How to write an

Introduction

Naveed ur Rehman

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 How to write an Introduction
Things you should know:
• Editors:
• Last paragraphs (Thesis)
• Screening stage rejection
• Reviewers:
• Full attention
• Rejection chances!

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 How to write an Introduction
Things you should know:
• No words limitation
• Not freely available
• Suggestion: Write after finishing
Method and Results sections but
before Conclusion

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 How to write an Introduction
Things you should know:
• Feel free to use jargon
• Use standard acronyms or introduce
your own but define them first
Example: Photovoltaic (PV)… PV… PV
• Definitions, concepts,
important info

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 How to write an Introduction
Things you should know:
• Presenting topic to reader
• Hardest to write / lost in thoughts

Follow the structure!

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 How to write an Introduction
STRUCTURE
Part-1: General introduction
Part-2: Literature review
Part-3: Thesis statement
Part-4: Outline (Optional)

Telling a story!

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 How to write an Introduction
Example:

Fabricate and test a car

that runs on water
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 How to write an Introduction
Part-1: General introduction
• 1-2 paragraphs
• Introduce field and its applications
(Pick words from title!)

Example: Car and its applications

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-2: Literature review
WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS WORK?
#1: It is important: Significance
#2: No one has done it: Originality

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-2: Literature review
WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS WORK?
#1: It is important: Significance
• Impact on “group”
• Impact on “science”
Example:
• Water as car’s energy -> Impact on society
• Car’s engine science

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-2: Literature review
WHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS WORK?
#2: No one has done it: Originality
• Problem->Solution->limitations
Keep thinking about your work!
Example:
• Water cars exist on paper
• Design -> Maths solution;
• Test -> Fail/lab scale

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-2: Literature review
CITE, CITE and CITE!
• Other articles (More journals than
conferences)
• Review articles (Latest!)
• Cite your own work (Published!)

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-2: Literature review
CITE, CITE and CITE!
• No Wikipedia, blogs, forums etc.
• Standard websites (note that date when
visited)
• Do lumping but quality matters!
Water cars are cool [1-20]

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-2: Literature review
CITE, CITE and CITE!
• DO NOT COPY PASTE WORDS FROM
ARTICLES
• Beware of Speculations!
Water cars are lighter in weight
compared to petrol cars.

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-3: Thesis statement
• 1-2 paragraphs
• Two parts / sentences:

#1: “Stress” that your work is needed

#2: “Briefing” about your work

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-3: Thesis statement
#1: “Stress” that your work is needed
• Limited previous studies
• Unexplored research area
• Lack of solution
• Need for a better method or understanding
Example: No one fabricated or tested

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-3: Thesis statement
#2: “Briefing” about your work
• Therefore, the main purpose…
• This study is set out to explore the…
Example: Fabrication and testing of water
car is done in this paper.

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 How to write an Introduction
Part-4: Outline (Optional)
• Outline of ARTICLE and not the
outline/structure of your RESEARCH
• Be very, very brief about sections
Example: Section 2 of this paper
develops the methodology, Section 3
elaborates on the validation and
discusses the results, and conclusions
are drawn in Section 4.

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 How to write an Introduction
Things you should do now!
• Solve the Quiz given in the description of this
video.
• Search 3 articles in your field that are
published in good journals and highlight the
parts 

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