WRITING ANINTRODUCTION

 

 

Introduction

A large part of your paper will be the introduction. It is in this section that you introduce all the topics you will cover in your paper. This section should explain the objectives of the study and why it is a worthwhile effort. Your introduction should also include a literature review of studies like your own that have been conducted in the recent past. Although you are only required to have fifteen sources, more is not a bad thing.Be careful to keep the information in your introduction very focused to the task at hand.  Scientific papers are concise and do not contain extra information.  Keep the sentences short and do not use extra words.The introduction is usually written in the present tense using an active voice.

 

An effective introduction should answer the following questions:

1. Why was the study conducted? It is good to begin with a description of the object of the study as you would find it in nature.  For example, if you are examining evolution, where would you find this process operating in nature and what would it look like?
2. What is the current state of knowledge on this topic? What has been done in the recent past?  Be sure to include any large gaps in information that you have located and point out any misinformation that you located.
3. What, specifically, are you planning to do in this study? Be sure to state your specific objectives and any hypothesis(es) you tested.  Think about this and make sure youACTUALLY covered in the experiment what you are detailing in your introduction.

 

DO

1. Do include your hypothesis.
2. Do use citations if you are using someone else’s ideas.
3. Do paraphrase the ideas you get from other researchers, and then cite them appropriately.
4. Do include summaries of all the applicable research you can find on your topic. It is good to be able to disprove something if you have hard evidence, so including an opposing view here is not a bad thing.
5. Do use correct grammar.

 

DON’T

1. Don’t use personal pronouns (e.g. I, we, our, etc.).
2. Don’t use long, complicated sentences.
3. Don’t ever use an abbreviation for a unit that you do not explain.
4. Don’t use any figures or graphs from other papers.
5. Don’t quote anything word for word, ever.

 

It is a good idea to begin your introduction by incorporating words that you used in your title for the paper.  You also need to include a literature review in your introduction.  This is where you find all the available published research on your topic, read it, and bring that information into your paper.  You MUST cite this work, as it is not your own.  The style used in this class is from the journal Ecology.  If you are using Zotero, you can add that style to your word processor, and Zotero will automatically format everything in the correct style for the paper.  If you want to learn more about Zotero, please ask.

Note that articles by one or two authors are always cited using their last names. However, if there are more than two authors, the last name of the first author is given followed by the abbreviation et al., which is Latin for “and others”.  Make sure you give a full citation in the Literature Cited section for all sources mentioned in the text. You must include the names of all authors in the literature cited section, using standard format.

Websites are not approved for use when writing this paper.  You need to use articles from scientific journals.  Good journals to look at are the Journal of Ecology, Ecology, or Oikos.  However, any peer-reviewed journal that publishes original scientific research is a good one.  Newspapers are suspect and sometimes do a poor job of summarizing scientific research.  Avoiding those is best although they may lead you to the original research by providing a citation.

There are several types of articles published in journals.  One is the original research paper that was conducted, usually, by the first author on the paper.  A second type of paper is called a review article and the author summarizes the findings of many other authors. You may use both for this assignment.

The last paragraph of the introduction should include your hypothesis.  One sentence is not enough for a paragraph, so continue the idea by explaining a bit about the research conducted.  Did you use a novel approach?  If so, you should explain and define that here.  If not, leave your approach for the Methods section to follow.

WRITING THE LITERATURE CITED

 

Introduction

Writing the Literature Cited section is all about the format. In lab, we recommend that you use the program Zotero to help you make this section correct. You really need to be sure to check everything that Zotero adds to your paper. Sometimes the program DOES make errors. However, this program is very powerful. If you publish papers in journals or submit formal research proposals, which is an objective of this course, you will need to be sure to cite in-text and in the Literature Cited in the correct format according to the journal. If you are not accepted to publish in the first journal to which you submit, you can easily change the citation style and submit your paper to another journal.

 

This semester we will be using the Ecology journal format for the Literature Cited section (https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/19399170). Your instructor will be very particular about the format of this section. Points will be deducted for every small detail that is incorrect (see the below example).

 

Citation format for Ecology: 

 

Barnes, L. G., D. P. Domning, and C. E. Ray. 1985. Status of studies on fossil marine mammals.

Marine Mammal Science 1:15–53.

