sample of introduction of research paper

How to Write a Research Paper Introduction (with Examples)

The research paper introduction section, along with the Title and Abstract, can be considered the face of any research paper. The following article is intended to guide you in organizing and writing the research paper introduction for a quality academic article or dissertation.

The research paper introduction aims to present the topic to the reader. A study will only be accepted for publishing if you can ascertain that the available literature cannot answer your research question. So it is important to ensure that you have read important studies on that particular topic, especially those within the last five to ten years, and that they are properly referenced in this section. 1 What should be included in the research paper introduction is decided by what you want to tell readers about the reason behind the research and how you plan to fill the knowledge gap. The best research paper introduction provides a systemic review of existing work and demonstrates additional work that needs to be done. It needs to be brief, captivating, and well-referenced; a well-drafted research paper introduction will help the researcher win half the battle.

The introduction for a research paper is where you set up your topic and approach for the reader. It has several key goals:

• Present your research topic
• Capture reader interest
• Summarize existing research
• Position your own approach
• Define your specific research problem and problem statement
• Highlight the novelty and contributions of the study
• Give an overview of the paper’s structure

The research paper introduction can vary in size and structure depending on whether your paper presents the results of original empirical research or is a review paper. Some research paper introduction examples are only half a page while others are a few pages long. In many cases, the introduction will be shorter than all of the other sections of your paper; its length depends on the size of your paper as a whole.

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Table of Contents

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The introduction in a research paper is placed at the beginning to guide the reader from a broad subject area to the specific topic that your research addresses. They present the following information to the reader

• Scope: The topic covered in the research paper
• Context: Background of your topic
• Importance: Why your research matters in that particular area of research and the industry problem that can be targeted

The research paper introduction conveys a lot of information and can be considered an essential roadmap for the rest of your paper. A good introduction for a research paper is important for the following reasons:

• It stimulates your reader’s interest: A good introduction section can make your readers want to read your paper by capturing their interest. It informs the reader what they are going to learn and helps determine if the topic is of interest to them.
• It helps the reader understand the research background: Without a clear introduction, your readers may feel confused and even struggle when reading your paper. A good research paper introduction will prepare them for the in-depth research to come. It provides you the opportunity to engage with the readers and demonstrate your knowledge and authority on the specific topic.
• It explains why your research paper is worth reading: Your introduction can convey a lot of information to your readers. It introduces the topic, why the topic is important, and how you plan to proceed with your research.
• It helps guide the reader through the rest of the paper: The research paper introduction gives the reader a sense of the nature of the information that will support your arguments and the general organization of the paragraphs that will follow. It offers an overview of what to expect when reading the main body of your paper.

What are the parts of introduction in the research?

A good research paper introduction section should comprise three main elements: 2

• What is known: This sets the stage for your research. It informs the readers of what is known on the subject.
• What is lacking: This is aimed at justifying the reason for carrying out your research. This could involve investigating a new concept or method or building upon previous research.
• What you aim to do: This part briefly states the objectives of your research and its major contributions. Your detailed hypothesis will also form a part of this section.

How to write a research paper introduction?

The first step in writing the research paper introduction is to inform the reader what your topic is and why it’s interesting or important. This is generally accomplished with a strong opening statement. The second step involves establishing the kinds of research that have been done and ending with limitations or gaps in the research that you intend to address. Finally, the research paper introduction clarifies how your own research fits in and what problem it addresses. If your research involved testing hypotheses, these should be stated along with your research question. The hypothesis should be presented in the past tense since it will have been tested by the time you are writing the research paper introduction.

The following key points, with examples, can guide you when writing the research paper introduction section:

• Highlight the importance of the research field or topic
• Describe the background of the topic
• Present an overview of current research on the topic

Example: The inclusion of experiential and competency-based learning has benefitted electronics engineering education. Industry partnerships provide an excellent alternative for students wanting to engage in solving real-world challenges. Industry-academia participation has grown in recent years due to the need for skilled engineers with practical training and specialized expertise. However, from the educational perspective, many activities are needed to incorporate sustainable development goals into the university curricula and consolidate learning innovation in universities.

• Reveal a gap in existing research or oppose an existing assumption
• Formulate the research question

Example: There have been plausible efforts to integrate educational activities in higher education electronics engineering programs. However, very few studies have considered using educational research methods for performance evaluation of competency-based higher engineering education, with a focus on technical and or transversal skills. To remedy the current need for evaluating competencies in STEM fields and providing sustainable development goals in engineering education, in this study, a comparison was drawn between study groups without and with industry partners.

• State the purpose of your study
• Highlight the key characteristics of your study
• Describe important results
• Highlight the novelty of the study.
• Offer a brief overview of the structure of the paper.

Example: The study evaluates the main competency needed in the applied electronics course, which is a fundamental core subject for many electronics engineering undergraduate programs. We compared two groups, without and with an industrial partner, that offered real-world projects to solve during the semester. This comparison can help determine significant differences in both groups in terms of developing subject competency and achieving sustainable development goals.

Write a Research Paper Introduction in Minutes with Paperpal

Paperpal Copilot is a generative AI-powered academic writing assistant. It’s trained on millions of published scholarly articles and over 20 years of STM experience. Paperpal Copilot helps authors write better and faster with:

• Real-time writing suggestions
• In-depth checks for language and grammar correction
• Paraphrasing to add variety, ensure academic tone, and trim text to meet journal limits

With Paperpal Copilot, create a research paper introduction effortlessly. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through how Paperpal transforms your initial ideas into a polished and publication-ready introduction.

How to use Paperpal to write the Introduction section

Step 1: Sign up on Paperpal and click on the Copilot feature, under this choose Outlines > Research Article > Introduction

Step 2: Add your unstructured notes or initial draft, whether in English or another language, to Paperpal, which is to be used as the base for your content.

Step 3: Fill in the specifics, such as your field of study, brief description or details you want to include, which will help the AI generate the outline for your Introduction.

Step 4: Use this outline and sentence suggestions to develop your content, adding citations where needed and modifying it to align with your specific research focus.

Step 5: Turn to Paperpal’s granular language checks to refine your content, tailor it to reflect your personal writing style, and ensure it effectively conveys your message.

You can use the same process to develop each section of your article, and finally your research paper in half the time and without any of the stress.

The purpose of the research paper introduction is to introduce the reader to the problem definition, justify the need for the study, and describe the main theme of the study. The aim is to gain the reader’s attention by providing them with necessary background information and establishing the main purpose and direction of the research.

The length of the research paper introduction can vary across journals and disciplines. While there are no strict word limits for writing the research paper introduction, an ideal length would be one page, with a maximum of 400 words over 1-4 paragraphs. Generally, it is one of the shorter sections of the paper as the reader is assumed to have at least a reasonable knowledge about the topic. 2 For example, for a study evaluating the role of building design in ensuring fire safety, there is no need to discuss definitions and nature of fire in the introduction; you could start by commenting upon the existing practices for fire safety and how your study will add to the existing knowledge and practice.

When deciding what to include in the research paper introduction, the rest of the paper should also be considered. The aim is to introduce the reader smoothly to the topic and facilitate an easy read without much dependency on external sources. 3 Below is a list of elements you can include to prepare a research paper introduction outline and follow it when you are writing the research paper introduction. Topic introduction: This can include key definitions and a brief history of the topic. Research context and background: Offer the readers some general information and then narrow it down to specific aspects. Details of the research you conducted: A brief literature review can be included to support your arguments or line of thought. Rationale for the study: This establishes the relevance of your study and establishes its importance. Importance of your research: The main contributions are highlighted to help establish the novelty of your study Research hypothesis: Introduce your research question and propose an expected outcome. Organization of the paper: Include a short paragraph of 3-4 sentences that highlights your plan for the entire paper

Cite only works that are most relevant to your topic; as a general rule, you can include one to three. Note that readers want to see evidence of original thinking. So it is better to avoid using too many references as it does not leave much room for your personal standpoint to shine through. Citations in your research paper introduction support the key points, and the number of citations depend on the subject matter and the point discussed. If the research paper introduction is too long or overflowing with citations, it is better to cite a few review articles rather than the individual articles summarized in the review. A good point to remember when citing research papers in the introduction section is to include at least one-third of the references in the introduction.

The literature review plays a significant role in the research paper introduction section. A good literature review accomplishes the following: Introduces the topic – Establishes the study’s significance – Provides an overview of the relevant literature – Provides context for the study using literature – Identifies knowledge gaps However, remember to avoid making the following mistakes when writing a research paper introduction: Do not use studies from the literature review to aggressively support your research Avoid direct quoting Do not allow literature review to be the focus of this section. Instead, the literature review should only aid in setting a foundation for the manuscript.

Remember the following key points for writing a good research paper introduction: 4

• Avoid stuffing too much general information: Avoid including what an average reader would know and include only that information related to the problem being addressed in the research paper introduction. For example, when describing a comparative study of non-traditional methods for mechanical design optimization, information related to the traditional methods and differences between traditional and non-traditional methods would not be relevant. In this case, the introduction for the research paper should begin with the state-of-the-art non-traditional methods and methods to evaluate the efficiency of newly developed algorithms.
• Avoid packing too many references: Cite only the required works in your research paper introduction. The other works can be included in the discussion section to strengthen your findings.
• Avoid extensive criticism of previous studies: Avoid being overly critical of earlier studies while setting the rationale for your study. A better place for this would be the Discussion section, where you can highlight the advantages of your method.
• Avoid describing conclusions of the study: When writing a research paper introduction remember not to include the findings of your study. The aim is to let the readers know what question is being answered. The actual answer should only be given in the Results and Discussion section.

To summarize, the research paper introduction section should be brief yet informative. It should convince the reader the need to conduct the study and motivate him to read further. If you’re feeling stuck or unsure, choose trusted AI academic writing assistants like Paperpal to effortlessly craft your research paper introduction and other sections of your research article.

1. Jawaid, S. A., & Jawaid, M. (2019). How to write introduction and discussion. Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia, 13(Suppl 1), S18.

2. Dewan, P., & Gupta, P. (2016). Writing the title, abstract and introduction: Looks matter!. Indian pediatrics, 53, 235-241.

3. Cetin, S., & Hackam, D. J. (2005). An approach to the writing of a scientific Manuscript1. Journal of Surgical Research, 128(2), 165-167.

4. Bavdekar, S. B. (2015). Writing introduction: Laying the foundations of a research paper. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, 63(7), 44-6.

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Ertugrul Portakal

Apr 12, 2024

Writing a Research Paper Introduction (with 3 Examples)

Nail your research paper's introduction! Learn to captivate and inform readers from the start—our guide shows how!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A catchy and informative introduction is essential in academic writing, especially if you want your readers to have background information about your paper. However, writing an interesting and informative introduction can sometimes be a time-consuming and tiring process. If you don't know where to start when crafting an introduction, no need to worry - we've got you covered!

In this article, we will explain step by step what an introduction is in academic writing and how to write it!

Ready? Let's start!

• An introduction is a paragraph that provides information about your entire paper and aims to attract and inform the reader.
• Before writing an introduction or even starting your paper, you need to research academic sources.
• The first one or two sentences of an introduction paragraph should be a hook to attract the reader's attention.
• Afterwards, you need to prepare the reader for your argument by giving background information about your topic.
• Finally, you should state your argument about your topic with a thesis statement.
• If you are writing a longer paper, you can inform your readers about the map of your paper.
• If you are looking for an AI assistant to support you throughout your writing process, TextCortex is designed for you with its advanced features.

What is an Introduction in a research paper?

In any academic writing, including essays and research papers, an introduction is the first paragraph that the reader will encounter. This paragraph should both attract the reader's attention and give them the necessary information about the paper. In any academic paper, the introduction paragraph constitutes 10% of the paper's total word count. For example, if you are preparing a 3,000-word paper, your introduction paragraph should consist of approximately 300 words. You should also write sentences within these 300 words that will attract the reader's attention and provide them with information about the paper.

Importance of an Introduction Paragraph

The biggest function of an introduction paragraph is to prepare the reader for the author's thesis statement. A traditional introduction paragraph begins with a few sentences or questions that will catch the reader's attention. After attracting the reader's attention, necessary background information on the subject is given. Finally, the author explains to the readers what the whole paper is about by stating the thesis. A thesis statement is the final sentence that summarizes the main points of your paper and conveys your claim.

First Things First: Preliminary Research

When working on any academic writing type, it is essential to start by researching your topic thoroughly before beginning to type. What sets academic writing apart from other writing types is the requirement for it to be written using accurate information from reliable sources.

Researching academic sources can be a time-consuming and unnecessary process. One has to read through hundreds of pages, review dozens of articles and verify the accuracy of each source. However, if you're looking to reduce your workload and maximize efficiency by automating repetitive tasks such as literature review, ZenoChat is the perfect solution for you. With its web search feature, ZenoChat can use the entire internet as a data source. Additionally, by activating the "scholar" option of the ZenoChat web search feature, you can ensure that it only uses academic sources when generating output.

How to Create an Introduction for Academic Writing?

Creating an introduction paragraph that is interesting, informative, and conveys your thesis is an easier process than it seems. As long as you have sufficient information about your topic and an outline , you can write engaging introductions by following a few simple steps. Let's take a closer look at how to write an introduction for academic writing.

1-) Start with a Catchy Hook

Your first sentence is one of the factors that most influence a reader's decision to read your paper. This sentence determines the tone of your paper and attracts the reader's attention. For this reason, we recommend that you start your introduction paragraph with a strong and catchy hook sentence.

