论文写作.docx

论文写作.docx

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论文写作

WritingtheIntroduction

Warm-up

Considerthefollowingquestions:

Whatisthepurposeofintroduction?

Whatshouldbecoveredinintroduction?

WhatshouldIdoornotdowhenIwriteanintroduction?

Elaboration:

Purposeofintroduction

Anintroductionintroducestheresearchbyplacingitinatheoreticalcontext（bygivingbackground）,presentingtheresearchproblemandsayinghowandwhythisproblemwillbe"solved."Withoutthisimportantinformationthereadercannoteasilyunderstandthemoredetailedinformationabouttheresearchthatcomeslaterinthethesis.Italsoexplainswhytheresearchisbeingdone（rationale）whichiscrucialforthereadertounderstandthesignificanceofthestudy.

Afterreadinganintroduction,thereadershouldbeabletoanswermostofthesequestions:

1．Whatisthecontextofthisproblem?

Inwhatsituationorenvironmentcanthisproblembeobserved?

（Background）

2．Whyisthisresearchimportant?

Whowillbenefit?

Whydoweneedtoknowthis?

Whydoesthissituation,method,modelorpieceofequipmentneedtobeimproved?

（Rationale）

3．Whatisitwedon’tknow?

Whatisthegapinourknowledgethisresearchwillfill?

Whatneedstobeimproved?

（ProblemStatement）

4．Whatstepswilltheresearchertaketotryandfillthisgaporimprovethesituation?

（Objectives）

5．Isthereanyaspectoftheproblemtheresearcherwillnotdiscuss?

Isthestudylimitedtoaspecificgeographicalareaortoonlycertainaspectsofthesituation?

（Scope）

6．Isthereanyfactor,conditionorcircumstancethatpreventstheresearcherfromachievingallhis/herobjectives?

（Limitations）

7．Inconsideringhis/hermethod,model,formulationorapproach,doestheresearchertakecertainconditions,states,requirementsforgranted?

Aretherecertainfundamentalconditionsorstatestheresearchertakestobetrue?

（Assumptions）

Lookatthefollowingexample;seehowmanyquestionsaboveyoucananswerafterreadingit.

Example:

Itiswellknownthatwhenanobjectmovesthroughairorwateritexperiencesresistancetothatmotion.Thatresistanceiscausedbyfrictionbetweentheparticlesthatmakeupthefluid.Understandingthissocalleddragforceisessentialinordertopredictthemotionofobjectsthroughafluid.Forexample,knowledgeofthedragforceisneededtopredictthepowerrequiredtopropelacaratagivenspeed.Inthepresentstudy,theparametersthateffectdragforceexperiencedbyanobjectmovingthroughairwillbeexplored.

Commonproblemsinwritinganintroduction

1.Toomuchdetail,andhencetoolong.Remember,thisistheintroduction,akindofoverview.Althoughyouwillcoverimportantpoints,detaileddescriptionsofmethod,studysiteandresultswillbeinlatersections.Lookattheproportionofaresearchpaperanintroductiontakesup.Noticeitiscomparativelyshortbecauseitservesasasummaryofwhatfollows.

2.Repetitionofwords,phrasesorideas.Youwillhavekeywordsthatarecrucialtoyourstudy. However,yourreaderdoesn'twanttoreadthemoverandover!

Ahighlevelofrepetitionmakesyourwritinglookcareless.Toreduceit,highlightrepeatedwordsorphrases-thenyoucaneasilyjudgeifyouareoverusingthemandfindsynonymsorpronounstoreplacethem.

3.Unclearproblemdefinition.Withoutacleardefinitionofyourresearchproblem,yourreaderisleftwithnoclearideaofwhatyouwerestudying.Thismeansthattheycannotjudgeyourwork'srelevancetotheirownwork,oritsusefulness,quality,etc.Asanexercise,youshouldbeabletocompleteasentencethatstarts,"Thepurposeofthisstudyis..."thatencapsulatestheproblemyouareinvestigating. Ofcourseyouwillnotincludethisexactsentenceinyourthesis,butitservesasaneasywaytocheckthatyouhaveaclearlydefinedproblem.Inyourthesisyoushouldbeabletowriteyourresearchprobleminonesentence-youcanadddetailsinthesentencesthatfollow.Youshouldalsoensurethatyourresearchproblemmatchesthetitleofyourthesis（you'dbesurprisedhowmanydon't!

）aswellasitsmethodologyandobjectives.

4.Poororganization.Writinganintroductionthateffectivelyintroducesyourresearchproblemandencapsulatesyourstudyisnotaneasytask.Oftenwhenwewritewediscovergraduallywhatwewanttosayandhowwewanttosayit.Writingisoftenaprocessofdiscovery.Bearthisinmindwhenyouwriteyourintroduction,andbepreparedtogobackandmakebigchangestowhatyouhavewritten,andtheorderinwhichyouhavepresentedyourideasandinformation.Yourintroductionmusthavealogicalsequencethatyourreadercanfolloweasily.Somesuggestionsforhowtoorganizeyourintroductionaregivenbelow（seethenextsectionandthemodifiedSwalesschema）.

