Scientific reports

This resource will help you:

• Understand the purpose of an introduction in scientific report writing. 
• Identify the main parts and structure of an introduction in a scientific journal article. 
• Plan an introduction based on this structure. 
• Design and write an introduction confidently.

The introduction is where we first introduce the reader to our study topic, so it is important to set the scene so that our reader has all the information needed to understand the rest of the report. We want to summarise key background information on current knowledge related to the study and identify how the study will help to extend or expand upon it (Kumar, 2023; Sauaia et al., 2014). The introduction should therefore answer the following three questions:  

1. What do we know about this topic? This is your background information. 
2. What do we not know about this topic? This is your knowledge gap. 
3. How does your study aim to fill this knowledge gap? This is your research question, hypothesis, or purpose statement. 

To answer these three questions, we need to start broad and gradually narrow our focus. This is called the “funnel effect” (Baron, 2019) as shown in Figure 1 below:  

Figure 1. Funnel structure of an introduction. Note the transition from a broad to narrow focus as you move through the introduction. Figure adapted from Baron, R (2019, May 16). 3 fundamental principles of writing an effective introduction to your journal article. asiaedit.

Step-by-step guide to writing an introduction 

While following the below steps, ensure you always keep this question in mind: What does the reader need to know to understand my experiment? 

Step 1:

• Make a list of keywords related to your experiment, research question, or assignment topic. 

Step 2:

• Use these keywords to do some background research on the topic by creating a search strategy as suggested in the 'Research skills tutorial' (please see 'Additional resources' below for this link).
• Good starting points are recent meta-analyses or systematic reviews to get a broad overview of the topic and help you find more sources

Step 3:

• Compile a list of some relevant sources and start to look through them.
• When reading, skim the title and abstract first to check for relevance before committing to reading the other sections.
• Keep an eye out for information that relates to the main parts of the introduction: what we know, what we do not know, and how your study helps to fill this gap.
• For effective reading and notetaking strategies, have a look at the 'Reading and notetaking' library guide (please see 'Additional resources' below for this link).

Step 4:

• Synthesise and organise your research notes according to the five funnel segments presented in Figure 1. 

Step 5:

• Attempt a first draft of your introduction. 

Step 6:

• Edit and refine your draft introduction.
• Remember you can come back and make further edits after you draft other sections as well.  
• For assistance in developing effective editing techniques, have a look at the 'Editing your writing' library guide (please see 'Additional resources' below for this link).

Sentence starters

When drafting your introduction, consider using some of the key phrases shown in Table 1 to signpost to your reader (and your marker!) what we know, what we do not know, and how your study helps to fill this gap.

This video (9:57 min) from the Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU Science Writing; 2021) provides an overview of the introduction in the IMRaD format, including information on what a hypothesis is and some examples.