• Avoid long and complex sentences
• Use clear and concise sentences
• Write a sentence that will spark the reader's curiosity
• You can ask questions that will encourage the reader to read the remaining paragraph
• Avoid fact or overly broad sentences
• Avoid using dictionary definitions as your hook

2-) Give Background Information

After writing a strong hook sentence, you need to provide basic information about your topic so that the reader can understand what they will learn about when they read your paper. In this section, you can benefit from opinions that support or oppose your argument. Additionally, this section should refer to the body paragraphs of your writing.

• You can write a background information sentence for each body paragraph.
• The information here should be concise and compact
• Avoid talking about your evidence and results unless necessary.

3-) State Your Thesis 

After attracting the reader's attention and providing background information, it is time to present your approach and argument towards the topic with a thesis statement. A thesis statement usually comprises one or two sentences and communicates the paper's argument to the reader. A well-written thesis statement should express your stance on the topic.

• Avoid merely stating a fact
• Claim your argument

4-) Tell Reader About Your Paper

Although you need to move on to body paragraphs after the thesis statement in short papers, it will be useful to add a few sentences that will guide the reader in your longer papers. This way, your readers can better understand which arguments they will encounter on which pages and the course of your paper. That leads the reader to clearly understand and follow your content.

Let’s Wrap it Up

Writing an interesting and informative introduction is usually a long process that requires a lot of rewriting. You may need to rewrite a sentence dozens of times so that your words and sentences clearly describe your paper and argument. Fortunately, you can generate state-of-the-art introductions using AI tools and use them with a little editing.

When it comes to text generation, paraphrasing, and grammar & spelling checking, TextCortex is the way to go with its advanced LLMs and customization options. With TextCortex, you can generate all writing types, including introduction, from scratch, rewrite your existing texts, change their tone of voice, or fix their grammar. TextCortex is available as a web application and browser extension. The TextCortex browser extension is integrated with 30,000+ websites and apps. So, you can complete your AI-driven writing tasks anywhere and anytime.

Let's examine a few sample introductions generated by TextCortex.

Example Introduction #1

“Should social media platforms be banned from collecting their users' data?”

Example Introduction #2

“Do electric vehicles decrease overall emissions?”

Example Introduction #3

“Is graffiti an act of vandalism or the creation of art?”

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Starting Your Research Paper: Writing an Introductory Paragraph

• Choosing Your Topic
• Define Keywords
• Planning Your Paper
• Writing an Introductory Paragraph

The Dreaded Introductory Paragraph

Writing the introductory paragraph can be a frustrating and slow process -- but it doesn't have to be.  If you planned your paper out, then most of the introductory paragraph is already written.  Now you just need a beginning and an end.

Here's an introductory paragraph for a paper I wrote.  I started the paper with a factoid, then presented each main point of my paper and then ended with my thesis statement.

  Breakdown:

• << Previous: Planning Your Paper
• Last Updated: Feb 12, 2024 12:16 PM
• URL: https://libguides.astate.edu/papers

How to write an effective introduction for your research paper

Last updated

20 January 2024

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However, the introduction is a vital element of your research paper . It helps the reader decide whether your paper is worth their time. As such, it's worth taking your time to get it right.

In this article, we'll tell you everything you need to know about writing an effective introduction for your research paper.

• The importance of an introduction in research papers

The primary purpose of an introduction is to provide an overview of your paper. This lets readers gauge whether they want to continue reading or not. The introduction should provide a meaningful roadmap of your research to help them make this decision. It should let readers know whether the information they're interested in is likely to be found in the pages that follow.

Aside from providing readers with information about the content of your paper, the introduction also sets the tone. It shows readers the style of language they can expect, which can further help them to decide how far to read.

When you take into account both of these roles that an introduction plays, it becomes clear that crafting an engaging introduction is the best way to get your paper read more widely. First impressions count, and the introduction provides that impression to readers.

• The optimum length for a research paper introduction

While there's no magic formula to determine exactly how long a research paper introduction should be, there are a few guidelines. Some variables that impact the ideal introduction length include:

Field of study

Complexity of the topic

Specific requirements of the course or publication

A commonly recommended length of a research paper introduction is around 10% of the total paper’s length. So, a ten-page paper has a one-page introduction. If the topic is complex, it may require more background to craft a compelling intro. Humanities papers tend to have longer introductions than those of the hard sciences.

The best way to craft an introduction of the right length is to focus on clarity and conciseness. Tell the reader only what is necessary to set up your research. An introduction edited down with this goal in mind should end up at an acceptable length.

• Evaluating successful research paper introductions

A good way to gauge how to create a great introduction is by looking at examples from across your field. The most influential and well-regarded papers should provide some insights into what makes a good introduction.

Dissecting examples: what works and why

We can make some general assumptions by looking at common elements of a good introduction, regardless of the field of research.

A common structure is to start with a broad context, and then narrow that down to specific research questions or hypotheses. This creates a funnel that establishes the scope and relevance.

The most effective introductions are careful about the assumptions they make regarding reader knowledge. By clearly defining key terms and concepts instead of assuming the reader is familiar with them, these introductions set a more solid foundation for understanding.

To pull in the reader and make that all-important good first impression, excellent research paper introductions will often incorporate a compelling narrative or some striking fact that grabs the reader's attention.

Finally, good introductions provide clear citations from past research to back up the claims they're making. In the case of argumentative papers or essays (those that take a stance on a topic or issue), a strong thesis statement compels the reader to continue reading.

Common pitfalls to avoid in research paper introductions

You can also learn what not to do by looking at other research papers. Many authors have made mistakes you can learn from.

We've talked about the need to be clear and concise. Many introductions fail at this; they're verbose, vague, or otherwise fail to convey the research problem or hypothesis efficiently. This often comes in the form of an overemphasis on background information, which obscures the main research focus.

Ensure your introduction provides the proper emphasis and excitement around your research and its significance. Otherwise, fewer people will want to read more about it.

• Crafting a compelling introduction for a research paper

Let’s take a look at the steps required to craft an introduction that pulls readers in and compels them to learn more about your research.

Step 1: Capturing interest and setting the scene

To capture the reader's interest immediately, begin your introduction with a compelling question, a surprising fact, a provocative quote, or some other mechanism that will hook readers and pull them further into the paper.

As they continue reading, the introduction should contextualize your research within the current field, showing readers its relevance and importance. Clarify any essential terms that will help them better understand what you're saying. This keeps the fundamentals of your research accessible to all readers from all backgrounds.

Step 2: Building a solid foundation with background information

Including background information in your introduction serves two major purposes:

It helps to clarify the topic for the reader

It establishes the depth of your research

The approach you take when conveying this information depends on the type of paper.

For argumentative papers, you'll want to develop engaging background narratives. These should provide context for the argument you'll be presenting.

For empirical papers, highlighting past research is the key. Often, there will be some questions that weren't answered in those past papers. If your paper is focused on those areas, those papers make ideal candidates for you to discuss and critique in your introduction.

Step 3: Pinpointing the research challenge

To capture the attention of the reader, you need to explain what research challenges you'll be discussing.

For argumentative papers, this involves articulating why the argument you'll be making is important. What is its relevance to current discussions or problems? What is the potential impact of people accepting or rejecting your argument?

For empirical papers, explain how your research is addressing a gap in existing knowledge. What new insights or contributions will your research bring to your field?

Step 4: Clarifying your research aims and objectives

We mentioned earlier that the introduction to a research paper can serve as a roadmap for what's within. We've also frequently discussed the need for clarity. This step addresses both of these.

When writing an argumentative paper, craft a thesis statement with impact. Clearly articulate what your position is and the main points you intend to present. This will map out for the reader exactly what they'll get from reading the rest.

For empirical papers, focus on formulating precise research questions and hypotheses. Directly link them to the gaps or issues you've identified in existing research to show the reader the precise direction your research paper will take.

Step 5: Sketching the blueprint of your study

Continue building a roadmap for your readers by designing a structured outline for the paper. Guide the reader through your research journey, explaining what the different sections will contain and their relationship to one another.

This outline should flow seamlessly as you move from section to section. Creating this outline early can also help guide the creation of the paper itself, resulting in a final product that's better organized. In doing so, you'll craft a paper where each section flows intuitively from the next.

Step 6: Integrating your research question

To avoid letting your research question get lost in background information or clarifications, craft your introduction in such a way that the research question resonates throughout. The research question should clearly address a gap in existing knowledge or offer a new perspective on an existing problem.

Tell users your research question explicitly but also remember to frequently come back to it. When providing context or clarification, point out how it relates to the research question. This keeps your focus where it needs to be and prevents the topic of the paper from becoming under-emphasized.

Step 7: Establishing the scope and limitations

So far, we've talked mostly about what's in the paper and how to convey that information to readers. The opposite is also important. Information that's outside the scope of your paper should be made clear to the reader in the introduction so their expectations for what is to follow are set appropriately.

Similarly, be honest and upfront about the limitations of the study. Any constraints in methodology, data, or how far your findings can be generalized should be fully communicated in the introduction.

Step 8: Concluding the introduction with a promise

The final few lines of the introduction are your last chance to convince people to continue reading the rest of the paper. Here is where you should make it very clear what benefit they'll get from doing so. What topics will be covered? What questions will be answered? Make it clear what they will get for continuing.

By providing a quick recap of the key points contained in the introduction in its final lines and properly setting the stage for what follows in the rest of the paper, you refocus the reader's attention on the topic of your research and guide them to read more.

• Research paper introduction best practices

Following the steps above will give you a compelling introduction that hits on all the key points an introduction should have. Some more tips and tricks can make an introduction even more polished.

As you follow the steps above, keep the following tips in mind.

Set the right tone and style

Like every piece of writing, a research paper should be written for the audience. That is to say, it should match the tone and style that your academic discipline and target audience expect. This is typically a formal and academic tone, though the degree of formality varies by field.

Kno w the audience

The perfect introduction balances clarity with conciseness. The amount of clarification required for a given topic depends greatly on the target audience. Knowing who will be reading your paper will guide you in determining how much background information is required.

Adopt the CARS (create a research space) model

The CARS model is a helpful tool for structuring introductions. This structure has three parts. The beginning of the introduction establishes the general research area. Next, relevant literature is reviewed and critiqued. The final section outlines the purpose of your study as it relates to the previous parts.

Master the art of funneling

The CARS method is one example of a well-funneled introduction. These start broadly and then slowly narrow down to your specific research problem. It provides a nice narrative flow that provides the right information at the right time. If you stray from the CARS model, try to retain this same type of funneling.

Incorporate narrative element

People read research papers largely to be informed. But to inform the reader, you have to hold their attention. A narrative style, particularly in the introduction, is a great way to do that. This can be a compelling story, an intriguing question, or a description of a real-world problem.

Write the introduction last

By writing the introduction after the rest of the paper, you'll have a better idea of what your research entails and how the paper is structured. This prevents the common problem of writing something in the introduction and then forgetting to include it in the paper. It also means anything particularly exciting in the paper isn’t neglected in the intro.

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Research Paper Introduction Examples

Looking for research paper introduction examples? Quotes, anecdotes, questions, examples, and broad statements—all of them can be used successfully to write an introduction for a research paper. It’s instructive to see them in action, in the hands of skilled academic writers.

Let’s begin with David M. Kennedy’s superb history, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 . Kennedy begins each chapter with a quote, followed by his text. The quote above chapter 1 shows President Hoover speaking in 1928 about America’s golden future. The text below it begins with the stock market collapse of 1929. It is a riveting account of just how wrong Hoover was. The text about the Depression is stronger because it contrasts so starkly with the optimistic quotation.

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“We in America today are nearer the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.”—Herbert Hoover, August 11, 1928 Like an earthquake, the stock market crash of October 1929 cracked startlingly across the United States, the herald of a crisis that was to shake the American way of life to its foundations. The events of the ensuing decade opened a fissure across the landscape of American history no less gaping than that opened by the volley on Lexington Common in April 1775 or by the bombardment of Sumter on another April four score and six years later. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The ratcheting ticker machines in the autumn of 1929 did not merely record avalanching stock prices. In time they came also to symbolize the end of an era. (David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 . New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 10)

Kennedy has exciting, wrenching material to work with. John Mueller faces the exact opposite problem. In Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War , he is trying to explain why Great Powers have suddenly stopped fighting each other. For centuries they made war on each other with devastating regularity, killing millions in the process. But now, Mueller thinks, they have not just paused; they have stopped permanently. He is literally trying to explain why “nothing is happening now.” That may be an exciting topic intellectually, it may have great practical significance, but “nothing happened” is not a very promising subject for an exciting opening paragraph. Mueller manages to make it exciting and, at the same time, shows why it matters so much. Here’s his opening, aptly entitled “History’s Greatest Nonevent”:

On May 15, 1984, the major countries of the developed world had managed to remain at peace with each other for the longest continuous stretch of time since the days of the Roman Empire. If a significant battle in a war had been fought on that day, the press would have bristled with it. As usual, however, a landmark crossing in the history of peace caused no stir: the most prominent story in the New York Times that day concerned the saga of a manicurist, a machinist, and a cleaning woman who had just won a big Lotto contest. This book seeks to develop an explanation for what is probably the greatest nonevent in human history. (John Mueller, Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War . New York: Basic Books, 1989, p. 3)

In the space of a few sentences, Mueller sets up his puzzle and reveals its profound human significance. At the same time, he shows just how easy it is to miss this milestone in the buzz of daily events. Notice how concretely he does that. He doesn’t just say that the New York Times ignored this record setting peace. He offers telling details about what they covered instead: “a manicurist, a machinist, and a cleaning woman who had just won a big Lotto contest.” Likewise, David Kennedy immediately entangles us in concrete events: the stunning stock market crash of 1929. These are powerful openings that capture readers’ interests, establish puzzles, and launch narratives.

