THE RHETORICAL STRUCTURE OF INTRODUCTIONS

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What actually happens in Introductions? What are the functions of an Introduction? How are these
functions realised? Knowing the answers to these questions might help us read more efficiently, write
more effective Introductions, and help us prepare clearer presentations.
Unread studies are useless
Your study may be incredibly important, amazingly well done, and very elegantly written, but if nobody
reads it... So how can you try to make sure that people will read it? This is where rhetoric comes in.
Rhetoric: the art of persuasion
Rhetoric is concerned with the way you use language to achieve your objectives. These objectives may
be to amuse people, to inform, maybe even to shock: but most usually in introductions to research
articles and presentations your main aim will be to persuade.
The CARS model for Introductions: an ecological metaphor
The CARS model is an attempted description of what happens in introductions, not a statement of what
you should do whenever you write an introduction. So it is descriptive, not prescriptive.
You can see why John Swales called his model of article introductions CARS - Create A Research
Space. Swales and many other investigators have analysed a large number of article introductions in
many disciplines, and in most it seems that the writer is trying to create a space for his/her research,
by using various kinds of rhetorical tricks. Swales identified a number of moves (like the moves in a
game of chess) the writer makes in trying to persuade readers that s/he has something important to say
(see next page). In the model he used an ecological metaphor, comparing the researcher trying to
survive in the research world to an animal trying to survive in nature. Both have to struggle to survive!
The amount of struggling (rhetorical work) you need to do to create such a space, or niche, for yourself
depends on several factors: for example, (a) the existing competition in the field, (b) the size and
importance of the niche you want to fill, and (c) your reputation as a researcher.
Obviously, if (a) there are very many researchers working in the same field, and (b) you have been
working on an important topic, and (c) you are not famous, you will have to do quite a lot of rhetorical
work if you want to persuade people to read your study!
Function of Introductions: to create a space for your research
In the introduction you will need to:
1) remind your colleagues (or possibly persuade them, if they don't know it yet!) that
your particular research field is important (ESTABLISHING A TERRITORY);
2) show how your research fits in this important context, and that there is a
"space" for your study (ESTABLISHING A NICHE);
3) show how you fill this "space", or niche, in the wider ecosystem, or
research field (OCCUPYING THE NICHE).
Some typical expressions used in each Step of the Introduction

MOVE 1: ESTABLISHING A TERRITORY

Step 1 Claiming centrality
The study of ... has great importance for...
Recently there has been wide interest in...
The relationship between ... has been studied by many authors.
and/or
Step 2 Making topic generalization(s)
The aetiology and pathology of ... is well known.
Education core courses are often criticised for...
... is a common finding in patients with...
and/or
Step 3 Reviewing items of previous research
Hacket et al. (1968) found that...
Many investigators have explored...
Fogarty, Rapoport and Rapoport (1971) reported that...
MOVE 2: ESTABLISHING A NICHE
Step 1A Counter-claiming
However, radical design changes have become necessary...
or
Step 1B Indicating a gap
However, these methods suffer from some limitations.
Research into ... is scanty...
... has been largely ignored...
or
Step 1C Question-raising
However, it is not clear whether...
A question remains whether...
Considering that ..., why has more not been achieved?
or
Step 1D Continuing a tradition
The remaining issue is find a way to ...

MOVE 3: OCCUPYING THE NICHE

Step 1A Outlining purposes
The purpose of this study was...

The study had three objectives...

This investigation was undertaken in order to...
or
Step 1B Describing main features of study
The present work extends the use of the last model..
This analysis ... has been limited to...
Field work, interview and questionnaires have been utilised.
Step 2 Summary of main findings
The returns show a growth of...
The authors found that...
Step 3

Indicating RA structure
We have organised the rest of this paper in the following way...
This paper is structured as follows...