INTRODUCTION

The introduction should state your problem clearly, give the background of your work, and state your approach. The introduction should answer these questions: What is the objective of my study? Why have I chosen to do this study? What other studies have been done like mine and what results did other researchers get? What results do I expect to get? Are there problems or questions that exist that my research might solve or answer?

A good approach to organizing the introduction is to arrange it like an inverted triangle - the broadest part at the top representing the most general information and focusing down to the specific problem you studied. Here is the information should flow in your Introduction:

• Begin your Introduction by clearly identifying the subject area of interest. Do this by using key words from your title in the first few sentences to get it focused directly on topic at the appropriate level. This insures that you get to the primary subject matter quickly without losing focus, or discussing information that is too general.

• Establish the context by providing a brief review of the relevant published literature that is available on the subject. The key is to summarize what was known about the specific problem before you did your experiments or studies. This is accomplished with a general review of the primary research literature with citations but should not include very specific, lengthy explanations that you will probably discuss in greater detail later in the discussion. The judgment of what is general or specific is difficult at first, but with practice and reading of the scientific literature you will develop e firmer sense of your audience.

• Be sure to clearly state the purpose and /or hypothesis that you investigated. When you are first learning to write in this format it is okay, and actually preferable, to use a pat statement like, "The purpose of this study was to...." or "We investigated three possible mechanisms to explain the ... You should place the statement of purpose near the end of the introduction, often as the topic sentence of the final paragraph. It is not necessary (or even desirable) to use the words "hypothesis" or "null hypothesis", since these are usually implicit if you clearly state your purpose and expectations.

• Provide a clear statement of the rationale for your approach to the problem studied. For example: State briefly how you approached the problem (e.g., you studied oxidative respiration pathways in isolated mitochondria of cauliflower). This will usually follow your statement of purpose in the last paragraph of the Introduction. Why did you choose this kind of experiment or experimental design? What are the scientific merits of this particular model system? What advantages does it confer in answering the particular question(s) you are posing? Do not discuss here the actual techniques or protocols used in your study (this will be done in the Materials and Methods); your readers will be quite familiar with the usual techniques and approaches used in your field. If you are using a novel (new, revolutionary, never used before) technique or methodology, the merits of the new technique/method versus the previously used methods should be presented in the Introduction.