How to Start a Research Paper: Tips To Help You Master Writing an Introduction

It appears that many students face one common obstacle when creating their academic essays. They don’t know how to write the introduction for research paper. They often lack technical knowledge and experience. It pushes many students towards hiring paper writers for college and getting the research paper done hassle-free.

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If you are considering this option as well, you should give yourself another chance. Yes, the pressure can be immense knowing how vital the introduction for a research paper is. It should convey the importance of your research, captivate readers’ attention, and persuade them of your expertise.

However, once you understand what is essential for an introduction to be good and get to write a couple of these sections yourself, you will become more confident. Here is everything you need to know to write introductions as a numerously-cited academic.

What is a Research Paper Introduction?

The intro is the first section of any essay not depending on its type or structure style. It is the part of a text that readers go through first. Its value is especially important in college research papers, as mentors and professors tend to read papers in detail to evaluate and grade them appropriately.

But what role does the introduction play in a research paper? The answer is relatively simple — it should give context to your paper. After reading it, people are expected to easily understand what the entire paper will be about, and more importantly, what was the reason for writing it. That is why there are numerous different notions and definitions a standard content of the introduction copy includes.

The introduction has to outline facts to help the writer establish authority. It needs to explain why the research is being done in the first place. Readers should understand what the analysis is about and assess its value. So, as soon as you choose a perfect option among the number of research paper topics ideas, it's essential to think about what a potential reader will get after reading your essay.

At the same time, the introduction has to be compelling, engaging, and attractive. Otherwise, the readers might just decide to skip it and never find out what it is that you’ve discovered. It should also convey your expectations when it comes to the research results. Stating hypotheses as early as in the introduction can further intrigue readers and ensure they stay until the end.

Writing an Introduction to a Research Papers

Starting an intro for your research can appear daunting when you don’t know where to begin or what to include. Therefore, the students need to obtain technical knowledge of writing an intro for research papers to help them feel more secure and confident.

Here are all the essential parts students should consider when creating their introduction:

• Stating a topic itself

The introduction should always contain a topic outline. This is not rocket science. Just share a sentence or two about the topic that interests you and then immediately point out some problems that you find interesting. The problems should be relevant to the topic, of course.

When you outline a topic and follow up with a problem, it captivates the readers and makes them find out more about it. The best way to do it is to start talking about your topic in general and slowly move towards specific things. The introduction should be professional jargon-free. Make sure you write pragmatically so that everyone can understand.

• Context and background

The introduction should also contain context that supports the topic and the research idea. To do it, students often cite literature sources. Citations from other research papers, books, and literature all count, as long as they support your claims and can be considered as evidence.

The trick is not to discuss it in depth but just provide an overview that enables the readers to understand the topic and its importance. The historical data can also be of great help here as it can give context to when and why the current problems emerged.

• The overview of the research plan

The introduction should also outline the research plan. How do you plan to carry out your analysis? What is the direction you are heading in? When writing an intro for a research paper, stick to general information regarding your plan. Don’t go in-depth about the methodology or any instruments or experiments you plan to use.

• Relevant prior analysis

If you find relevant prior research, you should cite them in the introduction too. You can use them as evidence to point out that there is still room for future research in the field. They can also support your claims and legitimize your hypothesis.

Make sure you know how to find sources for a research paper and choose only reliable ones to support your arguments. Besides, don’t forget to cite each of them properly. Unfortunately, citations and proper formatting are often too complex for students to grasp, especially with the deadline closing in. This is why they opt to use a cheap paper writing service.

• The importance of research

A research paper introduction should tell why your work is significant. It is crucial to outline the topic and point out some interesting problems related to it. However, it’s all for nothing if readers can’t see why it’s essential to see the research results.

To communicate the importance of research, feel free to share your thoughts about the issues you’ve mentioned and how your research can help address them. You can also note how the results of your research can be used to manage the same issues in the future or inspire other researchers to explore the topic furthermore.

• The main hypothesis

Finally, you can complete your intro by stating your main research hypothesis or central thesis. The thesis statement should collect your main ideas and present them in an easy-to-understand way. It should easily transition the readers to the next section of your research.

Research Paper Introduction Example

Some students find it very hard to relate to this type of paper specifications, rules, and standards. They find looking at an example of a paper introduction far more useful. Here is an example that we’ve created from scratch:

Did you know that there will be 19.78 million college students in the US by the end of 2021? At the same time, the college dropout rates are showing a year after year growth even though there is a National Dropout Prevention Center program designed to reduce it. The overall dropout rate for undergraduate college students in the US is 40%. As many as 30% of college freshmen drop out even before their sophomore year. This suggests that the National Dropout Prevention Center’s program is not working to reduce college dropout rates. My research aims to discover the common primary reasons for students to drop out of college as a way to identify the missing link between the dropout prevention program and dropout rate growth.

4 Tips on How to Write Good Introduction for Research Paper

To sum things up, we’ve prepared four actionable tips to help you become an expert at writing a research paper intro.

1. Do an extensive research

Before writing an engaging and yet concise introduction for an essay, you need to do extensive research. Analysing your topic will help you identify relevant literature, work out the problems, and find relevant academic articles to back up your claims.

2. Introduce the readers to the background of the topic

Start your research paper with a general sentence. The sentence should introduce readers to the background of the topic. In our example, we used a statistic that everyone can quickly check. It simply states the number of college students, but it introduces the background we can use in the following sentence.

3. Point out the issues related to your topic

Next, you need to mention the issues relevant to your topic. The issues should also be backed up with statistics, literature, or other research papers. The issues not only have to be relevant but worth analysing as well. You can use several sentences to outline the issues and create a good flow that leads right to your paper’s thesis.

4. Complete research paper introduction with your paper thesis

At the very end of your introduction, you should introduce your readers to the thesis of your paper. Sometimes it can be hard to summarize all your ideas in one sentence. You can extend it to two or three at the most, but make sure to stay concise while highlighting your paper’s issues and topic.

Conclusion

So far, we’ve covered the basics of how to start a research paper. There is only one more thing to keep in mind. The intro in this type of assignment should not be moderately long so that the readers can retain all the information in just one go. However, if you decide to pay to write a research paper, here at Studyclerk, you can find the best and reliable writers at the most affordable prices on the market.