Writing introductions
WHAT YOU SHOULD INCLUDE IN AN INTRODUCTION
2. explaining the aims of the essay
6. giving a plan of how your essay will develop
WHAT YOU MAY DECIDE TO INCLUDE IN AN INTRODUCTION
1. relating the topic to your own experience and / or current events
3. stating your own opinion on the topic
4. explaining why the topic is important / interesting / relevant
7. giving your personal interpretation of the title
9. providing some background research on the topic
10. defining terms that are used in the essay title
WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT INCLUDE IN AN INTRODUCTION
5. providing a summary of your main points
8. giving reasons and examples to support your main idea
Other things you can or should try to do in an introduction:
- limitation of the scope of the essay, i.e. what you are NOT covering
- mention of differing viewpoints on the subject
- the seriousness of the problem, why attention has to be paid to it
- mentioning previous work on the subject (or lack of it)
Writing conclusions
WHAT YOU SHOULD INCLUDE IN A CONCLUSION
4. summarising your main points, but in a different way
9. re-stating your personal opinion or evaluation of the topic
WHAT YOU MAY DECIDE TO INCLUDE IN A CONCLUSION
3. repeating your main points
5. providing a solution to any issue or question raised at the beginning
7. suggesting further investigations into the topic / issue
8. reconciling two opposing points of view
WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT INCLUDE IN A CONCLUSION
1. presenting your main idea
2. providing some additional examples in support of your main points
6. present the opposite point of view to the one covered in your main points
Additional things that can go in a conclusion:
- a deduction made on the basis of what has been discussed
- comment about the future – a predication or projection on the basis of the main conclusion
- statement of dissatisfaction with gaps and limitation of the essay
Features of introductions and conclusions
The following two paragraphs are extracts from the same paper, entitled 'Innovation in Materials' by George F. Ray (from Forester, Tom ed. 1988 The Materials Revolution Oxford, Blackwell). Skim through the texts quickly in order to answer these points:
1 Which comes from the introduction and which from the conclusion?
2 What exactly does the writer do for the benefit of the reader in each paragraph?
3 Make a list of the words and phrases that helped you differentiate between the introduction and conclusion.
A : Conclusion
- starts with a quotation which the writer relates to the overall content of his article. (This is as good a way of starting a conclusion as it is at the beginning of the introduction).
- restates the purpose of the article
- indicates the limitations of his argument in relation to the future
- but hopes that his ideas will be of benefit for future work
In one of his many publications concerning the role of science, Freeman wrote: "Much scientific research is concerned with the exploration of the unknown. By definition we cannot know the outcome of such explorations and still less can we know its future impact on technology." This general statement can be applied with some force to materials. This brief survey is intended to show how science and technology have contributed to the supply of industrial and other materials in the past and that progress has been a continuing one. History does not necessarily repeat itself; nor do the examples given in this paper of scientific and technological achievements solving materials problems provide any guarantee for the future. They do, however, provide a basis for the hope that progress will go on and future advance continue to secure a link between the demand for and the supply of materials that industry and other sectors of the economy will require.
B : Introduction
- explains the structure of the paper and the content of the two parts
- gives further explanation of the ways in which the two parts are different
- states the reason for limiting the content area of the paper
This study is in two main parts. The first surveys the history of some thirty materials which are relatively new or were 'new' at the time of their introduction into general use. The dissemination of any innovation takes time; that of new materials often takes an unusually long time; hence this first part concerns materials that already have a history. The second, shorter, part deals with the present, that is, the progress of the area of materials. For both the past and the present the choice is very wide and therefore it was necessary to be selective.
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