ABSTRACT

The research report launches into the introduction of the topic and proceeds to review the literature immediately following the abstract, without a main heading. Most journals use various formatting techniques to set the abstract separately from the rest of the article, directly under the title and author information so the distinction from the body of the article is obvious. Introductory comments are commonly integrated with the literature review. The first purpose of an integrated introduction and literature review is to identify the research problem area. The second purpose is to establish its importance. The first paragraphs of an introduction should be reasonably specific to the research problem, whether or not they are supported by citations to literature. As a reminder, one effective way to establish the importance of a problem is to cite statistics indicating its prevalence. Another way to establish the importance of a problem is to describe the severity of its impact on individuals.