Sociologist James Coleman begins in a completely different way, by posing the basic questions he will study. His ambitious book, Foundations of Social Theory , develops a comprehensive theory of social life, so it is entirely appropriate for him to begin with some major questions. But he could just as easily have begun with a compelling story or anecdote. He includes many of them elsewhere in his book. His choice for the opening, though, is to state his major themes plainly and frame them as a paradox. Sociologists, he says, are interested in aggregate behavior—how people act in groups, organizations, or large numbers—yet they mostly examine individuals:

A central problem in social science is that of accounting for the function of some kind of social system. Yet in most social research, observations are not made on the system as a whole, but on some part of it. In fact, the natural unit of observation is the individual person…  This has led to a widening gap between theory and research… (James S. Coleman, Foundations of Social Theory . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990, pp. 1–2)

After expanding on this point, Coleman explains that he will not try to remedy the problem by looking solely at groups or aggregate-level data. That’s a false solution, he says, because aggregates don’t act; individuals do. So the real problem is to show the links between individual actions and aggregate outcomes, between the micro and the macro.

The major problem for explanations of system behavior based on actions and orientations at a level below that of the system [in this case, on individual-level actions] is that of moving from the lower level to the system level. This has been called the micro-to-macro problem, and it is pervasive throughout the social sciences. (Coleman, Foundations of Social Theory , p. 6)

Explaining how to deal with this “micro-to-macro problem” is the central issue of Coleman’s book, and he announces it at the beginning.

Coleman’s theory-driven opening stands at the opposite end of the spectrum from engaging stories or anecdotes, which are designed to lure the reader into the narrative and ease the path to a more analytic treatment later in the text. Take, for example, the opening sentences of Robert L. Herbert’s sweeping study Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society : “When Henry Tuckerman came to Paris in 1867, one of the thousands of Americans attracted there by the huge international exposition, he was bowled over by the extraordinary changes since his previous visit twenty years before.” (Robert L. Herbert, Impressionism: Art, Leisure, and Parisian Society . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988, p. 1.) Herbert fills in the evocative details to set the stage for his analysis of the emerging Impressionist art movement and its connection to Parisian society and leisure in this period.

David Bromwich writes about Wordsworth, a poet so familiar to students of English literature that it is hard to see him afresh, before his great achievements, when he was just a young outsider starting to write. To draw us into Wordsworth’s early work, Bromwich wants us to set aside our entrenched images of the famous mature poet and see him as he was in the 1790s, as a beginning writer on the margins of society. He accomplishes this ambitious task in the opening sentences of Disowned by Memory: Wordsworth’s Poetry of the 1790s :

Wordsworth turned to poetry after the revolution to remind himself that he was still a human being. It was a curious solution, to a difficulty many would not have felt. The whole interest of his predicament is that he did feel it. Yet Wordsworth is now so established an eminence—his name so firmly fixed with readers as a moralist of self-trust emanating from complete self-security—that it may seem perverse to imagine him as a criminal seeking expiation. Still, that is a picture we get from The Borderers and, at a longer distance, from “Tintern Abbey.” (David Bromwich, Disowned by Memory: Wordsworth’s Poetry of the 1790s . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998, p. 1)

That’s a wonderful opening! Look at how much Bromwich accomplishes in just a few words. He not only prepares the way for analyzing Wordsworth’s early poetry; he juxtaposes the anguished young man who wrote it to the self-confident, distinguished figure he became—the eminent man we can’t help remembering as we read his early poetry.

Let us highlight a couple of other points in this passage because they illustrate some intelligent writing choices. First, look at the odd comma in this sentence: “It was a curious solution, to a difficulty many would not have felt.” Any standard grammar book would say that comma is wrong and should be omitted. Why did Bromwich insert it? Because he’s a fine writer, thinking of his sentence rhythm and the point he wants to make. The comma does exactly what it should. It makes us pause, breaking the sentence into two parts, each with an interesting point. One is that Wordsworth felt a difficulty others would not have; the other is that he solved it in a distinctive way. It would be easy for readers to glide over this double message, so Bromwich has inserted a speed bump to slow us down. Most of the time, you should follow grammatical rules, like those about commas, but you should bend them when it serves a good purpose. That’s what the writer does here.

The second small point is the phrase “after the revolution” in the first sentence: “Wordsworth turned to poetry after the revolution to remind himself that he was still a human being.” Why doesn’t Bromwich say “after the French Revolution”? Because he has judged his book’s audience. He is writing for specialists who already know which revolution is reverberating through English life in the 1790s. It is the French Revolution, not the earlier loss of the American colonies. If Bromwich were writing for a much broader audience—say, the New York Times Book Review—he would probably insert the extra word to avoid confusion.

The message “Know your audience” applies to all writers. Don’t talk down to them by assuming they can’t get dressed in the morning. Don’t strut around showing off your book learnin’ by tossing in arcane facts and esoteric language for its own sake. Neither will win over readers.

Bromwich, Herbert, and Coleman open their works in different ways, but their choices work well for their different texts. Your task is to decide what kind of opening will work best for yours. Don’t let that happen by default, by grabbing the first idea you happen upon. Consider a couple of different ways of opening your thesis and then choose the one you prefer. Give yourself some options, think them over, then make an informed choice.

Using the Introduction to Map out Your Writing

Whether you begin with a story, puzzle, or broad statement, the next part of the research paper introduction should pose your main questions and establish your argument. This is your thesis statement—your viewpoint along with the supporting reasons and evidence. It should be articulated plainly so readers understand full well what your paper is about and what it will argue.

After that, give your readers a road map of what’s to come. That’s normally done at the end of the introductory section (or, in a book, at the end of the introductory chapter). Here’s John J. Mearsheimer presenting such a road map in The Tragedy of Great Power Politics . He not only tells us the order of upcoming chapters, he explains why he’s chosen that order and which chapters are most important:

The Plan of the Book The rest of the chapters in this book are concerned mainly with answering the six big questions about power which I identified earlier. Chapter 2, which is probably the most important chapter in the book, lays out my theory of why states compete for power and why they pursue hegemony. In Chapters 3 and 4, I define power and explain how to measure it. I do this in order to lay the groundwork for testing my theory… (John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics . New York: W. W. Norton, 2001, p. 27)

As this excerpt makes clear, Mearsheimer has already laid out his “six big questions” in the research paper introduction. Now he’s showing us the path ahead, the path to answering those questions.

At the end of the research paper introduction, give your readers a road map of what’s to come. Tell them what the upcoming sections will be and why they are arranged in this particular order.

Learn how to write an introduction for a research paper .

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How to Write a Research Paper | A Beginner's Guide

A research paper is a piece of academic writing that provides analysis, interpretation, and argument based on in-depth independent research.

Research papers are similar to academic essays , but they are usually longer and more detailed assignments, designed to assess not only your writing skills but also your skills in scholarly research. Writing a research paper requires you to demonstrate a strong knowledge of your topic, engage with a variety of sources, and make an original contribution to the debate.

This step-by-step guide takes you through the entire writing process, from understanding your assignment to proofreading your final draft.

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Table of contents

Understand the assignment, choose a research paper topic, conduct preliminary research, develop a thesis statement, create a research paper outline, write a first draft of the research paper, write the introduction, write a compelling body of text, write the conclusion, the second draft, the revision process, research paper checklist, free lecture slides.

Completing a research paper successfully means accomplishing the specific tasks set out for you. Before you start, make sure you thoroughly understanding the assignment task sheet:

• Read it carefully, looking for anything confusing you might need to clarify with your professor.
• Identify the assignment goal, deadline, length specifications, formatting, and submission method.
• Make a bulleted list of the key points, then go back and cross completed items off as you’re writing.

Carefully consider your timeframe and word limit: be realistic, and plan enough time to research, write, and edit.

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There are many ways to generate an idea for a research paper, from brainstorming with pen and paper to talking it through with a fellow student or professor.

You can try free writing, which involves taking a broad topic and writing continuously for two or three minutes to identify absolutely anything relevant that could be interesting.

You can also gain inspiration from other research. The discussion or recommendations sections of research papers often include ideas for other specific topics that require further examination.

Once you have a broad subject area, narrow it down to choose a topic that interests you, m eets the criteria of your assignment, and i s possible to research. Aim for ideas that are both original and specific:

• A paper following the chronology of World War II would not be original or specific enough.
• A paper on the experience of Danish citizens living close to the German border during World War II would be specific and could be original enough.

Note any discussions that seem important to the topic, and try to find an issue that you can focus your paper around. Use a variety of sources , including journals, books, and reliable websites, to ensure you do not miss anything glaring.

Do not only verify the ideas you have in mind, but look for sources that contradict your point of view.

• Is there anything people seem to overlook in the sources you research?
• Are there any heated debates you can address?
• Do you have a unique take on your topic?
• Have there been some recent developments that build on the extant research?

In this stage, you might find it helpful to formulate some research questions to help guide you. To write research questions, try to finish the following sentence: “I want to know how/what/why…”

A thesis statement is a statement of your central argument — it establishes the purpose and position of your paper. If you started with a research question, the thesis statement should answer it. It should also show what evidence and reasoning you’ll use to support that answer.

The thesis statement should be concise, contentious, and coherent. That means it should briefly summarize your argument in a sentence or two, make a claim that requires further evidence or analysis, and make a coherent point that relates to every part of the paper.

You will probably revise and refine the thesis statement as you do more research, but it can serve as a guide throughout the writing process. Every paragraph should aim to support and develop this central claim.

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A research paper outline is essentially a list of the key topics, arguments, and evidence you want to include, divided into sections with headings so that you know roughly what the paper will look like before you start writing.

A structure outline can help make the writing process much more efficient, so it’s worth dedicating some time to create one.

Your first draft won’t be perfect — you can polish later on. Your priorities at this stage are as follows:

• Maintaining forward momentum — write now, perfect later.
• Paying attention to clear organization and logical ordering of paragraphs and sentences, which will help when you come to the second draft.
• Expressing your ideas as clearly as possible, so you know what you were trying to say when you come back to the text.

You do not need to start by writing the introduction. Begin where it feels most natural for you — some prefer to finish the most difficult sections first, while others choose to start with the easiest part. If you created an outline, use it as a map while you work.

Do not delete large sections of text. If you begin to dislike something you have written or find it doesn’t quite fit, move it to a different document, but don’t lose it completely — you never know if it might come in useful later.

Paragraph structure

Paragraphs are the basic building blocks of research papers. Each one should focus on a single claim or idea that helps to establish the overall argument or purpose of the paper.

Example paragraph

George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” has had an enduring impact on thought about the relationship between politics and language. This impact is particularly obvious in light of the various critical review articles that have recently referenced the essay. For example, consider Mark Falcoff’s 2009 article in The National Review Online, “The Perversion of Language; or, Orwell Revisited,” in which he analyzes several common words (“activist,” “civil-rights leader,” “diversity,” and more). Falcoff’s close analysis of the ambiguity built into political language intentionally mirrors Orwell’s own point-by-point analysis of the political language of his day. Even 63 years after its publication, Orwell’s essay is emulated by contemporary thinkers.

Citing sources

It’s also important to keep track of citations at this stage to avoid accidental plagiarism . Each time you use a source, make sure to take note of where the information came from.

You can use our free citation generators to automatically create citations and save your reference list as you go.

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The research paper introduction should address three questions: What, why, and how? After finishing the introduction, the reader should know what the paper is about, why it is worth reading, and how you’ll build your arguments.

What? Be specific about the topic of the paper, introduce the background, and define key terms or concepts.

Why? This is the most important, but also the most difficult, part of the introduction. Try to provide brief answers to the following questions: What new material or insight are you offering? What important issues does your essay help define or answer?

How? To let the reader know what to expect from the rest of the paper, the introduction should include a “map” of what will be discussed, briefly presenting the key elements of the paper in chronological order.

The major struggle faced by most writers is how to organize the information presented in the paper, which is one reason an outline is so useful. However, remember that the outline is only a guide and, when writing, you can be flexible with the order in which the information and arguments are presented.

One way to stay on track is to use your thesis statement and topic sentences . Check:

• topic sentences against the thesis statement;
• topic sentences against each other, for similarities and logical ordering;
• and each sentence against the topic sentence of that paragraph.

Be aware of paragraphs that seem to cover the same things. If two paragraphs discuss something similar, they must approach that topic in different ways. Aim to create smooth transitions between sentences, paragraphs, and sections.

The research paper conclusion is designed to help your reader out of the paper’s argument, giving them a sense of finality.

Trace the course of the paper, emphasizing how it all comes together to prove your thesis statement. Give the paper a sense of finality by making sure the reader understands how you’ve settled the issues raised in the introduction.

You might also discuss the more general consequences of the argument, outline what the paper offers to future students of the topic, and suggest any questions the paper’s argument raises but cannot or does not try to answer.

You should not :

• Offer new arguments or essential information
• Take up any more space than necessary
• Begin with stock phrases that signal you are ending the paper (e.g. “In conclusion”)

There are four main considerations when it comes to the second draft.