A couple of things to note about the format:

1. The initials follow the first author’s last name, but for the subsequent author(s) the initials come prior to their last name.
2. There is a single space between the initials when an author has more than one initial.
3. List all authors in the order they appear on the first page of the journal article. You should list out all authors when there are 12 or less authors. If there are 13 or more authors, use “et al.” after the first author.
4. Only the year of publication is stated and directly follows the list of authors (ex. 1985.).
5. Only the first letter of the first word of the title of the article is capitalized. Proper nouns (locations, names, etc.) and scientific names are the exception. The first letter of a word that follows a colon is not capitalized.Treat the article title as if it were a sentence.
6. The name of the journal is capitalized and spelled out completely. In the above example, the journal is Marine Mammal Science.
7. There is no space after the colon that separates the volume number from the page numbers after the journal name.
8. Report the Volume number after the journal name, not the issue number.
9. There is no space before or after the en dash between page numbers.
10. An en dash separates page numbers, not a hyphen.
11. All scientific names are italicized (ex. Trichechus senegalensis).
12. Always alphabetize your sources by the first author listed and use a hanging indent.

NOTE: if you have any questions about formatting the Literature Cited section, it is wise to refer to the literature cited of a recent article published in the same journal. The only difference will be that their literature cited is single-spaced (because it is published). Since your semester paper is not published, your literature cited should be double-spaced like the rest of your paper.

Finding Journal Articles

Only peer-reviewed journal articles are allowed for your semester paper. This means that the articles were written and evaluated by experts in the field prior to publication, ensuring that the article is credible and contains sound science. We recommend using Google Scholar and the George Mason Library website to search for appropriate articles to include in your paper. In order to find appropriate papers, you should construct your search terms carefully. Below are some helpful tips for what to type into the search bar:

1. It is a good idea to use the species’ scientific name rather than the common name.
2. Keep your search short and concise.
3. Conduct individual searches rather than stringing together synonyms for a research topic.
4. In Google Scholar if you found a paper that is particularly useful, you can select ‘Cited By’ to view other scientific papers that cited the article. This will probably lead you to more articles on your topic.

 

Google Scholar is a great source for finding journal articles. However, not all journal articles are available online and free of charge. George Mason Library provides students and faculty access to these articles. If for some reason you cannot find an article that you need in George Mason’s Library, you can use the Ask a Librarian link at the top of the George Mason Library home page to ask for the article. There is a helpful online chat feature as well.

Zotero

Zotero is a free tool to help you organize and cite research articles. Zotero is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux systems and exists as a plug-in for your web browser and Microsoft Word. Because Zotero was developed at George Mason University, George Mason Library has several online tutorials available for students: https://library.gmu.edu/tutorials/student-tutorials

Although Zotero is a useful program, it does have its quirks. You should ALWAYS check to ensure that Zotero is citing every aspect of both in-text citations and citations within the Literature Cited section correctly. The most common mistakes that Zotero makes are: 1) not italicizing scientific names and 2) using a font other than the required Times New Roman and font size 12. It is your responsibility to ensure that every citation is correct. Any points lost due to errors with Zotero will not be excused.

Downloading Zotero

Step 1: To download Zotero go to:https://www.zotero.org/download/

Step 2: If you have Windows, select Download Zotero 5.0 for Windows. The download for all other platforms can be found below the Download button for Windows, you should select the appropriate platform for you. The download will immediately begin once you select your platform.

Step 3: Follow the prompt for Zotero Setup. Install the ‘Standard’ Setup Type.

Step 4: Zotero will automatically launch after the Setup is complete.

Downloading Zotero Web Browser Connector

We highly recommend downloading a web browser connector. This streamlines the process of adding a journal article to your Zotero Library by letting you do so via the web browser rather than opening Zotero as an outside program.

Step 1: Launch one of the following web browsers where you would like the Connector to be located: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. The Connector for Firefox is usually the most preferred.

 

Step 2: Return to the Zotero download page: https://www.zotero.org/download/

Step 3: Follow the prompts. If completed correctly, Zotero should appear as a “Z” next to your browser’s address bar.

Zotero in Microsoft Word

After you download Zotero, you should see a new item on the main ribbon for Zotero in Microsoft Word. If you do not see this, it means that you probably had Word opened during the Zotero download. You will need to restart Word in order to see this new option.