Writing for Publication: Transitions and Tools that Support Scholars’ Success - Mary Renck Jalongo, Olivia N. Saracho 2016

Writing the Introduction
From Qualitative Research to a Journal Article
Conference Proposals and Article Types

The introduction establishes the scene and puts the research in context. Researchers declare the particular research topic of focus for their study and describe findings in related published studies. They explain the significance of their study and state the research questions, which might be very general. For example, “How do teachers assess their practices?” The research questions guide researchers in developing the manuscript. Researchers use the research questions to describe the purpose of the study. They could state that the purpose of the study was to address the research questions. For example, a research question might be, How do teachers respond when they are required to implement a new curriculum? At the end of the manuscript, researchers need to be able to determine to what extent the purpose of the study was reached and the research questions were answered. Therefore, it is important that the research questions are clearly stated. Major components of the research question can be used as headings or subheadings within the manuscript.