• Check how your vision of the paper lines up with the first draft and, more importantly, that your paper still answers the assignment.
• Identify any assumptions that might require (more substantial) justification, keeping your reader’s perspective foremost in mind. Remove these points if you cannot substantiate them further.
• Be open to rearranging your ideas. Check whether any sections feel out of place and whether your ideas could be better organized.
• If you find that old ideas do not fit as well as you anticipated, you should cut them out or condense them. You might also find that new and well-suited ideas occurred to you during the writing of the first draft — now is the time to make them part of the paper.

The goal during the revision and proofreading process is to ensure you have completed all the necessary tasks and that the paper is as well-articulated as possible. You can speed up the proofreading process by using the AI proofreader .

Global concerns

• Confirm that your paper completes every task specified in your assignment sheet.
• Check for logical organization and flow of paragraphs.
• Check paragraphs against the introduction and thesis statement.

Fine-grained details

Check the content of each paragraph, making sure that:

• each sentence helps support the topic sentence.
• no unnecessary or irrelevant information is present.
• all technical terms your audience might not know are identified.

Next, think about sentence structure , grammatical errors, and formatting . Check that you have correctly used transition words and phrases to show the connections between your ideas. Look for typos, cut unnecessary words, and check for consistency in aspects such as heading formatting and spellings .

Finally, you need to make sure your paper is correctly formatted according to the rules of the citation style you are using. For example, you might need to include an MLA heading  or create an APA title page .

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Checklist: Research paper

I have followed all instructions in the assignment sheet.

My introduction presents my topic in an engaging way and provides necessary background information.

My introduction presents a clear, focused research problem and/or thesis statement .

My paper is logically organized using paragraphs and (if relevant) section headings .

Each paragraph is clearly focused on one central idea, expressed in a clear topic sentence .

Each paragraph is relevant to my research problem or thesis statement.

I have used appropriate transitions  to clarify the connections between sections, paragraphs, and sentences.

My conclusion provides a concise answer to the research question or emphasizes how the thesis has been supported.

My conclusion shows how my research has contributed to knowledge or understanding of my topic.

My conclusion does not present any new points or information essential to my argument.

I have provided an in-text citation every time I refer to ideas or information from a source.

I have included a reference list at the end of my paper, consistently formatted according to a specific citation style .

I have thoroughly revised my paper and addressed any feedback from my professor or supervisor.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (page numbers, headers, spacing, etc.).

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Introduction Paragraph Examples and Writing Tips

Abstract | Introduction | Literature Review | Research question | Materials & Methods | Results | Discussion | Conclusion

In this blog, we look at how to write the introduction paragraph of a research paper. We will go through a few introduction paragraph examples and understand how to construct a great introduction paragraph for your research paper.

1. What is the purpose of the introduction paragraph?

The opening paragraph is the first paragraph of your research paper. The opening paragraph is where you want to attract your readers and draw them into your paper. This typically occupies one or two paragraphs. The introduction section must provide necessary background knowledge, so that the readers can understand the motivation behind your experiments and appreciate your findings. After reading your introductory paragraph, the reader should  be familiar with the main idea of your paper and understand why your topic is important.

2. What are the 5 parts of an introduction paragraph?

The introduction paragraph of a research paper should typically contain the following components.

Hook You can start with a hook . A hook is nothing but an attractive opening statement.

A broad introduction to the field Here, you can define the general topic of your research.

The specific topic of study Then, the next step is to narrow down your topic and reveal the specific focus of your paper.

Problem definition Then you have to define your problem. You must explain clearly what problem your paper is trying to address or solve.

Importance of your work Then you need to establish why the topic is timely or important?

Benefits of conducting research Here, you can explain the benefits your work and how it will advance the current understanding of the topic.

3.1. What is a Hook?

The opening paragraph typically should start with a sentence that piques the interest of your readers. This is called a hook.  The idea is to hook your reader and reel them in. Just like using hooks with bait to capture a fish in a pond. These are statements designed to grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read more of your paper.

3.2. How to Write a Hook?

One thing to bear in your mind is that most people reading your paper will have some background knowledge about the topic. So you have to find a way to say things that people already know in a slightly different and interesting manner. The trick is to use statistics, facts,  quotations, and questions to make things interesting to the readers. These are called hooks.

3.3. Hook Examples

Now, let’s look at some examples of hooks.

3.3.1. Hook Example #1

Here is an opening statement. Here we are trying to establish that breast cancer is a pretty bad disease. This statement is not very punchy. It is pretty bland and doesn’t convey the seriousness of the situation.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States.

Now, Let’s use some statistics and rewrite the statement. Look at this statement now, the readers will instantly understand how deadly breast cancer is, because you are using numbers to put things into perspective. This will get the reader’s attention straight away, and they will be keen to read more of your paper to find out if you are proposing something to fix this terrible situation.

In 2020, 43,700 females died from breast cancer in the US. It is the most common cancer in women accounting for 30% (or 1 in 3) of all new female cancers.

3.3.2. Hook Example #2

Here is another example. Here is an opening statement about global warming. There is nothing new here. Most people know that global warming is bad.

Global warming is causing damage to the environment due to increase in Co2 emissions.

Now, let’s frame this as a question with some facts and numbers. How about this? This sounds way much better because it conveys the urgency of the situation. 

Did you know that the Last Decade Was the Hottest in 125,000 Years and there is more Co2 in our atmosphere than at any time in human history?

4. Introduction Paragraph Examples

Let’s look at some examples of introduction paragraphs. The examples we have chosen are quite short, so that it is easy for you to understand. We have chosen examples from different fields and of different formats. 

4.1 Example #1 (Social sciences paper)

Here is an introduction paragraph example from a social sciences research paper, and it is about AI, which stands for artificial intelligence. We are providing a broad overview of the topic in the first couple of lines. We are talking about the popularity of the AI, and the recent advancements that has happened in the field.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has received considerable attention in recent years due to its application in various fields such as manufacturing, healthcare, security, etc. In recent years, methods have been proposed to produce sufficiently intelligent software capable of reprogramming. Such production presents a number of challenges as AI may threaten human employment in the future. The development of new programmes will facilitate a better understanding of just how far AI can go. _ Broad overview _ Narrowdown topic _ Problem definition _ Importance of topic

Then, we move on to the problem definition. The problem is about AI threatening the human employment in the future by taking up all the jobs. Then, in the next statement we are talking about the importance of exploring the issue, so that we can understand how far AI will impact our lives in the future.

You can see that this passage ticks all the boxes, there is relevant background information, a clear definition of the problem, and information about the importance of conducting research on this topic.

4.2 Example #2 (Business & Marketing paper)

This introduction passage example is from a marketing and business paper. In this example, we are using a lot of numbers to establish why it is important and timely to conduct research in this domain. We are telling the readers that there are millions of Asians living in UK and their numbers are increasing every year. They have this huge spending power and not many researchers have looked into how and where they spend their money. So, the time has come to explore this market.  A lot of interesting data and facts are provided to the readers. And, that is the reason why this is such a good introduction.

Approximately 60.5 million Asians lived in the United Kingdom in 2022, and this will grow at a rate of approximately 13.19% over the next five years[1]. The purchasing power of this demographic is expected to reach over $2.26 trillion by 2025[2]. This market is a growing and relatively unexplored segment in the marketing literature. Researchers and practitioners should therefore be interested in the increasing importance of this market and the potential it holds for businesses. _ Hook _ Problem definition _ Importance/timeliness of topic

4.3 Example #3 (Medicine paper)

Here is an introduction paragraph example from a medicine paper. We are starting the passage with a hook by providing an interesting statistic about obesity. After starting with a broad statement, we are narrowing down the topic. We are dropping a hint that our paper is to do with vitamin d and obesity. With the next statement, we are establishing the importance of the topic. We are saying that a lot of people are dying due to obesity, and vitamin D is causing a lot of health issues, so we must do something about it.

Obesity is a worldwide disease. In 2020, more than 2 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. There is a general consensus in the research community that there is a strong association between obesity and Vitamin D. This represents an important and timely topic because obesity is currently fifth greater risk of mortality, and Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with variety of diseases. Better understanding of this link will greatly aid medicalpractitioners in effective treatment of obese patients. _ Hook _ Problem definition _ Importance/timeliness of topic _ Benefits of conducting research

Then, in the final statement of the intro paragraph, we explain how conducting research in this field will benefit the community. In our case, doctors will be able to prescribe better treatment options for obese patients. This is a well written introduction paragraph that nicely introduces the main idea of your paper and tells the readers why your topic is important.

4.4 Example #4 (Engineering paper)

Here is another introduction paragraph example from an engineering paper.  Here, we are starting  the passage with the problem definition itself. We are saying that it is challenging to perform measurements on a complex system, because there are so many different things you have to consider. Then, we emphasis the popularity of the topic by saying that there is an active research community investigating  this issue at the moment. Then, we finish off the passage by explaining the benefits we will enjoy if we manage to solve this problem. And, we have listed all the applications that will benefit from this research.

Obtaining an accurate measurement of a complex system is a challenging task, as it can make it difficult to account for all of the variables that may affect the measurement. Research in this area is of great interest and with a very active research community. Obtaining an accurate measurement is useful for a number of applications, including modelling and forecasting, quality control, and data analysis. _ Problem definition _ Importance/popularity of the topic _ Benefits of conducting research

5. Frequently Asked Questions

The opening paragraph of the introduction should be one or two paragraphs long. The entire introduction section comprising the opening paragraph, literature review, and research questions should be around 10% to 15% of the total length of the research paper.

Please do not cram your introduction with large amounts of text. Don’t treat your readers as if they don’t know anything. Most people who are reading your paper will have some knowledge about the field. Be selective and decide what is important for your readers.

If you have a super long introduction, then it means that you don’t have a lot to say about the actual research you have done. Most reviewers won’t like this, and your paper is likely to be rejected. So, keep it short and sweet.

(1) Make sure you use scientific jargon that is relevant to your field in your text. Scientific jargon are technical terms specific to your discipline. Using scientific jargon has two advantages, number one, you are using the language used by your peers in your field, and number two, it makes your text significantly shorter.

(2) Don’t delve on the broad topic for too long in your introduction. Try to narrow down to the specific topic as soon as possible. The readers are less interested in the general area of research. They want to quickly learn what is the specific topic of your research.

(3) Introduction paragraph is the best place to introduce notations and technical definitions. This can include symbols, characters, terminologies, abbreviations, acronyms etc. Notations and definitions can help you to express very large names and numbers in a form that is easy to understand to your readers.

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Writing a scientific paper.

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What is a "good" introduction?

Citing sources in the introduction, "introduction checklist" from: how to write a good scientific paper. chris a. mack. spie. 2018..

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This is where you describe briefly and clearly why you are writing the paper. The introduction supplies sufficient background information for the reader to understand and evaluate the experiment you did. It also supplies a rationale for the study.

• Present the problem and the proposed solution
• Presents nature and scope of the problem investigated
• Reviews the pertinent literature to orient the reader
• States the method of the experiment
• State the principle results of the experiment

It is important to cite sources in the introduction section of your paper as evidence of the claims you are making. There are ways of citing sources in the text so that the reader can find the full reference in the literature cited section at the end of the paper, yet the flow of the reading is not badly interrupted. Below are some example of how this can be done:     "Smith (1983) found that N-fixing plants could be infected by several different species of Rhizobium."     "Walnut trees are known to be allelopathic (Smith 1949,  Bond et al. 1955, Jones and Green 1963)."     "Although the presence of Rhizobium normally increases the growth of legumes (Nguyen 1987), the opposite effect has been observed (Washington 1999)." Note that articles by one or two authors are always cited in the text using their last names. However, if there are more than two authors, the last name of the 1st author is given followed by the abbreviation et al. which is Latin for "and others". 

From:  https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/imrad-reports-introductions

• Indicate the field of the work, why this field is important, and what has already been done (with proper citations).
• Indicate a gap, raise a research question, or challenge prior work in this territory.
• Outline the purpose and announce the present research, clearly indicating what is novel and why it is significant.
• Avoid: repeating the abstract; providing unnecessary background information; exaggerating the importance of the work; claiming novelty without a proper literature search. 
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How to Write a Research Introduction

Last Updated: December 6, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD . Megan Morgan is a Graduate Program Academic Advisor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Georgia in 2015. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,656,477 times.

The introduction to a research paper can be the most challenging part of the paper to write. The length of the introduction will vary depending on the type of research paper you are writing. An introduction should announce your topic, provide context and a rationale for your work, before stating your research questions and hypothesis. Well-written introductions set the tone for the paper, catch the reader's interest, and communicate the hypothesis or thesis statement.

Introducing the Topic of the Paper

• In scientific papers this is sometimes known as an "inverted triangle", where you start with the broadest material at the start, before zooming in on the specifics. [2] X Research source
• The sentence "Throughout the 20th century, our views of life on other planets have drastically changed" introduces a topic, but does so in broad terms.
• It provides the reader with an indication of the content of the essay and encourages them to read on.

• For example, if you were writing a paper about the behaviour of mice when exposed to a particular substance, you would include the word "mice", and the scientific name of the relevant compound in the first sentences.
• If you were writing a history paper about the impact of the First World War on gender relations in Britain, you should mention those key words in your first few lines.

• This is especially important if you are attempting to develop a new conceptualization that uses language and terminology your readers may be unfamiliar with.

