The most important and the most difficult part when writting a technical paper is introduction. The introduction to a technical paper should be an invitation to readers to invest their time reading it. I found a very nice report talking about a formulation how to write good introduction. It may be usefull for you, so I want to share it here..
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The formula for an introduction is a sequence of three parts. They are (1) the review, (2) the claim, and (3) the agenda.
The review
Pick out about 3-10 papers providing a background to your research and say something about each of them. You could paraphrase a sentence or two from each abstract. The review is not intended to be a historical review going back to Newton or Descartes. Try to find a few papers by your office mates, your advisor, your predecessors, or other associates. That way you might find somebody to give you helpful criticism!
Anyone can follow these instructions and write a review that looks presentable. Where intelligence and skill are required is in organizing the review so that it leads up to something, namely, to your claim.
The claim
The most important part of the introduction is buried in the middle. It is the claim. The claim is where you claim your work is a worthwhile extension of the review you just wrote. If someone says your writing is “unmotivated,'’ they are not insulting your humanity; it just means they can’t find your claim.
In your claim you should use the personal pronoun “I'’ (or “we'’ if you aren’t the sole author). The word “I'’ tells people where common knowledge runs out and your ideas begin. If you are writing a doctoral dissertation or an article for a refereed journal, then you should be making a new contribution to existing knowledge. Your paper is not acceptable without an identifiable claim.
The agenda
An agenda is found at the end of many introductions. It summarizes what you will show the reader as your paper progresses. Your agenda will be dull if it is merely a recital of the topics you will cover. Your agenda should tell how your paper works to fulfill your claim. In this way your agenda should clarify your claim.
The agenda is not as important as the review and the claim. Keep it short.
Occasionally you will be fortunate enough to be writing about something in which some of your conclusions can be made in simple statements. If so, state them early, right after your agenda. You aren’t trying to write a mystery! Many more people will begin reading your paper than will finish reading it. Motivate them to finish! Unfortunately, many technical papers do not lend themselves to early conclusions.
written by Jon Claerbout 1995
