction for a research paper. Microsoft 365. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-life-hacks/writing/how-to-write-an-introduction-for-a-research-paper

BAW (2022). How Academic Help Providers Save the Students’ Future? https://bestassignmentwriter.co.uk/blog/how-academic-help-providers-save-the-students-future/

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