• If you use an anecdote ensure that is short and highly relevant for your research. It has to function in the same way as an alternative opening, namely to announce the topic of your research paper to your reader.
• For example, if you were writing a sociology paper about re-offending rates among young offenders, you could include a brief story of one person whose story reflects and introduces your topic.
• This kind of approach is generally not appropriate for the introduction to a natural or physical sciences research paper where the writing conventions are different.

Establishing the Context for Your Paper

• It is important to be concise in the introduction, so provide an overview on recent developments in the primary research rather than a lengthy discussion.
• You can follow the "inverted triangle" principle to focus in from the broader themes to those to which you are making a direct contribution with your paper.
• A strong literature review presents important background information to your own research and indicates the importance of the field.

• By making clear reference to existing work you can demonstrate explicitly the specific contribution you are making to move the field forward.
• You can identify a gap in the existing scholarship and explain how you are addressing it and moving understanding forward.

• For example, if you are writing a scientific paper you could stress the merits of the experimental approach or models you have used.
• Stress what is novel in your research and the significance of your new approach, but don't give too much detail in the introduction.
• A stated rationale could be something like: "the study evaluates the previously unknown anti-inflammatory effects of a topical compound in order to evaluate its potential clinical uses".

Specifying Your Research Questions and Hypothesis

• The research question or questions generally come towards the end of the introduction, and should be concise and closely focused.
• The research question might recall some of the key words established in the first few sentences and the title of your paper.
• An example of a research question could be "what were the consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the Mexican export economy?"
• This could be honed further to be specific by referring to a particular element of the Free Trade Agreement and the impact on a particular industry in Mexico, such as clothing manufacture.
• A good research question should shape a problem into a testable hypothesis.

• If possible try to avoid using the word "hypothesis" and rather make this implicit in your writing. This can make your writing appear less formulaic.
• In a scientific paper, giving a clear one-sentence overview of your results and their relation to your hypothesis makes the information clear and accessible. [10] X Trustworthy Source PubMed Central Journal archive from the U.S. National Institutes of Health Go to source
• An example of a hypothesis could be "mice deprived of food for the duration of the study were expected to become more lethargic than those fed normally".

• This is not always necessary and you should pay attention to the writing conventions in your discipline.
• In a natural sciences paper, for example, there is a fairly rigid structure which you will be following.
• A humanities or social science paper will most likely present more opportunities to deviate in how you structure your paper.

Research Introduction Help

Community Q&A

• Use your research papers' outline to help you decide what information to include when writing an introduction. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Consider drafting your introduction after you have already completed the rest of your research paper. Writing introductions last can help ensure that you don't leave out any major points. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Avoid emotional or sensational introductions; these can create distrust in the reader. Thanks Helpful 51 Not Helpful 12
• Generally avoid using personal pronouns in your introduction, such as "I," "me," "we," "us," "my," "mine," or "our." Thanks Helpful 32 Not Helpful 7
• Don't overwhelm the reader with an over-abundance of information. Keep the introduction as concise as possible by saving specific details for the body of your paper. Thanks Helpful 25 Not Helpful 14

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• ↑ https://library.sacredheart.edu/c.php?g=29803&p=185916
• ↑ https://www.aresearchguide.com/inverted-pyramid-structure-in-writing.html
• ↑ https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/introduction
• ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.html
• ↑ https://dept.writing.wisc.edu/wac/writing-an-introduction-for-a-scientific-paper/
• ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/planresearchpaper/
• ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3178846/

About This Article

To introduce your research paper, use the first 1-2 sentences to describe your general topic, such as “women in World War I.” Include and define keywords, such as “gender relations,” to show your reader where you’re going. Mention previous research into the topic with a phrase like, “Others have studied…”, then transition into what your contribution will be and why it’s necessary. Finally, state the questions that your paper will address and propose your “answer” to them as your thesis statement. For more information from our English Ph.D. co-author about how to craft a strong hypothesis and thesis, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Research Paper Introduction Example: Academic Writing Insight

How to write an introductory paragraph for research paper.

The writing of the research paper is a multi-aspect process. Because this type of academic assignment consists of several parts. If you fail to complete one of the levels, you will fail the whole paper.

Introduction is not a Literal Beginning

As you know, the hardest part is just to begin the paper. And what should do student at the beginning? Not writing an outline. And not working on the introduction. He should make massive research on his topic . You cannot start writing an introduction without having a personal view on the issue that you are going to study. You have to prepare for introduction writing though analyzing facts available online and making notes. If it’s hard to do it yourself, the  online essay help service by Edusson.com will solve this problem instantly!

Why do We Need an Introduction?

The key aim of the introduction is to introduce to the reader the purpose of your research. Just imagine any academic writing starting from the main body section. You cannot pour on the reader your evidence, ideas, and arguments without an explanation of what are you writing about. In the introduction, you must clearly indicate the hypothesis you want to prove or deny. You must explain the necessity of your research, its urgency, and significance for your study, and, finally, hook readers to continue reading it!

What Information Can I Get From my Search for the Introduction?

It depends on the discipline you are writing the research paper on. If your field of study is Humanities, it is likely that you can find a relevant quote, aphorism, or anecdote to introduce your topic to the reader. In case you study tech, social, and medical sciences quotes are irrelevant. More precise and specific facts will fit such an introduction. There is a general rule for all specialties too. You must find a fact that will intrigue a reader. You must hook him.

Attract the Reader in Any Case

Imagine that your research paper is a product that you want to sell and be paid for it. Figuratively, it is true because your aim is to be rewarded with high mark. The first thing salesmen do to sell their product is a promotion of it. They put effort into and use various methods to hook clients. So, what should research paper writers  do to attract a reader? Even if you write a research paper, and the style of writing is formal, it is still necessary and possible to draw his attention. For example, your research paper topic is “How has the music industry been affected by the internet and digital downloading?”. After a hasty internet search, you can find out that there are many legendary musicians like Radiohead that gave up being dependent on music labels and started to issue their LPs by themselves, online. Also, there is a site Pledge Music which is a popular crowdfunding platform for modern musicians. Such popular synth-pop band as IAMX raises money there to record and promote their albums. These two facts prove that digital downloading somehow affects the music industry, and it is urgent to research this topic to learn the character of this effect. Connect with a professional writer in 5 simple steps. Start now Please provide as many details about your writing struggle as possible. Next What's the area of study of your paper? English Business and Entrepreneurship Nursing History African-American Studies Accounting Anthropology Architecture Art, Theatre and Film Biology Business and Entrepreneurship Chemistry Communication Strategies Computer Science Criminology Economics Education English Engineering Environmental Issues Ethics Finance Geography Healthcare History International and Public Relations Law and Legal Issues Linguistics Literature Management Marketing Mathematics Music Nursing Nutrition Other Philosophy Physics Political Science Psychology Religion and Theology Sociology Sport Technology Tourism Next How many pages do you need? Next When is it due? 01 AM 02 AM 03 AM 04 AM 05 AM 06 AM 07 AM 08 AM 09 AM 10 AM 11 AM 12 AM 01 PM 02 PM 03 PM 04 PM 05 PM 06 PM 07 PM 08 PM 09 PM 10 PM 11 PM 12 PM Next What's your e-mail? Next Done!

Writing a Thesis Statement

Research paper writing is one of the most challenging tasks for students. To write your research papers in a relevant way, it is important to add new information and to connect the text with the research topic. For example, a research paper introduction example can help you learn how to create an introduction that grabs the attention of the reader. The introduction should not only explain the topic but should also provide enough detail to set up the body of the paper. This can be done by providing background information, presenting a hypothesis, or discussing existing research on the topic. Adding new information will make the introduction more interesting and will lead the reader to the body of the paper.

What do you feel when you watch a good teaser for the movie? You feel hooked, intrigued, and eager to watch the story till the end. The same result you must achieve with the thesis statement in a research paper. You must indicate the highlights of your essay, and leave an open question, a mystery, which the reader will want to learn for sure. To provide a worthy example of a research paper thesis statement let’s return to the discussed above topic “How has the music industry been affected by the internet and digital downloading?”. A thesis statement is a point that you will have to defend. It mandatorily must not be general. For example, if you declare this statement during the conversation, it will surely provoke a conflict and make all people differ in their attitude and take a side. Wrong way: “Downloading music from the internet is bad and we must fight it.” It leaves too many questions to answer. And this statement is way too objective, it does not reflect the controversy of your topic. The truth is that there are no absolutely good or totally bad phenomena. And your thesis statement must show the reality.

Right way: “The culture of digital music consumption must be changed because the creations of musicians become worthless due to activity of web pirates and people stop valuing music according to its merit .”

In this example of thesis, I’ve narrowed my argument to the consequences of digital music downloads on the culture of music consumption. I’ve also focused on the fact that the main harm to the music industry present web pirates.  It induces readers to assume that I will argue against them in the main body. To check if you have created a debatable thesis statement for the research paper, you must figure out whether it is debatable. It means that you must make the reader argue either for or against this statement. Wrong way : “The music industry has changed because of the era of the internet.” It is a statement, but not a thesis statement. It is a general truth. There is no point to argue with that fact. You can narrate about that, but not argue and make research to provide proper evidence to prove your point.

Right way: “Free music download sites must become commercial because recording a music is a full-time job of musicians and every work must be rewarded.” Now it is debatable. Opponents can argue that product that music product is not principal way to earn money for musicians, and internet is a the most effective way to promote their creation and lure audience to visit their concerts, what is a real way to earn money.

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Research paper Introduction Writing Tips

Research paper introduction is an essential part of your writing and it must be created according to certain rules. It is true that when you write any kind of text you can push yourself too hard and cross the borders of norms. Because academic styles of writing are referred to as creative writing as well. You look for information, then analyze it, come up with thoughts, and ideas, and reflect it in a coherent text. The next tips will show you how to fulfill the purpose of the research paper introduction and get rid of the creative mess.

• Size matters. Before a tutor starts reading the article, he reviews it visually. If the size of the introduction is too large, it will make a bad impression on your paper. Just remember, all you have to present in the introduction is: the definition of the topic idea and its urgency, an explanation of the aim of the research, facts to hook the reader, and a thesis statement.
• Be logical. Your introduction will be really strong if it contains key ideas only in a few sentences. To reach such a result it is important to satisfy the logical connection of the thoughts. Your goal is to make the reader understand in the end of the introduction what exactly you attempted to achieve in a research paper and why this problem is worth profound research.
• Make it the last part. Many successful students first work on the whole outline, write the body of the paper and only then form the introduction. That’s because a person becomes more sure in what direction his research goes only after at least a shallow search and analysis of sources.
• Review previous studies on your topic. Every person can study the same topic in a different way. Before you start your own research, you must become aware of the discoveries other scholars made on this issue. Any result will be a reliable background for future work. Note that it is better to indicate recent developments in the primary research rather than a lengthy report.

Research Paper Introduction Example

Finally, when we have analyzed all highlights of introduction writing we can gather all parts of it in one, ultimate part of a paper. Let’s refresh the exemplary topic of it:  “How has the music industry been affected by the internet and digital downloading?”. Now, have a look at the research paper introduction example: “The musical marketing turns to be digital according to demands of current online epoche. Such underground, but worldwide famous bands like Radiohead and IAMX gain profit from the internet and use it as a primary source to show the audience their creation. On the other hand, many artists find the digital era harmful and destructive to their creativity because there are many sites that offer their products for free, giving no profit to the creator. Currently, there are more and more studies that reveal the business side of the music industry is far from the positive side. This research paper will define whether the culture of digital music consumption must be changed because the creations of musicians become worthless due to the activity of web pirates and because people have stopped valuing music according to its merit.”

As you see, all main components are preserved in the example above. The first sentences hook readers, the mid part of the introduction prove the reason for the research, and the thesis statement puts a debatable argument that needs further analysis and the right solution.

Integrity is a Key

After you created the final paper, be decisive to make necessary changes and corrections, especially before the submission. It usually happens that at the end of the research, a writer can face with inconsistencies in all sections of his writing. If the whole paper does not sound like a cohesive text, make improvements. If your main part does not answer the question raised in the introduction nothing obstructs you from adjusting its sense to the ideas from the main body. A paper with cohesive text deserves a high mark, so rule your writing!

Now You’re a Winner

I suppose that before you came across this article you underestimated the value of a worthy introductive paragraph. In fact, I have not introduced you to another meaningful feature of it. You know that all academic essays must end with a conclusive paragraph. There is an assumption that this is the hardest part of research paper completion. In fact, if you have succeeded in making of impressive introduction, you will significantly facilitate the process of conclusion writing. You don’t think it is easy for you? Ask professionals “ write an essay for me ” because writing your essay does not have to be a difficult job.

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Sieving the weeds from the grains: an R based package for classifying archaeobotanical samples of cereals and pulses according to crop processing stages

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• Published: 20 August 2024

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• Elizabeth Stroud   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4299-6638 1 ,
• Glynis Jones 2 ,
• Michael Charles   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9630-7589 1 &
• Amy Bogaard   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6716-8890 1  

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The R package CropPro is an open-access resource to classify archaeobotanical samples as products and by-products of different stages of the crop processing sequence for large-seeded cereal and pulse crops in south west Asia, Europe and other Mediterranean regions. It builds on ethnographic research and analysis conducted by Jones (Plants and ancient man: studies in palaeoethnobotany. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp 43–61, 1984), (J Archaeol Sci 14:311–323, 1987), (Circaea 6:91–96, 1990) and a modified method by Charles (Environ Archaeol 1:111–122, 1998). CropPro provides functions, which allow users to construct triplots, to conduct discriminant analysis comparing archaeobotanical samples with ethnographic crop processing stages and to plot the discriminant analysis results. This paper provides two worked examples of the use of CropPro: the early medieval site of Stafford in the UK and the Bronze Age site of Tell Brak in Syria. These examples illustrate the use of the package for identifying crop-processing stages, and for assessing the relevance of taphonomic pathways other than crop processing.

