Though not essential, some authors may opt to briefly describe the study design and methods.įigure 2.1: The typical funnel shape of an Introduction section.īig picture: the introduction starts with the big picture, represented by the broad opening of the funnel shape. Typically, a well-written introduction section will contain broader background information on the topic, a summary of key existing knowledge relevant to the specific problem, the gap in the current knowledge (rationale), and the research question and/or the hypothesis. There are several guidelines suggesting how to best structure the introduction section for a research paper ( Cals and Kotz 2013a Bahadoran et al. This first section provides a broad context of the issue under investigation, summarizes what is known and unknown, and tries to convince the readers that this particular study will be a valuable addition to current knowledge. The introduction section sets the stage for the entire paper and introduces the topic of interest to the audience. Academic journal through student-led initiativesĪ scientific research paper generally follows the format of IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion).Tips for revisions and responding to review comments.9.3 Tips for getting better feedback from co-authors and collaborators.9.2 Guidelines for providing a constructive review.9.1 Review in the peer-reviewed journals.

8.1 Suggested criteria for authorship and contributorship.5.1 Key characteristics and organization of a results section.4.3 Tables and figures in population and public health research papers.3.3 Significance of the methods section in population and public health research paper.1.4.2 Guide on writing an SAP for observational studies.1.4.1 The value of statistical analysis plans in observational studies.1.3 Tips for formulating a good research question.1.2 Evaluating research questions using FINER criteria.1.1 Framing a research question using the PICOT framework.

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