In the natural sciences, the introduction helps the reader understand the final project’s wider context, its purpose, and its relevance. It is logical for you to start with the project’s general background before developing its specific details. With this in mind, progress towards the specific nature of your project relatively quickly. Avoid writing lengthy explanations regarding basic contextual aspects (things about which the person assessing your work will already be perfectly knowledgeable). Demonstrate your understanding of fundamental aspects, but do not waste time getting to the point, i.e., the original nature of your work.

In English generally, but especially in scientific texts, efficiency of language is valued. In the introduction in particular, cut out anything that is not highly relevant to your central argument; only discuss the most pertinent details, leaving the others to be explained subsequently in your Methods, Results and Discussion sections.

The introduction may contain some (but not necessarily all) of the following:

• A description of the general topic and background
  
  
• A literature review
  
  
• Definitions of terms
  
  
• A problem statement
  
  
• The paper’s scope and aims
  
  
• A hypothesis
  
  
• An outline of the planning and/or methodology

When thinking about what you need to cover, consider the type of approach used for a problem statement. This involves answering the five Ws: who, what, where, when and why. If your introduction properly addresses these five questions, you have probably included most of the necessary content.