Page 270 - English for Writing Research Papers

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14.6 My research area is not a ‘hard’ science. Are there
any other ways of beginning an Introduction?
Clearly, not all disciplines would use the structure outlined in the previous subsec-
tion, though they would still cover some of the same main points. An alternative,
and quite common approach, is to set the context and research goal in a series of
questions.

Here is an example from a dissertation entitled The Effects of Feedback and
Attribution Style on Task Persistence by psychology student Chris Rozek.
Persistence means the ability to adhere to a task, to persevere with something
rather than giving up.

Persistence is an attribute valued by many. What makes some people persist longer than
others? Are internal factors, such as personality traits, or external situational factors, such
as feedback, responsible for persistence? Could the answer include a combination of both?
These are the questions this experiment attempted to answer.

The general topic is mentioned in the very first word ( persistence ) of a very short
sentence (seven words). This enables the reader to immediately focus on and
understand the context (corresponding to Point 2 in the structure of an Introduction
given in Sect. 14.5 ). Within this context, the second sentence, in the form of a
question, outlines the issue that Chris plans to address in his paper (Point 3). His
next sentence poses the typical attributes associated with persistence (similarly to
Point 5). The question Could the answer include a combination of both? hints at

what the likely findings of his paper are (Point 7). The final sentence highlights
that Chris will cover all the aspects he has mentioned so far. His Introduction then
continues with a literature review (Point 6) and concludes with his fi nal hypothe-
sis (similarly to Point 9).

Chris has neatly covered a lot of points typically mentioned in an Introduction. He
has achieved this in very few sentences and with a format (questions) that immedi-
ately involves the reader by encouraging them to formulate their own answers and
thus to continue reading.