Purpose of introduction

[Ross C]

I often feel that introduction of papers are stating the obvious and not very important to read. As a result, mine are a bit aimless, too. If one were to delete the introduction from a good report, what would be lost?

[Simon]

You are right: most research papers have rather vacuous introductions such as “The popularity of speech synthesis has been rising in recent years.” or other waffle. Do not do that in coursework – there are no marks for this!

So, how to do better? Don’t simply omit the Introduction. Use it to say something meaningful about what is coming up in your report. Have you got a particular approach to the assignment? Did you find an original angle? What are your concrete goals (and don’t just restate the instructions, but give your interpretation). Are there questions you want answers to?

Use an introduction to set up some expectations in the mind of the reader, then make absolutely sure to deliver them later in the paper. Pose questions in the Introduction but don’t give answers. Motivate the reader to want to read on, to find out the answer. Use the Conclusion to remind the reader what was promised and how you have delivered it, leaving them feeling satisfied.

See also this post.

[Author]

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