The Introduction Section of Research Papers
Thinking about your introduction is often times a good way to get started with writing your research article. Drafting your Introduction section forces you to formulate the key points in the paper, such as the topic, problem, purpose, research questions and/or hypothesis, etc. As such, it gives you a better idea of the possible scope and angle of your paper. In this chapter, we give a short overview of the Introduction section. When analyzing the Introduction, we will be following the principles of rhetorical analysis introduced in the previous chapter.
What does the introduction section do?
The main of function of the Introduction section is to attract readers’ attention and to give them an idea of what your research is about. Introduction section helps you to frame your research, giving your audience information about the topic, theoretical background, and the scope of your paper.
Introduction section as a part of the Research Article structure
The IMRaD model of Research Articles is often portrayed as an hourglass (see Figure 1), i.e. it depicts the Introduction section as starting out broad and ending narrow. This reflects the breadth of focus in the Introduction section. In the Anglo-American tradition, introductions start out by positioning the present research in a global context, informing the reader about the topic and its centrality, and its importance to a specific discipline or the society. In course of the Introduction section, the focus gets narrower as the reader is introduced a specific angle of the study, the aim of the paper, and research questions and/or hypotheses.
Rhetorical moves in the introduction section
Introduction sections of research articles written in English often follow the so-called Creating a Research Space (CARS) Model and include the following moves and steps (Swales, 1990).
The Rhetorical Moves in Introductions (Swales, 1990; Swales, 2014; Cortes, 2013)
Move 1 – Establishing a territory
Step 1 – Claiming centrality
AND/OR
Step 2 – Making topic generalizations
AND/OR
Step 3 – Reviewing items of previous research
Move 2 – Establishing a niche
Step 1A – Counterclaiming
OR
Step 1B – Indicating a gap
OR
Step 1C – Question-raising
OR
Step 1D – Continuing a tradition
Move 3 – Occupying the niche
Step 1A – Outlining purposes
OR
Step 1B – Announcing present research
Step 2 – Announcing principal findings
Step 3 – Indicating RA structure
Presenting research questions or hypotheses
Definitional clarifications
Summarizing methods
Stating the value of the present research
