Akademické písanie

The introduction should accomplish several tasks:

• Grab the reader’s attention
• Identify the general topic and connect it to the specific aspect or problem addressed (the research question being answered)
• Present the subtopics to be covered and the outcome which will be explained in the conclusion

The introduction begins with a “hook”, some piece of information that attracts the reader’s interest. Information given next should quickly present the general topic of the paper and narrow to the specific issue or problem being addressed and its importance (the “so what?” factor). It ends with a thesis statement: a (usually complex) sentence which is based on the final research question that began the process.

The thesis statement tells the reader what thepaper will prove. Moreover, the writer should indicate the basic subtopics of the paper in the thesis statement or in the sentence(s) immediately afterward. (In a longer research paper, there may be an extended explanation of what the paper will cover.) For this reason it is difficult to write the introduction before the body of the paper is nearly completed.