Writing the Introduction,Title, and Abstract.ppt

Writing the Introduction,Title, and Abstract There are two key elements to the Introduction The Framework Provides relevant background Start with broad concepts Focus into specific details of your study Introduce specialized terminology (think of your classmates as your audience) Situate the investigation to make it relevant There are two key elements to the Introduction Clearly state what is being investigated Either state a hypothesis or make sure the hypothesis can be clearly inferred Explain the overall approach or how the problem will be investigated For example: “This study was designed to examine the conditions under which Chamaecypris thyoides and Acer rubrum seedlings were most likely to achieve successful establishment. Six swamps located within the New Jersey Pinelands were surveyed to determine which microhabitats had the largest number of C. thyoides and A. rubrum seedlings. Microhabitats varied in terms of topographic elevation as well as presence or absence of Sphagnum. We also determined whether the two species differed in microhabitats they occupied most often. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to test whether C. thyoides and A. rubrum seedlings experienced different growth rates in different soil types (peat soil versus Sphagnum) and different water-level/soil-moisture conditions.” – from Allison and Ehrenfeld 1999 In your introduction, you need to: Support all statements of fact with citations Be brief Make sure scope is ever narrowing toward the specifics of your study – cut out anything that is a side issue Define all abbreviations Make it interesting An Aside A study vs. an experiment – Experiments always involve manipulating some factor such as an organism, an enzyme, or the environment, in a way that will permit specific hypotheses to be tested. Experiments are a type of study but not all studies are experiments. Many studies do not involve manipulating a factor – instead we simply collect, observe, enumerate, or describe some pheno