Characteristic of Introductions
Introduction is an important part in an academic paper. It provides readers with the background of the research and tells readers why the research is significant. When preparing an academic paper, it is important to pay enough attention in this part.
Generally, four moves should be included in an introduction. First of all, we should establish the field. It usually begins with the sentences such as “There is presently great scientific and commercial interest in …”, “In recent years, … has received considerable attention”, “Nowadays, … is more and more important” and so on. These sentences indicate the readers that some work will be done in this field.
Secondly, some previous research that is relevant to this field should be introduced. This can be started with sentences such as “Numerous studies on … have been conducted”. Then, some citations should be included and brief introductions of these studies should be provided. Some sentences such “The first observation of … was made by …”, “… first reported that …”, “Recently, … has proposed …” will be useful here. It is advisable to do a well-rounded summary of the most related and important work in this part. Otherwise, the reviewers will think that the authors have not done a sufficient investigation of this filed.
Thirdly, we should define a research problem. Some typical words such as “However, it remains still unclear whether…”, “Unfortunately, these studies failed to …” can usually be found in this part. Remember not to excessively evaluate the previous work by using the sentences such “The deficiency of Wang’s approach is …..”, “The problem of these papers…”.
Finally, a solution of this problem should be proposed in the end of introduction.
A most typical words used in this step is “This paper… ”. A brief introduction of the method used in the paper should be included. If the result of this research is very important, an emphasis of the result can also be added in this part.
Introductions for overview papers have some differences. They often lay more emphasis on the background and the significance of the research. Usually, the structure of the paper will be presented at the end of the introduction.