Chapter Two: Learn Rhetorical Conventions
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Your scientific argument starts from the Introduction section—a section that is meant to captivate your readers and sustain their attention as you argue for the value of your work. Here, we propose a four-step process that can help you succeed in establishing this argument. More specifically, you will learn skills for how to read and analyze published empirical research articles within your field of study to better understand the writing conventions of your discipline. Furthermore, you will learn how to integrate those writing conventions into your Introduction section. In what follows, we discuss the purpose of the Introduction sections, their typical format, and the writing techniques that can help you achieve your argumentative intent. But first, let’s think about what you currently know about the Introduction sections so that we can build upon that knowledge.
The Purpose
An Introduction presents a scientific argument that showcases credible knowledge of the field, identifies an area that needs to be addressed by research, and indicates a research trajectory that will contribute new knowledge to society. An Introduction conveys new knowledge to the reader without the obligation of knowing previous research in the field. It should have a clear aim by providing basic information regarding the study/research of the paper (Armağan, 2013). Additionally, it is the first step to arouse and gain a reader´s attention to continue reading the article. There are a variety of research genres that begin in this manner, such as peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and theses/dissertations. These genres intend to persuade an expert audience and help them identify with the research value. In other words, scientific writers need to gain and maintain the attention of a target audience by demonstrating knowledge of the research topic and showing topic relevance. It is important to meet this aim by clarifying what concerns exist in the field as a way of grounding the scientific argument. Moreover, identifying what is unique, novel, or significant about the research and clarifying research specific aims and scope are common expectations of Introductions. Some disciplines will also expect that writers touch upon the most important findings or give a roadmap of the text.
It is best to make the Introductions brief. You need to hit the heart of your argument before you lose your reader in the fine details of the study. If your discipline has a separate literature review, you can substantiate your claims in that section. Be as clear as possible so even the non-specialist in your field can understand your Introduction!
The Format
Although understanding the purpose of Introductions is important, successful audience engagement relies also on the extent to which a text aligns with discipline-specific formatting conventions. In other words, texts vary in the way they are organized. An Introduction of a scientific argument takes a formatting approach that is analogous to a funnel. As you can see, the top of the funnel is wide and then narrows. This is because a typical Introduction section progresses from either general to specific or abstract to concrete. That is, an Introduction needs to move from general accounts of the scientific area to specific illustrations of the research topic, or from abstract to concrete specifications of what the research intends to address. To realize the formatting expectations of a discipline effectively, the Introduction needs to draw from a body of recent and/or relevant existing research/theory to start an argument (Goal 1), identify an area in that research/theory that needs to be addressed (Goal 2), and segues into details of the current study (Goal 3). The following sections describe these Goals and how to realize these goals using key Strategies and Language Use.
