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Writing and Publishing Scientific Articles
Purpose and General Structure of the Introduction The Introduction sets the stage for your article. After reading your Introduction, readers should understand what led to your study, what specific hypothesis you investigated, and what general experimental approach you used to investigate your hypothesis. The Introduction should also explain why your study is exciting and important. Information in the Introduction should be organized like a funnel, narrowing “step by step from a starting point to a question,” according to Mimi Zeiger, author of Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers (McGraw Hill, Inc., 1991).
1 Known (background) 2 Unknown (gap in knowledge your study will fill)
3 Hypothesis or purpose statement 4 Strategy for testing the hypothesis
In other words, concepts in the Introduction should be presented in order from general to specific, from known to unknown—from established principles to the unanswered question that your research was designed to answer. As you plan your Introduction, you may find it useful to sketch out your ideas in a reverse funnel: first think of your hypothesis or purpose, and then retrace the reasoning and facts that led you to it.
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