Introduction

Helpful Hints:

Do:

Summarize past research
Use information from the results and discussion sections of your references
Be concise and to the point
Use the genus AND species for your organisms.(e.g. Homo could be referring to us, or to Neanderthals.)
Cite literature as required in the lab report guide
Start your introduction with the background needed to allow the reader to understand your experiment
Paraphrase and summarize (e.g. “Flying pigs are less likely to be butchered than ones without wings (Smith, J. 2008).
Use: experiment; evaluate, explore, investigate; observe; test the hypothesis; approximately; I infer, I expect, I predict; as predicted.
Spell check and grammar check your report.

Don't:

Quote from previous work
Use information from the introductions of your references
Try and pad your lab report with extraneous information
Assume that if you wrote something in a previous class you can do it the same way for your current one
Begin your introduction with what you did or are planning to do.
Write your introduction like a book report (e.g. “In a similar study, Smith found that pigs with wings survive the butchers block better than pigs without wings (2008).”)
Use: lab, set of labs; see, figure out; look at; prove the hypothesis; something like; I think; not surprisingly.