Page 264 - English for Writing Research Papers

250

14.1 What’s the buzz?

1) Read this extract from an editor’s letter to an author whose Introduction was
considered by the editor as ‘unsatisfactory’.
The Introduction of your paper is not just a historical summary. It is a constant comparison
between what OTHERS have done and what YOU did or are proposing to do.

Present the novelty of your approach and results in the context of what has already been done.

Citing key papers without stating how specifically you build on them is insuffi cient.
Describe, with at least one sentence, (i) what others have done, as far as relevant for the direc-
tion of your paper, and (ii) how your contribution is original and distinguishes itself from pre-
vious work.

2) Now answer the questions.
• Compared to the other sections in a paper, how difficult is it to write the

Introduction? Why?
• How important is the Introduction? What should it include?

• How do you decide which papers to cite and which to omit?
************

The Introduction presents the background knowledge that readers need so that they
can appreciate how the fi ndings of the paper are an advance on current knowledge
in the field. A key skill is to be able to say the same things that have been said many

times before but in a different, interesting, intriguing way.

This chapter tells you how to write the Introduction, excluding the Review of the
Literature which is covered in the next chapter.

• First, you need to have a thorough knowledge about everything that has been
previously written on the topic and decide what is important for the reader to
know.

• Then, you have to give the reader the tools for understanding the meaning and
motivation of your experiments.

• Finally, tell your readers how you plan to develop your topic. Give them a

roadmap to follow - show them what your line of argument is.