研究背景與引言

引言難寫？收好這份2000字的教程

Yateendra Joshi

2019年03月29日 33.9萬 views

本文將通過實際案例詳細說明：引言部分哪些該留，哪些該舍，以及審稿人和編輯在引言中都看些什么。

引言的作用是什么？

簡單來說，引言要能回答三個“為什么”

為什么要選擇這個研究主題？
為什么這個研究問題很重要？
為什么你選擇特定方式開展研究？

可以這么理解，引言指出了目前知識的空白，而這篇論文會填補這塊空白。換言之，引言定義了研究范圍。

引言還提供一些背景信息。敘述你考慮或提出的研究問題，然后簡短地綜述過去曾經嘗試過方法。（在正文部分，再給出解決方案或者問題答案。）

雖說畢業論文通常會有一個獨立的“Review of literature”章節，但研究論文中不會有，通常都是在引言部分進行文獻綜述。

構件好整個研究背景和框架，引言的最后要明確論文所呈現的研究，其實驗或分析的目標。引言的結束部分應該包含論文里待解答的問題。

撰寫引言四個步驟

一般來說，引言占整篇論文正文字數的10%，以4000字的論文來說，可以寫成三個段落，共400字。

我們來看怎么逐步寫出引言：

1. 提供背景信息

在引言的開頭要先讓讀者準備好后續會看到的詳細信息，所以一開始的幾句話會比較概括。

比如：

土壤有機質相關的論文可以這么開頭：Sustainable crop production is a function of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil, which, in turn, are markedly affected by the organic matter in soil.
討論細菌對治療癌癥的作用的文章，第一句可以這么寫：The role of bacteria as anticancer agent was recognized almost hundred years back.
鋰離子電池論文可以這么開場：The rapid growth of lithium ion batteries and their new uses, such as powering electric cars and storing electricity for grid supply, demands more reliable methods to understand and predict battery performance and life.

同時，開頭陳述不能太過空泛，以上面的示例來說，引言開頭并沒有談一般的農業、癌癥或電池，而是提了土壤中的有機質、細菌的作用和鋰離子電池。

在第一句話介紹了主題領域后，下一句可以指出明確的領域。你可能也注意到了，上面示例中的文章可以這樣帶出子領域：

remission of some types cancer following accidental infection by Streptococcus pyogenes
organic matter in soil as a source of nutrients for plants and of energy for microorganisms
imaging techniques to visualize the 3-dimensional structure of the materials and components of batteries on nanoscale

2. 介紹你的研究的明確主題，說明它的重要性

從上面的范例中，我們可以看到作者開始談到關于研究的明確主題。那么接著下來，你就可以帶進一些統計數據，闡述該主題的重要性，或是該問題的嚴重性。

比如：

預防瘧疾的文章可以提出罹患瘧疾的人數、每小時死亡人數或治療瘧疾的花費。
關于開發只需要少量的水就能種植的作物的文章，可以提及嚴重干旱的頻率或是因為干旱造成收成減少。
探討更有效率的大眾運輸方式的論文，可以提出因為汽車和機車所造成的空氣污染程度，或是汽車數量與道路長度的比值變小。

另外一個強調研究主題重要性的方式，是敘述如果問題解決的話，可以帶來哪些好處，如節省多少費用、更高的產能、更耐用的設備等等。

例如，與其說每年因為瘧疾損失多少金額，不如換成如果能有效預防瘧疾，一年可節省多少費用；或是減少灌溉可以節省多少公升的水；或是改善空氣質量或減少空氣污染可以避免每人多少小時的生病時間。

3. 提及過去曾經嘗試過解決或回答該研究問題的工作

如同前面提到的，一篇研究論文的引言是沒有空間進行正式的文獻綜述的，但可以指出早先的相關研究，說明你的研究跟過去有什么不一樣。差異的部分可能很簡單，你可能重復一樣的實驗，但使用不同的有機質，或是用更大更多樣的樣本，加上使用更先進的分析設備來詳述研究，或是采用非常不同的地域設定。

下面提供兩個范例：

Although these studies were valuable, they were undertaken when the draft genome sequence had not been available and therefore provide little information on the evolutionary and regulatory mechanisms.
Plant response is altered by insect colonization and behaviour but these aspects have been studied mostly in sole crops, whereas the present paper examines the relationship between crops and their pests in an intercropping system.

