Sections of a Formal Structure

THE INTRODUCTION SECTION

Many students will find that writing a structured introduction gets them started and gives
them the focus needed to significantly improve their entire paper.

Introductions usually have three parts:

presentation of the problem statement, the topic, or the research inquiry

purpose and focus of your paper
summary or overview of the writer’s position or arguments

In the first part of the introduction—the presentation of the problem or the research inquiry—
state the problem or express it so that the question is implied. Then, sketch the background
on the problem and review the literature on it to give your readers a context that shows
them how your research inquiry fits into the conversation currently ongoing in your subject
area.

In the second part of the introduction, state your purpose and focus. Here, you may even
present your actual thesis. Sometimes your purpose statement can take the place of the
thesis by letting your reader know your intentions.

The third part of the introduction, the summary or overview of the paper, briefly leads
readers through the discussion, forecasting the main ideas and giving readers a blueprint
for the paper.

The following example provides a blueprint for a well-organized introduction.

Example of an Introduction

Entrepreneurial Marketing: The Critical Difference

In an article in the Harvard Business Review, John A. Welsh and Jerry F. White remind us that
“a small business is not a little big business.” An entrepreneur is not a multinational
conglomerate but a profit-seeking individual. To survive, he must have a different outlook and
must apply different principles to his endeavors than does the president of a large or even
medium-sized corporation. Not only does the scale of small and big businesses differ, but
small businesses also suffer from what the Harvard Business Review article calls “resource
poverty.” This is a problem and opportunity that requires an entirely different approach to
marketing. Where large ad budgets are not necessary or feasible, where expensive ad
production squanders limited capital, where every marketing dollar must do the work of two
dollars, if not five dollars or even ten, where a person’s company, capital, and material well-
being are all on the line—that is, where guerrilla marketing can save the day and secure the
bottom line (Levinson, 1984, p. 9).

By reviewing the introductions to research articles in the discipline in which you are writing
your research paper, you can get an idea of what is considered the norm for that discipline.
Study several of these before you begin your paper so that you know what may be
expected. If you are unsure of the kind of introduction your paper needs, ask your professor
for more information. The introduction is normally written in present tense.