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| Illinois Junior Science
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| Your Introduction should not be a lengthy discussion of everything known on a broad topic, but rather a focused discussion of background information that is relevant for your reader to understand your specific project. For example, if your project concerns the use of corn pith as insulation, it is not necessary to tell everything that is known about the topic of corn for your reader to understand your project. Your paper is not a library report nor an attempt to sell your idea. It is a reporting of your research and should review the science and relevant information that 'sets the stage' for your project, including citations of other relevant research. It should show that you have looked at what others have done in the area, and that would include more than information on the topic of corn. It would also include relevant information about insulation since you are studying corn's insulation properties. How is what you are doing different from what has already been done and how are you adding to the knowledge that is already known? We have received some papers where the writer failed to include any citations of others' work, and we have received some papers that we considered to border on plagiarism of others' work. Neither is acceptable.
The heart of your research paper is not the Introduction. If the page length of your Introduction exceeds your combined pages of Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusions, your Introduction is too lengthy. |
| Your rationale for study cannot be simply to increase your knowledge on the topic. Let's look at Raleigh's first page of her Introduction to see how she 'sets the stage' for her reader. In the first paragraph she tells not only what the purpose of her study was, but she also cites a study that led to the idea for her project. In the second paragraph she tells some background information on commonly held beliefs about fingerprints and she again cites studies. In the third paragraph she tells her rationale for her study. In other words, she tells why she chose to study this topic. In the rest of her Introduction she goes on to tell relevant information about modern fingerprinting procedures and factors affecting latent fingerprints. |
| Include a clearly stated hypothesis or problem statement for your study in the Introduction. This should draw all discussion together and state the hypothesis for your study or the problem statement for your study. |
| Near the end of your Introduction, summarize and make transition to your Materials and Methods section, ending your Introduction by telling the reader why you wanted to study this. Then you will be ready to tell how you did it. Look at Raleigh's transition: "This is an area that requires further research. A controlled study that investigates the difference in the disappearance rate of the prints of children vs. adults is needed. The results would have implications for law enforcement personnel and forensic scientists." |
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Comments: IJSHS Director SIUC / College of Science / IJSHS / indexURL: http://www.science.siu.edu/ijshs/index.html Copyright © 2005, Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University |