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last.updated 9.3.13

Introductions & Literature Reviews

Purpose

Many of you are used to writing introductions that explain what you are going to write about. For an IMRAD essay the approach is much more complex. Using the examples of Haas' "Learning to Read Biology" we will examine the expectations for what an academic writer, and sometimes professional writers, will do in the introduction section.

Discussion I: Questions about Email and Reading

The instructor will field any questions you had about "Email Ettiquite" on the Purdue OWL and "Stratagies for Reading and Analyzing" from Harbrace Press.

Activity I: The Price is Write

The entire class will be divided into teams of 4 or 5 students. In these groups you will...

• discuss anything that you did not understand from the first seven pages of the Haas article
• develop a list of at least five questions that your entire group still has

For this activity each group will be given the opportunity to ask their five questions. Then the other groups will have an opportunity to try to answer those questions. The first team to answer a question correctly (and not the inquiring team) gets a point. The team with the most points, gets a sweet treat.

Discussion II: Writing an Introduction (and Literature Review)

The instructor will re-explain the expectations for an introduction and literature review. Then, as a class we will discuss the following questions:

• If you were teaching someone to write an introduction with a literature review, based upon what Haas did, what steps should this person follow?
• How is this similar or different from how you are used to writing introductions?
• What effect do you see this type of introduction having on your audience as opposed to what you have done on the past?
• How would you answer the questions posed by the instructor with the comments in this section of the chapter?