4. 以明確的研究目標結尾

以上提到的段落應當自然帶出研究的明確目標。要注意，引言的這個部分要提供非常明確的信息，例如引言的開始部分可能已經提到控制瘧疾的重要性，那么在引言總結的段落就可以說明使用了什么控制手段，使用哪些指標進行評估。同時，不要太過詳細，因為更細節的部分要放在材料與方法里。

舉例來說，如果你的研究是關于合金中兩種金屬的正確混合比例，你試了十種不同的比例，在引言里不用列出是哪十個比例，可以只說測試的比例范圍為50:50至10:90。

下面再舉兩個例子：

We aimed to assess the effectiveness of four disinfection strategies on hospital-wide incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms and Clostridium difficile
We aimed (1) to assess the epidemiological changes before and after the upsurge of scarlet fever in China in 2011; (2) to explore the reasons for the upsurge and the epidemiological factors that contributed to it; and (3) to assess how these factors could be managed to prevent future epidemics.

闡述研究目標的方式有很多種。問題、假設和使用不定式例舉是比較常見的幾種（上面兩個范例都是不定式），每種方式示范如下：

問題

Do some genes in wheat form gene networks? If they do, to what extent as compared to rice?
Do the regulatory elements in the promoters of those genes display any conserved motifs?
Finally, and more specifically, do those genes in wheat display any tissue- or organ-specific expression pattern?

假設

We decided to test the following four hypotheses related to employees of information-technology companies:
H1: Career stages influence work values.
H2: Career stages influence the level of job satisfaction.
H3: Career stages do not influence organizational commitment.

使用不定式

To examine the response of Oryza sativa to four different doses of nitrogen in terms of 1) biomass production, 2) plant height, and 3) crop duration.’

最后的貼士：雖然引言是論文正文的第一個章節，但不一定一開始就寫。你可以在寫完論文的其他部分之后再來寫，或是寫完之后再回頭修改這個部分。

意得輯專家視點相關推薦閱讀：

參考資料?

Araújo C G. 2014. Detailing the writing of scientific manuscripts: 25-30 paragraphs. Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia 102 (2): e21–e23
Boxman R and Boxman E. 2017. Communicating Science: a practical guide for engineers and physical scientists, pp. 7–9. Singapore: World Scientific. 276 pp.

額外的建議和觀點，社區成員專享。

Bonus content for community members

Here are two more examples:

‘We aimed to assess the effectiveness of four disinfection strategies on hospital-wide incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms andClostridium difficile’
‘We aimed (1) to assess the epidemiological changes before and after the upsurge of scarlet fever in China in 2011; (2) to explore the reasons for the upsurge and the epidemiological factors that contributed to it; and (3) to assess how these factors could be managed to prevent future epidemics.’

There are different ways of constructing the objectives. Using questions², hypotheses, and infinitives are the more common constructions (both examples in the previous paragraph use infinitives), each of which is illustrated below with some fictitious text:

Questions

‘Do some genes in wheat form gene networks? If they do, to what extent as compared to rice?’
‘Do the regulatory elements in the promoters of those genes display any conserved motifs?’
‘Finally, and more specifically, do those genes in wheat display any tissue- or organ-specific expression pattern?’

Hypotheses

‘We decided to test the following four hypotheses related to employees of information-technology companies:

H1: Career stages influence work values.

H2: Career stages influence the level of job satisfaction.

H3: Career stages do not influence organizational commitment.’

Using infinitives

‘To examine the response of?Oryza sativa?to four different doses of nitrogen in terms of 1) biomass production, 2) plant height, and 3) crop duration.’

Compared to two other sections of a typical research paper, namely Methods and Results, Introduction and Discussion are more difficult to write. However, the 4-step approach described in this article should ease the task.

A final tip: although the Introduction is the first section of the main text of your paper, you don’t have to write that section first. You can write it, or at least revise it, after you have written the rest of the paper: this will make the Introduction not only easier to write but also more compelling.

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