Howresearchpaperintroductionsareorganized

Thefollowingschemaisapatternthatoccursinamajorityofresearchpapers.Itisnotasetofrulesforhowyoumustwrite -rather,itisausefulguidelineforhowtothinkaboutstructuringyourinformation.

Step1Establishthefieldby:

Firstyouneedtoestablishtheareaofresearchinwhichyourworkbelongs,andtoprovideacontextfortheresearchproblem.Thishasthreemainelements:

A.Claimingcentrality（whythisfieldofstudyisimportant）:

Claimingthattheareaofresearchisanimportantone,andthereforeimplyingthattheresearchdoneisalsocrucial.Forexample:

 "Minimumsafelowtemperatures（abovefreezing）andhighhumiditycontrolarethemostimportanttoolsforextendingshelflifeinvegetables."Herethewords"themostimportanttools"indicatecentralitybyshowingthatthesetwofactorsarecrucial.

B.Movingfromgeneraltospecific:

Mostwritingstartswithgeneralinformationandthenmovestospecificinformation.Thisistrueofintroductionstoo.Forexample:

Inrecentyears,therehasbeenanincreasedawarenessofthepotentialimpactofpollutantssuchasheavymetals.Moreover,thetraditionalmethodsfortreatingaqueousstreamscontainingmetalcontaminantsareexpensiveandcanhaveinadequatefacilities

（1）.Thisisparticularlytrueindevelopingcountries.Thishasledtotheuseofalternativetechnologies.Theuseofbiologicalmaterialsisonesuchtechnologywhichhasreceivedconsiderableattention.

Explanationtotheaboveexample:

Thefirstsentence:

impactofheavymetals（general）.Thesecondsentence:

expenseandshortcomingsofmethodsofremovingheavymetals（lessgeneral）.

Thethirdsentence:

expenseandshortcomingsofmethodsofremovingheavymetalsindevelopingcountries（morespecific）.Thefourthsentence:

  alternativetechnologiestoovercomeexpenseandshortcomingsofmethodsofremovingheavymetals（yetmorespecific）.Thefifthsentence:

 biologicalmaterialsasanexampleofalternativetechnologiestoovercometheexpenseandshortcomingsofmethodsofremovingheavymetals（veryspecific）.Noticehoweachsentenceaddsapieceofinformation（showninitalics）tomovetheintroductionfromthegeneraltopicof"heavymetals"tothespecifictopicof"biologicalmaterialsasanalternativemethodofremovingheavymetals."

Donotbeginbybeingtoo general.IfyourworkisexaminingthedeliveryofcashtoATMmachines,donotstartbyahistoryofthebankingsysteminEuropesincetheMiddleAges-it'sprobablynotrelevantandwillmeanyouwilltakeaverylongtimetoreachthespecificareaofyourresearch.Thinkof"general"intermsofinformationwhichwillhelpyourreaderunderstandthecontextofyourresearchproblem（ratherthanyourwholefieldofstudy!

）.

C.Reviewingrelevantitemsofpreviousresearch:

Oftentheintroductionwillrefertoworkalreadydoneintheresearchareainordertoprovidebackground（andoftenalsotohelpdefinetheresearchproblem）.Forexample:

Numerousstudiesontheutilizationofplantproteinsasapartialorcompletereplacementforfishmealindietshavebeenconductedusingvariousfreshwaterandmarinesfishes（Lovell,1987;Taconetal.,1983;Muraietal.,1989a;Coweyetal.,1974）.（Takiietal.,1989）

Step2Definearesearchproblemby:

Yourresearchmustbenewinsomeway. Itmustaddknowledgetoyourfieldsoyouneedtoshowinwhatwayyourworkexploresanarea/issue/questionthathaspreviouslynotbeenexplored,ornotbeenexploredindetail,innotexploredinthewaythatyouaregoingtouse.Inotherwords,youneedtogivearationaleforyourwork（i.e.showthereasonsfordoingit）.Therearefourwaystodemonstratethatyouareaddingtotheknowledgeinyourfield:

A.indicatingagap:

Aresearchgapisanareawherenoorlittleresearchhasbeencarriedout.Thisisshownbyoutliningtheworkalreadydonetoshowwherethereisagapintheresearch（whichyouwillthenfillwithyourresearch）.Forexample:

Numerousstudiesontheutilizationofplantproteinsasapartialorcompletereplacementforfishmealindietshavebeenconductedusingvariousfreshwaterandmarinesfishes（Lovell,1987;Taconetal.,1983;Muraietal.,1989a;Coweyetal.,1974）.However,verylittleisknownaboutthefeasibilityofusingsoybeanmealasadietaryproteinsourceinpracticalfeedsforyellowtailSeriolaquinqueradiata.（Takiietal.,1989）

B.raisingaquestion:

Theresearchproblemisdefinedbyaskingaquestiontowhichtheanswerisunknown,andwhichyouwillexploreinyourresearch.Forexample:

Thequestionweaddresshereishowtechnologicalchangeoccurswhenitistheoverallsystemthatneedstobechanged.Inparticular,howcanwebeginandsustainatechnologicaltransitionawayfromhydrocarbonbasedtechnologies?

C.continuingapreviouslydevelopedlineofinquiry:

Buildingonworkalreadydone,buttakingitfurther（byusinganewsample,extendingtheareastudi