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Introduction

Understanding the crop processing stages represented by archaeobotanical remains is essential for identifying activity areas, seasonal activities, and storage protocols at early agricultural sites. The series of steps required to convert harvested crop material into clean grain has been recognized as one of the causes of variation in archaeobotanical samples (Dennell 1972 , 1974 , 1976 ; Hillman 1973 ). For this reason, determining the crop processing status of archaeobotanical samples is necessary in order to recognise the biases imposed by such activities on the composition of archaeobotanical samples, and to consider this bias during interpretation. This includes changes in the proportions of different weed species, which can be particularly important when using weed species as indicators of cultivation regimes (e.g. Bogaard et al. 2005 ).

Ethnobotanical studies on crop processing highlight how crop-processing sequences alter both the crop and weed composition of a sample (Hillman 1981 ; Jones 1984 , 1987 , 1990 ). Several archaeobotanists have conducted or used ethnographic research to understand the processing sequence of a range of crop species (see for example Hillman 1981 , 1984a , 1985 ; Jones 1984 ; D’Andrea and Haile 2002 ; Peña-Chocarro and Zapata Peña 2003 for temperate cereals and pulses; Reddy 1997 , 2003 ; Thompson 1998 ; Lundström-Baudais et al. 2002 ; Harvey and Fuller 2005 for millets and rice). Such research has been taken further, with the proportions and ratios of particular items within such ethnographic data used to infer the crop processing status of archaeobotanical material (see for example Hillman 1984b ; Jones 1984 , 1990 ). Jones ( 1984 , 1987 ) used ethnographic data of the weed seed characteristics as a discriminant model, which provides a way of recognising the effect of crop processing on archaeobotanical samples. Ethnographic work, conducted on the Greek island of Amorgos in the 1980s laid the foundation for statistical models used to identify archaeobotanical samples as the products and by-products of different stages in the traditional crop processing sequence for large-seeded cereal and pulse crops in south west Asia, Europe, and other Mediterranean regions (Jones 1984 , 1987 ). By collecting and characterising these (by-)products of processing, data were obtained for three different statistical models that allow a comparison between ethnographic and archaeobotanical data. Although the processing of these crops is applicable to a wide range of cereals and pulses, these models are not suitable for all crops, such as small-seeded cereals like millets, or those that are harvested without weeds like maize. The full details of this model is described in Jones ( 1984 , 1987 ).

This paper presents the R package CropPro, which provides, for the first time, openly accessible tools to conduct the same types of analysis as Jones ( 1984 , 1987 ) and Charles ( 1998 ), as well as open access to the dataset behind the models, allowing anyone to use this method (ESM 1 ). CropPro enables the classification and comparison of archaeobotanical samples against the ethnographic data from Amorgos (ESM 1 , Jones 1990 ). Three methods can be employed: triangular plotting, which compares the proportions of grains, rachis nodes and weed seeds, in order to gain insight into the processing of free-threshing cereals (see Jones 1990 ); a discriminant analysis that utilises the attributes of weed seeds to identify the products and by-products of cereal and pulse crop-processing (see Jones 1984 , 1987 ); and another application of discriminant analysis, which again employs the attributes of wild/weed seeds, to assess the relevance of crop-processing versus alternative taphonomic pathways such as dung burning (see Charles 1998 ).

Using the ethnographic data collected on Amorgos, Jones ( 1984 , 1987 ) introduced a method for characterising products and by-products of the crop processing sequence from which archaeobotanical material is derived. Data from the processing of cereals and pulses (bread and macaroni wheat, six rowed hulled barley, oat, pea, lentil, common vetch, and grass pea) has been used to create predictive models to classify suitable archaeobotanical samples (e.g. those with a sufficient number of items). Three by-products and one product were selected for sampling because these would most likely be kept for later use, and so potentially recovered archaeologically. Discriminant analysis, a multivariate statistical technique and form of machine learning, was used to create a model based on key physical characteristics of the weed seeds accompanying the crop during processing. This model was subsequently used to classify the archaeobotanical samples. The three characteristics of the weed seeds used are: (1) the size of the seeds relative to the fine sieve mesh used to separate small weed seeds from cereal grain, (2) the tendency of the seeds to remain in seed heads, spikes or clusters after threshing and (3) aerodynamic properties (see Table  1 ) (Jones 1984 ). By utilizing these characteristics instead of specific species to distinguish crop-processing stages, the method can be widely applied both temporally and geographically. By using Jones’s ( 1984 , 1987 ) method, archaeobotanical samples can be classed (with varying degrees of probability) as one of the four sampled (by-)products: winnowing by-product, coarse sieve by-product, fine sieve by-product and fine sieve product.

Charles ( 1998 ) developed a modified version of Jones’s discriminant analysis method to explore the impact of alternative depositional pathways, specifically dung burning, on the archaeobotanical ‘weed’ flora, with the aim of investigating whether or not an archaeobotanical assemblage matched an alternative source more closely than those of crop-processing. While the Jones ( 1984 ) discriminant analysis method used a discriminant model that best separated four ethnographic crop processing groups based on weed seed attributes, Charles ( 1998 ) introduced archaeobotanical samples during the model’s construction (the discrimination phase), making five groups instead of four, encompassing the four crop processing groups plus an archaeological group. During the classification stage, the archaeobotanical samples were re-entered and classified as one of these five groups. This re-classification process helps determine whether the archaeobotanical samples exhibit greater similarity to the archaeological group or to the crop processing groups. By considering alternative pathways, this approach recognises that archaeobotanical material may in fact have entered the archaeological record from sources other than crop-processing. The full details of this model are described in Charles 1998 ).

Jones ( 1990 ) presented an additional, complementary method for understanding crop processing, based on a method used to distinguish between grain producer and consumer sites in the Thames Valley (Jones 1985 ). This method compares the proportions of grains, rachis nodes and weed seeds in archaeobotanical data with those in the Amorgos ethnographic data. This method utilises distinct proportions associated with different ethnographic processing stages, permitting an investigation of how closely archaeobotanical proportions align with the four crop processing (by-)products. However, because this method incorporates cereal plant parts (grain and chaff) – which are separated at different stages of crop processing depending on the type of cereal (glume wheat or free threshing cereal) – this method (based on ethnographic samples of free threshing wheat and barley) is only applicable to archaeobotanical free-threshing cereals.

Crop processing and discriminant analysis

Two of the methods available within CropPro use discriminant analysis. Discriminant analysis uses data supplied (the ethnographic data) to build a predictive model of group membership. The method creates discriminant functions, which best discriminate between groups of the provided predictor data (the ethnographic data). As the membership of the ethnographic data is known – i.e. which crop processing stages it is from – the model builds discriminant functions which discriminate between the attributes of these groups (the seed attributes) to find the best separation. The discriminant functions produced can then be used to predict which group unknown cases (the archaeobotanical data) best fit in (one of the four crop processing stages) to varying degrees of probability.

The Charles ( 1998 ) method uses discriminant analysis in a slightly different way. Instead of using just the ethnographic data to build the model and the discriminant functions, it includes the archaeobotanical samples to build the predictive model. So, when the archaeobotanical samples are the classified against the model, there are five classes into which the archaeobotanical samples could be classified. The archaeobotanical samples, while in the model, will not necessarily be reclassified into the archaeological group. This is because the model analyses how similar the samples are to all five classes, not just the archaeological group. The method provides an understanding of how similar or different the archaeobotanical samples’ seed attributes are to material resulting from crop processing, unlike the Jones method, which selects the closest match from among the four crop processing groups in the model.

The Charles ( 1998 ) method uses the archaeobotanical samples as the extra group due to limited availability of required data on the attributes of weed seeds found in non-crop processing activities (e.g. dung-burning). Further ethnographic or experimental work could provide data to fill this gap, but it should be remembered that the objective at this stage is to show whether the archaeobotanical material is similar to that generated by crop processing or not, rather than classify the material as the remains of dung burning or other specific activities. Additional steps are required to understand whether for example dung-burning contributed to an assemblage (for full details see Charles 1998 ).

The R package CropPro

The CropPro package is a collection of functions that can be used to organise and transform raw archaeobotanical data, to construct triplots in comparison with the Jones ( 1990 ) proportions of grains torachis nodes toweed seeds, to conduct discriminant analysis to compare archaeobotanical data against the Amorgos ethnographic data (ESM 1 ) and to plot the archaeobotanical discriminant scores against the ethnographic data’s discriminant scores. The functions can be divided into three groups: data organisation, classification and visualisation.

Data organisation

The function crop.dataorg transforms raw archaeobotanical data into the required format for the discriminant analysis based CropPro functions. crop.dataorg calculates the square root of the percentage of weed seeds in each sample and then sums them for the different weed seed attribute categories. crop.dataorg produces a dataset with columns for each of the six combined weed-seed attributes and samples as the rows. An example of this is provided below (see the section ‘Discriminant analysis’).

Classification

There are two discriminant analysis functions:

LDAcrop.pro follows the Jones ( 1984 ) method and uses the ethnographic data to construct a discriminant model, against which the archaeobotanical samples are classified as one of the four groups (winnowing by-product, coarse sieve by-product, fine sieve by-product or fine sieve product), classifying the entered archaeobotanical samples and providing the probabilities of their occurrence in each one of the four groups and their linear discriminant scores.

LDAcrop.plus follows the Charles ( 1998 ) method, using the ethnographic data plus the archaeobotanical samples to construct the model. The archaeobotanical samples are then reclassified against that model; samples can be classified as one of five different groups (archaeological or the four listed above).

Visualisation

The results of the classification functions can be plotted as either a two- or three-dimensional plot. crop.plot2D produces a two-dimensional plot from the output of LDAcrop.pro, in which the user can select which discriminant function will be shown on which axes. crop.plus_plot2D works in the same way as crop.plot2D, but plots the output of LDAcrop.pro. crop.plot3D and crop.plus_plot3D using the outputs of the two LDA functions to plot the first three discriminant functions as an interactive three-dimensional plot Footnote 1 . Another visualisation function is crop.triplot, which plots data from the proportions of grains torachis nodes toweed seeds within samples and compares them to the ethnographic data’s proportions. An example of this is provided below (see the section ‘Triplots’).

Use of the CropPro package

The CropPro package offers a range of functions that can be used in a variety of workflows. The workflow followed below is the best order for the example datasets provided; however, it should be noted that workflow will vary depending on the assemblage analysed and the research questions posed. It is recommended to use the functions in an exploratory way to investigate the archaeobotanical assemblage, trying out alternative classifications and thresholds to better understand the implications. In the examples below, the package is applied to a temperate European dataset (Stafford) and to a semi-arid south-west Asian dataset (Tell Brak). Figure  1 provides a simplified flow diagram outlining the main steps required to conduct the three different analyses.

Flow diagram of the main processes and functions of the CropPro package

Users of the package should have a comprehensive understanding of their dataset, including the proportions of items within each sample, the dominance of specific crops and the research questions being addressed. For methods based on weed/wild seed attributes alone, we recommend an absolute minimum of 10 seeds per sample, although analyses based on larger numbers would be much more reliable. A minimum of 10 weed seeds per sample is suggested as a compromise between reliability (the lower the minimum number per sample, the less reliable the classification of the sample) and the inclusion of samples in the analysis (the higher the minimum number per sample, the fewer the number of samples included), which can result in an unrepresentative assemblage of samples. No minimum number of weed seeds is required for inclusion in the triplot method, where the percentages of weed seeds, grains and rachis nodes are used to create the plot.

The quality of the information obtained from the analyses can vary according to context, with mixed crop types from secondary or tertiary deposits being more challenging to interpret, given that they likely derive from multiple events. While not essential, an understanding of patterns based on context type, density and crop type is helpful. The authors have found correspondence analysis to be informative in ascertaining patterns that may aid in understanding the taphonomic pathway of the samples. An example demonstrating this process is described in Bogaard et al. ( 2021 ).

The package can be downloaded into R from GitHub Footnote 2 using the devtools package by Wickham et al. ( 2022 ). The package CropPro can be manually downloaded from the CropPro GitHub account or download it within R using the devtools package’s function install_github (see ESM 2 : code line 6).

The early medieval site of Stafford was occupied from the late 7th century onwards, and the archaeobotanical samples used here date from the 9th to 16th centuries. Excavations at a number of locations around the town produced a quantity of archaeobotanical remains. The raw data are derived from the original archaeobotanical analyses conducted by Moffett ( 1987 ) and Druce ( 2014 ) and can be found in McKerracher et al. ( 2023 ). The phasing used in this paper was devised by the FeedSax project (Hamerow et al. 2020 ). The R script created to analyse the dataset for this paper is provided and specific code lines referred to throughout the demonstration of the package (ESM 2 ). The dataset used here has been simplified for ease of demonstration (ESM 3 ): analysis of the complete dataset without omissions is available in McKerracher et al. ( 2023 ). The Stafford dataset consists predominantly of free-threshing cereals, with glume wheat forming a negligible proportion of the assemblage, making it comparable to the ethnographic data.

To use the CropPro package, the dataset was cleaned, with tentatively identified specimens (i.e., cf. identifications) re-assigned to positively identified categories, or demoted to wider classification groups (genus or family groups). Specimens that were not seeds or rachis nodes were removed, for example culm, calyx tips and pod fragments. Non-arable items were removed, including any edible species such as fruits and nut species (e.g. for the Stafford data Prunus fruit stones were removed). Understanding what is non-arable can be an iterative process, involving the inclusion/exclusion of species and examination of the impact, or facilitated through the use of correspondence analysis. The weed seed species were classified using Jones’s categories (see Table  1 for categories, see below for more detail). Any weed seed, which could not be classified, was left blank (see ESM 3 , column “Codes”).

To investigate crop processing using the proportions of grains torachis nodes toweed seeds, the dataset was further cleaned: any pulse and flax items and the single spelt grain were removed and only the free-threshing cereal used. From this simplified and cleaned dataset the total grain, rachis nodes and weed seeds per sample were calculated, with only samples that contained at least 30 items included (sample 1174 was removed, ESM 2 : code lines 18–20). The cut-off for total number of items per sample is assemblage-dependent and should be modified given the richness of the assemblage. If the number of samples in the assemblage is large, then the minimum number of items per sample could be raised to include only the most statistically reliable samples but, if the number of samples is small, reducing the numbers further may result in an unrepresentative assemblage of samples. To use the function crop.triplot, the data needed to be orientated with samples in rows and the three categories in columns (Table  2 , ESM 2 : code lines 23–24). It is also possible to do the above data manipulation outside R and to import a dataset that has samples in rows and three columns with the total numbers of grains, rachis nodes and weed seeds (Table  2 ).

The function crop.triplot plots the inputted data, as well as the proportions of the ethnographic data; these two graphs are displayed side-by-side in the outputted graph (Fig.  2 ). crop.triplot has multiple defaults, allowing the symbol’s colour/outline, the symbol’s infill colour and the symbol’s shape to be modified for both the ethnographic and archaeobotanical data. Specific samples can also be labelled and/or highlighted based on row number. When the Stafford data are plotted using crop.triplot the result shows that a high proportion of samples fall in the cleaned products region of the graph, while the other samples appear to be a mixture of multiple crop processing stages (ESM 2 : code line 25, Fig.  2 ). A small number of samples have proportions similar to coarse sieve by-product and fine sieve by-product. One sample falls outside the main grouping, with a low percentage of grains compared to weed seeds and rachis nodes. Using crop.triplot’s argument “sample”, the sample 478 can be highlighted and labelled (ESM 2 : code line 26, Fig.  2 ).

The plots produced using crop.triplot showing the ethnographic data (left) and the Stafford data (right). Sample 478 is highlighted

• Discriminant analysis

Discriminant analysis was used to compare the attributes of the weed seeds of the Stafford assemblage to the ethnographic data. The discriminant analysis provided an understanding of how similar the Stafford data were to each of the four crop processing groups. Data cleaning was conducted to remove any grain and rachis entries used in the previous triplot analysis, leaving only weed seeds. To conduct the discriminant analysis, the weed taxa needed to be classified based on their seed size, tendency to remain in heads and aerodynamic properties. Multiple methods can be used to classify the species: previously published data on relevant species can be used as well as personal measurements and experimental data. The classification of the Stafford species is shown in ESM 4 , along with additional species relevant to archaeobotanical assemblages. Furthermore, the user needs to judge what delineates small vs. big, light vs. heavy, headed vs. free for their assemblage, as this may vary (e.g. 1.5 and 2 mm cut-offs for small vs. big could be compared). For the Stafford data any item which could not be classified was removed and only samples which had 10 or more classifiable items were included in the analysis, resulting in 41 usable samples (ESM 2 : code lines 31–40). Such a cut-off is, again, assemblage-dependent; a minimum of 10 items per sample was set for the Stafford dataset. It is also possible at this stage, to enter a spreadsheet into R, in which all the above manipulations have been conducted outside R.

The finalised, cleaned and labelled dataset was transformed and organised using the function crop.dataorg, which conducts a square root transformation on the data (see Jones 1984 , p 49). crop.dataorg requires information regarding which column contains the seed attribute codes and which column contains the first sample (ESM 2 : code line 43). crop.dataorg produces a table of the summed, transformed values of the different species classified as either BHH, BFH, SHH, SHL, SFH or SFL, for each sample (Fig.  3 ). The crop.dataorg output is also in the correct orientation for discriminant analysis.

A portion of the output of crop.dataorg for the Stafford data

LDAcrop.pro is one of the two linear discriminant functions in the CropPro package and it classifies the entered archaeobotanical data against a discriminant model constructed using the ethnographic data. LDAcrop.pro is simple to use, only requiring the output of crop.dataorg to be entered (ESM 2 : code line 45). The results of LDAcrop.pro are printed in the console and show the classification of the samples, the probability of the sample being classified as group 1, 2, 3 or 4 and the linear discriminant scores for function 1, 2 and 3 (Fig.  4 ). A classification table is also produced which shows the numbers and percentages of samples classified as winnowing by-product (group 1), coarse sieve by-product (group 2), fine sieve by-product (group 3) or fine sieve product (group 4) (Fig.  4 ).

A portion of the R console output of LDAcrop.pro showing the results table and the classification table of the Stafford data

The results show that 41% of the Stafford samples are classed as fine sieve product, with no samples classified as coarse sieve by-product (Fig.  4 , “classification table”). When interpreting sample classification, examination of the probability columns provides an understanding of how well the samples fit in their assigned group – that is, how similar the samples are to that processing group as opposed to the other groups. A probability of 1 (100%) means that that sample strongly resembles that group compared to the other groups; it does not mean it has the same composition, just that it is much more dissimilar to the other groups. Examination of the classification probabilities (columns Prob.1_std*, Prob.2_std*, Prob.3_std* and Prob.4_std*, Fig.  4 ) shows that the samples classified as winnowing by-products (Class 1) all have a greater than 70% probability. The probabilities of the samples classified as fine sieve by-products show that sample 461 has a 37% probability of belonging in that group but that it also has a 29% chance of being a winnowing by-product and a 34% chance of being a fine sieve product. Furthermore, among the samples classified as fine sieve products, six have less than 70% chance of belonging in that group. Such results indicate that some of the samples conform closely to one or other of the four processing (by-)products but other samples do not, potentially indicating a mixture of (by-)products, the inclusion of material from non-crop-processing activity or the most likely interpretation, given the greater probability (second choice) of fine sieved by-products, an intermediate product of unsieved grain.

The results of LDAcrop.pro, when saved as an object, provide additional information (ESM 5 ). The columns denoted by an asterisk are those that are used throughout this analysis and in subsequent functions. The MASS package that is used within the LDAcrop.pro function to conduct the linear discriminant analysis provides standardised and unstandardised data that are shown in the additional columns (see the CropPro help document; Stroud et al. ( 2023 ), or Venables and Ripley ( 2002 ) for full details). The unstandardised linear discriminant scores (LD1*, LD2* etc.) are used in the plotting functions below. Furthermore, the standardised probability (Prob.1_std* etc.) and classifications (Class_std*) should be used when assessing the results.

Plotting the linear discriminant scores also illustrates how well the samples conform to the ethnographic groups. CropPro has two plotting options for crop processing data: a two-dimensional plot and a three-dimensional plot, both using the results from LDAcrop.pro. The function crop.plot3D is a great way of visualising examining how similar the samples are to the crop processing groups, as all three discriminant functions are plotted. As the plot is interactive, it is possible to manipulate it to see where the samples fall on all three axes in comparison with the ethnographic data (Fig.  5 ). crop.plot3D requires the output of LDAcrop.pro, and will extract the three linear discriminant functions to create the plot. The colour of the entered archaeobotanical data as well as the ethnographic data can be changed with the arguments of col and gcol respectively. Finally, the argument site allows users to change the label of the archaeobotanical data in the legend. While this paper has images of crop.plot3D as examples, it should be noted the crop.plot2D can provide a 2D version of the differing axes for publication; crop.plot3D can provide images but requires the user to originate the graph to the correct angle and can be harder to understand visually in a static form.

Static images of the interactive plot produced by the function crop.plot3D from the discriminant analysis of the Stafford data using LDA.croppro, a , a static image of the first and second axes (Linear discriminant function (LD) 1 and 2), b , the second and third axes (Linear discriminant function (LD) 2 and 3), and c , the third and first axes (Linear discriminant function (LD) 1 and 3)

Plotting the Stafford data using crop.plot3D (ESM 2 : code line 47) provides an interactive graph showing the data in relation to the ethnographic data: it shows that the samples plot near the fine sieve product and by-product groups, on the first two discriminant functions (Fig.  5 a). However, when the graph is rotated to display discriminant function 2 and 3, the samples extend out on the third discriminant function axis, similar to the winnowing by-products (hence the reason 10 samples were classified as winnowing by-products) (Fig.  5 b). Rotating the graph again to show discriminant function 1 and 3, the archaeobotanical samples classified as winnowing do not directly plot over the ethnographic data; instead some fall outside the distribution of the ethnographic data (Fig.  5 c). It is most likely that those samples are a mixture of processing stages.

While crop.plot3D is a useful tool for investigating the data, it may be difficult to publish, and the function crop.plot2D provides a two-dimensional plot (Fig.  6 ). While it defaults to displaying the first two discriminant functions, it can be changed so that any combination of the three discriminant functions are used (see ESM 2 : code lines 54–55, Fig.  6 a–c). In addition, specific samples can be labelled and there are arguments which can be used to change both the symbols and their colours for both archaeobotanical samples and ethnographic data (ESM 2 : code lines 73–75, Fig.  6 d and e). The default is set to a black and white graph.

2D plots of the results of the discriminant analysis of the Stafford data using LDAcrop.pro compared against the ethnographic model; a , the 2D plot showing first and second discriminant function; b , a 2D plot of the first and third discriminant function; c , a 2D plot of the second and third discriminant function; d , a 2D plot of the first and second function with samples 1165 and 1173 labelled; e , a 2D plot with the samples coloured green to show the Tipping Street samples and red to show Bath St and St Mary’s samples

The results of the Stafford analysis suggest that, while many of the samples derived from the fine sieved product, other samples do not fully align with the ethnographic data. This could be a result of a mixture of multiple processing (by-)products, or the inclusion of material from alternative sources. To investigate whether the inclusion of possible hay meadow species had an impact on the classification, species associated with hay meadows were removed (see Table  3 ). The analysis was then rerun, with the data organised using crop.dataorg and then analysed with LDAcrop.pro (ESM 2 : code lines 85–114). There were limited changes to the results: only sample 461 changed classification, and this was the sample which had been noted previously as having a low similarity to the other groups. The limited changes highlight the insignificant impact of potential hay meadow taxa on the overall classifications. This suggests that the influence of hay meadow is limited or non-existent. Plotting the samples also shows limited differences compared to the original graph (compare Fig.  7 a and b).

a , The results of the original crop processing discriminant analysis of the Stafford data with sample 461 highlighted; b , The results of the modified analysis of the Stafford data with the hay meadow taxa removed

To provide an example from a semi-arid location and use of the set of functions within CropPro to understand potential dung burning, the dataset from Tell Brak, a large tell site located in north-eastern Syria, was analysed. The dataset contains samples from the 3rd millennium bce phases (Late ED III, Akkadian and post-Akkadian occupation). The dataset published in Charles and Bogaard ( 2001 ) has been simplified for ease of demonstration, resulting in slight deviations from the results presented in that publication (ESM 6 ). The R script used for the analysis is supplied (ESM 7 ).

Data cleaning involved the removal of items not applicable to the analysis. Items within the dataset were classified as either free-threshing crop grains, free-threshing crop rachis, glume wheat items (grain and chaff) or weeds. Any items that fell outside such classification (e.g. dung remains, culm and wild chaff, fruits and nuts) were labelled with an “N” (ESM 6 column Cat1). This column was used in R to filter the dataset to obtain the groups necessary for the analysis (ESM 7 : code line 16).

The Tell Brak dataset contains both free-threshing crops and glume wheats. Given that the ethnographic data derives from free-threshing crops, the assemblage was examined to understand the dominance of such crop types within each sample and to determine their eligibility. The samples were classified based on the proportion of crops within the samples using an 80% threshold for barley, free-threshing cereal (wheat and barley), pulse and mixed as per Charles and Bogaard ( 2001 ) (ESM 8 ). Barley (16 samples), lentil (2 samples) and pea (1 sample) dominate some samples, while others contained a combination of free-threshing wheat and barley items (the “free-threshing cereal” classification group, 9 samples); no sample was dominated by glume wheat items only. The remaining samples were classed as mixed (12 samples) (ESM 8 ).

crop.triplot was used to investigate the Tell Brak data and to construct triplots showing the proportion of grains torachis nodes toweed seeds across the samples in comparison to the ethnographic data. As the ethnographic data used in the crop.triplot come only from free-threshing cereals, only free-threshing cereal dominated samples were used (those classed as “barley” or “free-threshing cereal”); all mixed and pulse samples were removed (ESM 7 : code line 28). The proportions of grains, rachis nodes and weed seeds were calculated, excluding glume wheat grains and glume bases, as well as weed items which were not seeds (i.e. wild grass rachis) (ESM 7 : code line 16). Any samples containing less than 30 such items were excluded (samples ST105/26, ST105/27 and ER45/13). As with the Stafford data, the Tell Brak data were orientated correctly with samples in rows and grain, rachis and weed totals in columns. The resultant cleaned and modified data were entered into crop.triplot (ESM 7 : code line 32).

The output of crop.triplot, coded to differentiate between the barley-dominated and free-threshing cereal-dominated samples, shows that the barley samples predominantly plot in the region of cleaned product due to the dominance of grain within the samples (Fig.  8 ). The low-grain samples, predominately the “free-threshing cereal group”, plot towards the rachis/weed side of the graph, the region in which the ethnographic samples from winnowing/coarse sieve by-products occur (Fig.  8 , ESM 7 : code line 38).

The plots produced using crop.triplot showing the ethnographic data (left) and the Tell Brak data (right)

Further investigation of the crop processing stages represented in the Tell Brak data was conducted using discriminant analysis. The dataset was cleaned to remove any crop or collected species. The remaining weed taxa were classified based on their size, tendency to remain in heads and aerodynamics (see ESM 6 , column “codes”). Any specimen that could not be classified – either due to lack of information, or because it was not identified to a species or genus type with uniform attributes – were removed. For the Tell Brak assemblage the minimum number of items per sample threshold was set at 20 to provide a selection of samples, which were more representative of the overall assemblage. As explained above it is recommended that users test different variations for all decisions made (classifications, and number of items per sample) to see whether the results change for their assemblage. Such iterative use is not shown below due to limited space.

To arrange the cleaned data into the correct format as well as conduct a square root transformation, the function crop.dataorg was used (ESM 7 : code line 58). The output was then analysed using LDAcrop.pro (ESM 7 : code line 60), with the results indicating a relatively even distribution of samples between winnowing by-products, coarse sieve by-product and fine sieve products (30–40%) (Fig.  9 ). Classification probabilities indicate several low values, in particular sample DH78/158 and FS1016/68 + 111(63%) likelihood of belonging to group 1, the winnowing by-product group (Fig.  9 ; Table  4 ).

A portion of the R console output of LDAcrop.pro showing the results table and the classification table of the Tell Brak data

Overall, the free-threshing cereal and barley samples are predominantly classified as winnowing by-product or fine sieve product, agreeing with the grains torachis nodes toweed seeds proportions, which indicate that samples are either fine sieve products or fall into the winnowing/coarse sieve by-product area of the triplot.

Plotting the results using crop.plot2D function, where the samples are colour-coded based on their classification group (barley, mixed and free-threshing cereals), highlights the location of the samples (ESM 7 : code lines 69–74) (Fig.  10 a). The mixed samples plot outside the ethnographic groups in the upper centre space, highlighting their mixed nature. The exceptions to this are samples FS309 and FS351/49, which plot within the coarse sieve by-product group, and CH485/45, which plots within the winnowing by-product group (Fig.  10 a). Using crop.plot3D with these three samples labelled, it can be seen that while FS309 and CH485 conform to their groups on the three-discriminant axis, FS351 plots slightly outside the coarse sieve by-product group on the third axis (Fig.  10 b) (ESM 7 : code lines 81–82). Rotating the crop.plot3D also shows that on the third axis the majority of mixed samples do not overlap with the processing groups.

a , a plot of the Tell Brak discriminant analysis results created using crop.plot2D, with the samples colour coded based on sample composition and b , a plot of the Tell Brak discriminant analysis using crop.plot3D with the samples colour coded based on sample composition and the plot rotated to show the 2nd and 3rd axes

When the samples are colour-coded based on their LDA classification using crop.plot3D it can been observed how close the samples are to the centroids of the crop processing groups and how they behave on the third axis: winnowing samples (group 1) pull out along the negative side, coarse sieve samples (group 2) on the positive side along axis 3 (Fig.  11 a). There are two free-threshing cereal samples which are classified as fine sieve product (CH527/56 and FS191/35); FS191/35 plots on the periphery of the fine sieve product group while CH527/56 plots towards the middle (Fig.  11 b). Examination of the other components within the samples reveals a high proportion of big, free and heavy Aegilops seeds and rachis nodes. This suggests that they are a mixture of the early stages of crop processing as well as hand-sorting residue.

a , a plot of the Tell Brak data created using crop.plot3D with the samples coloured based on LDA classification and the plot rotated to show the 2nd and 3rd axes; b , a plot of the Tell Brak data created using crop.plot2D with the samples coloured based on LDA classification

It is advisable to investigate the impact particular species have had on a sample’s overall classification (see the above example for Aegilops seeds), the classification of species (e.g. big vs. small cut-offs) and the inclusion/exclusion of potential arable/non-arable species.

Use of the crop.plus functions

The CropPro package also includes a set of functions which can be used to investigate assemblages where it is uncertain that the samples are the by-products crop processing, and it is possible that other sources have contributed to the assemblage i.e. dung-burning, turf-burning etc. The crop.plus suite of functions follow Charles’s ( 1998 ) method where, unlike the linear discriminant analysis method described above (LDAcrop.pro), the ethnographic and archaeobotanical samples are used to create the model at the discrimination stage. The archaeobotanical samples are then re-classified against the created model that has five groups: the four crop processing stages and an archaeological group.

The function LDAcrop.plus discriminates the archaeobotanical samples and four crop processing groups, creating a model that is assemblage-dependent. The use of LDAcrop.plus is very similar to LDAcrop.pro: the output of crop.dataorg can be entered into LDAcrop.plus with no modification, making is easy to conduct both LDAcrop.pro and LDAcrop.plus from the same output. The output of LDAcrop.plus is also similar to that of LDAcrop.pro, with the classification of the samples, probabilities and discriminant scores shown in the console, along with a classification table showing the percentages of samples classified as archaeological, or one of the four crop processing stages.

LDAcrop.plus was used to analyse the Tell Brak data; the output from crop.dataorg above (i.e. 20 items etc.) was used (ESM 7 : code line 109). The resultant classification table shows that 84% of the archaeobotanical samples are re-classified as archaeological rather than as one of the crop processing (by-)products (Fig.  12 ). The probabilities of these samples being most like group 5 are all above 90% except for two samples DH91/142 and FS309/31(Fig.  12 ). The four samples not classified as archaeological were CH527/56, ER45/26, ER45/4 and FS1527. These samples were classified as fine sieve product by LDAcrop.pro (see Table  4 ). All are barley-dominated except for CH527/56, which is free-threshing cereal dominated. CH527/56 has been mentioned above as a possible combination of by-products from early processing and hand sorting.

A portion of the R console output of LDA.cropplus showing the results table and classification table of the Tell Brak

crop.plus_plot2D and crop.plus_plot3D can be used to plot the results of LDAcrop.plus. These functions must be used to plot the output of LDAcrop.plus, as the x and y coordinates of the ethnographic data differ when archaeobotanical data is used in the model, something the crop.plus functions are equipped to deal with. crop.plus_plot2D was used to plot the output of LDAcrop.plus with the LDA classification of the archaeobotanical samples colour coded (archaeological vs. crop processing) (Fig.  13 a) (ESM 7 : code line 115). Comparison of this plot with the plot from LDAcrop.pro output shows that there is slight distortion in the crop-processing pattern but that it is minimal (Fig.  13 b). Colour coding the samples base on classification using crop.plus_plot3D shows how the samples classified as archaeological cluster with the ethnographic data on axis 3 – which is not shown in the 2D plot (compare Fig.  13 a with Fig.  14 a) (ESM 7 : code lines 113–117).

a , a plot of the Tell Brak data created using crop.plus_plot2D, with samples classified as a crop processing group coloured green; b , a plot of the Tell Brak data created using crop.plot2D

a , a 3D plot of the Tell Brak discriminant analysis results produced using LDAcrop.plus, showing the second and third axes with samples coloured and labelled based on classification as either archaeological or crop processing; b , a 3D plot of the Tell Brak discriminant analysis showing the results of LDAcrop.plus when using a reduced set of species with samples coloured and labelled based on classification as either archaeological or crop processing

As Tell Brak is located in semi-arid south-west Asia, it is possible that the samples include material from the burning of dung, thus making them deviate from the ethnographic data. The criteria Charles ( 1998 ) proposed can be used to investigate the likelihood of this through understanding the ecology/biology of weed/wild taxa, the presence of dung remains and the behaviour of wild/weed seeds compared to crop processing (see Charles 1998 for full details). While exploring such criteria is outside the scope of this paper, a set of species (Table  3 ), the ecologies of which suggest derivation from dung, were removed to demonstrate the iterative processes that the use of this method requires. The new dataset was rerun through the workflow, including data cleaning to remove any sample with less than 20 items and then crop.dataorg and LDAcrop.plus (Fig.  1 ) (ESM 7 : code lines 130–144). The classifications change with the refined data, and archaeobotanical samples classified as ‘archaeological’ reduced from 84 to 69% of samples: seven samples are now classified as one of the crop processing groups. crop.plus_plot3D shows that some samples are located at a distance from the crop processing samples on the 3rd axis – in particular sample FS259/75 (Fig.  14 b). This sample lacks BFH seeds and has a high number of SFL seeds (the dominant weed combination in winnowing by-product). The high amount of Lophochloa and other small-seeded grasses pulls this sample out. Small-seeded grasses have at some sites been linked to dung (e.g. Bogaard et al. 2021 ), so this provides another possible insight which could be further explored though the removal of such species and rerunning the analysis, and/or the use of other statistical methods such as correspondence analysis.

The use of CropPro to determine the source of samples is another tool now freely available to archaeobotanists when investigating archaeobotanical assemblages. Determining which products or by-products are represented by archaeobotanical samples is necessary, in order to recognize the biases in sample composition introduced during crop processing. These biases can then be taken into account when interpreting weed species as indicators of cultivation practices and regimes. CropPro provides a complementary statistical tool that can be run before weed ecology statistical packages such as WeedEco (Stroud et al. 2023 ), to ensure that crop processing biases in the weed species represented in samples have been considered before embarking on the ecological analysis of weeds as indicators of growing conditions.

The worked examples presented here have provided an insight into the scope of the R package CropPro and the variety of ways the package can be used to investigate the stage of crop processing represented within archaeobotanical samples. Moreover, the Tell Brak data shows how CropPro can be used, in conjunction with other criteria, to understand the likelihood that other taphonomic pathways such as dung burning contributed to the archaeobotanical assemblage.

Previously published crop processing analyses of archaeobotanical data have been conducted in SPSS. It should be noted that slight differences may be observed, in particular relating to the negative and positive signs for the different discriminant functions. This is because statistically whether a group, e.g. a crop-processing group, has a negative or positive linear discriminant score is arbitrary and will differ between statistical programs. Should the ethnographic dataset be used in an alternative statistical program, for ease of comparison between different programs it is necessary to explicitly state what statistical program has been used.

It is strongly recommended that the version of the R package, R, RStudio, and the crop processing dataset used are explicitly stated within the method section of outputs to facilitate reproducibility. To cite the use of the data, models and R package described in this article we suggest including a paragraph referencing all of the components. Using the Tell Brak dataset as an example, a paragraph like the one below should be included:

The analysis followed the procedure described in Stroud et al. (this paper). The R package CropPro , version 1.0.0 was used (Stroud et al. 2023 ). The Tell Brak data were plotted in comparison to the grains/rachis nodes/weed seeds ethnographic data from Jones ( 1990 ). The data were also classified using the discriminant analysis functions within CropPro using two models: a model constructed from the ethnographic weed attribute data , and a model constructed from the ethnographic weed attribute data and archaeobotanical samples (see Jones 1984 and Charles 1998 for full model details , Stroud et al. (this paper) for the ethnographic data). R version 4.2.2 , and RStudio version 2022.07.02 , were used.

Conclusions

The R package CropPro allows archaeobotanists to compare samples against ethnographically derived proportions and weed attribute data deriving from different stages of traditional crop processing. This package allows the application of the method developed by Jones ( 1984 ), which classifies archaeobotanical samples against a discriminant model constructed of weeds derived from ethnographically collected samples of four crop processing products and by-products. Furthermore, the package provides functions which allow archaeobotanists to investigate alternative depositional pathways where the discriminant model is constructed using the ethnographic data plus the archaeobotanical data, testing the assumption that the samples necessarily represent crop processing residues (Charles 1998 ).

Interactive graphs may require the installation of XQuartz software on MacOS based computers.

The authors aim to submit the package to CRAN in the near future. Currently the development version of the package is available on GitHub.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the farmers of Amorgos for their hospitality and permission to sample their crops, and Paul Halstead for tramping the fields of Kolofana in search of threshing floors and grain silos from which to collect samples. Thanks also to Mark McKerracher for answering questions regarding the Stafford dataset.

Writing of this paper and the R package was supported by an ERC synergy EXPLO project (grant no. 810586, PI Bogaard). A Department of Education grant, and Darwin college, Cambridge, supported Glynis Jones during her development of the weed-based method of identifying crop processing.

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All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Elizabeth Stroud wrote the CropPro R package. Ethnographic data collection was led by Glynis Jones. The analysis in R was conducted by Elizabeth Stroud. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Elizabeth Stroud and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Stroud, E., Jones, G., Charles, M. et al. Sieving the weeds from the grains: an R based package for classifying archaeobotanical samples of cereals and pulses according to crop processing stages. Veget Hist Archaeobot (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-024-01006-7

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-024-01006-7

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