ABSTRACT Weissberg & Buker (2006) suggested that there five elements required in the introduction section in writing

a research paper. So, the main objective of this project paper is to investigate whether the format of writing introduction section in the research articles chosen follow the format suggested by Weissberg & Buker. The samples used in this project were related to my field of study. Three articles were collected for this project paper as recommended and approved by the lecturer. The results of this research showed that the researchers in the field of education do not follow the format suggested by Weissberg & Buker because none of the three articles have all the five elements required in the introduction section. RA1 and RA3 have four out of five elements in their introduction section. The only missing element is value/justification. Meanwhile RA2 has the least number of information elements. There are two missing elements in RA2. The researchers may have their own reason not to follow the format. For example, they may not really focus on the format in the introduction section because their main focus and objective is directly to what to investigate. So, I assumed that the researchers actually have their own reasons not to follow the format, especially in the introduction section of their research articles. This study was limited to three samples only and has to conduct in very short time. However, this project paper really helps me to increase my knowledge for future research writing. Moreover, a further research in the future should use more samples with enough time given to conduct the research.

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this project paper is to learn English for Academic Purpose. It focuses on skills that are required for reading academic texts at university level, skills for writing research reports and oral presentation. It also about the skills to preparing myself to produce a high quality research paper in the future. In this research, we were required to select three journals articles published in or after the year 2007. The title of the three articles are Comparison of eggplant landraces and commercial varieties for fruit content of phonemics, minerals, dry matter and protein, Composition and distribution of phenol acids in Ponca (citrus proneness hurt. Ex Tanaka) and Humour (citrus paradise Mac. Changshanhuyou) during maturity and Bioactive compounds in different citrus varieties, Discrimination among cultivars. There are several researches that have been made for an introduction before. Jenkins S (1995) in his book How to write a paper for a scientific journal said that the purpose of the introduction is to stimulate the readers interest and to provide background information which is pertinent to the study. The statement of the research question is the most important part of the introduction. The review of the literature needs to be short and concise. Meanwhile, James D. Lester (2002) in his book Writing Research paper suggesting six important criteria that must be included in the introduction section are thesis statement, information that has relationship with a well known

knowledge,

background

information,

the

history

review

and

the

background of the subject, exception to critical views, challenges of assumption and a brief summary. He added that certain mistakes in the opening should be avoided to maintain the readers interest. According to Robert Weissberg and Suzanne Buker (1990) in their book writing up research, introduction can be separated into five stages which are include setting, aspect of problem, statement that indicate the need for more investigation, the purpose and objective of the writer study and justification for carrying out the study. Lastly, Michael Kearl (2004), in his book The Research Paper, said that a research paper introduction must be catchy. He said, to start a good article for reading you will need to have a very good opening. For researching documents, a very good intro is one of the primary parts that give a clear view of the material. The beginning needs to be maintained as the part to attract the readers and capture their interest. He added that, with a good opening you may deliver a starting point of readership for your target audiences. Therefore, it is essential to write a good introduction to your journal because the quality of a journal articles can be differentiated by the way they present their introduction section. There is a need for more research on the introduction section, because it is important to research and analyze the structure of goods information elements in the introduction section for research paper. The objectives of this project paper are to acquire a range of vocabulary items and grammatical rules which are widely used in reading

and writing academic discourse, to identify structure of sentences used in academic texts, to write sentences in grammatically correct structure, to identify the linguistic features that helpful in understanding the functions and informations elements of academics texts, to know and apply the uses of introduction part in a research report and to improve skills for writing research report related to certain educational disciplines. There are many benefits that I can get by conducting this project paper. Firstly, it will help me to acquire reading academic texts skill and to improve my language and writing skills. This project paper also will help me in my future thesis writing. This project paper also can increase my knowledge on my major study. Moreover, this project paper will help me to write the introduction section of a research report correctly and effectively.

METHOD The main objective of this research paper is to determine the kinds of information should be put in the introduction section of research articles in education. This paper project also conducted to find the quality of the chosen journal articles. There are three journal articles chosen for this research project. All of the journal articles chosen have been taken from the journal of Food Composition and Analysis. The title of the first articles is Comparison of eggplant landraces and commercial varieties for fruit content of phonemics, minerals, dry matter and protein written by Maria D. raigon, Jaime Prohens, Julio E. Munoz-Falcon and Fernando Nuez from Instituto de Conservacion Mejora de la Agrodiversidad Valenciana, Universidad Politecnia de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain. The title of the second articles is Composition and distribution of phenol acids in Ponca (citrus proneness hurt. Ex Tanaka) and Humour (citrus paradise Mac. Changshanhuyou) during maturity written by Antonio Cano, Alejandro Medina and almudena Bermejo from Centro de Citricultura Produccion Vegetal, Instituto valenciano de

Investigaciones Agrarias, Crta. Moncada-Naquera, Km 4.5, Moncada, 46113 Valencia, Spain. The third articles is entitled Bioactive compounds in different citrus varieties, Discrimination among cultivars written by Guihua Xu, Xingqian Ye, Donghong Liu, Yaqin Ma and Jianchu Chen from Department of Food Science and nutrition, Zhejiang University, Kaixuan Road 268#, Hangzhou, 310029, China.

This three research articles were selected because they fulfil the IMRD format and the articles were taken from University Malaysia Sabah Library. Evidently, the three articles are not a sufficient quantity to ensure a reliable result for this research project. I also found that the time given to carry out this project paper is very limited. There are some basics procedures to follow in order to carry out this project paper. First, the articles chosen must approved by the lecturer. Second, this project paper primarily focused on the introduction section of the articles. The Method, Result and Discussion section were disregarded. There are five elements need to identify from the introduction sections. The five elements are setting, aspect already studied, need for more research, purpose and value or justification. The keyword showing the five elements in the introduction section of the articles were checked and underlined. After that, two tables were created to show the result of the research. Table 1 show the kinds of information that can be found in each of the three research reports. The symbol of + and - were used to represent the

result in the table form. The positive (+) symbol indicate that the component was found whereas the negative (-) symbol indicate that the component was absence. Meanwhile, table 2 show the appropriate examples of information elements taken from the three research articles.

RESULT The five stages of the introduction sections were stated in the table 1 below to determine the quality of the articles. The table was completed based on the existence of the information elements in the introduction sections from each of the three articles chosen. Table 1
Information Element/Stage Research Article 1 (RA1) Setting Aspects/s Already Studied Need/s for More Research Purpose Value/justification Total Number of information + + + + 4 Research Article 2 (RA2) + + + 3 Research Article 3 (RA3) + + + + 4

Elements Note: The symbols/signs + and - indicate the presence and absence of an information element respectively.

Table 1 shows the distribution of information elements found in the introductions sections of the three research articles chosen. The data

shows that RA1 and RA3 have four out of five elements in their introduction section. The only missing element is value/justification. This element is not included as an information element in the table above possibly because the researchers might prefer to indicate the

value/justification of their studies only in the other section of the journal paper. Meanwhile RA2 has the least number of information elements. There are two missing elements in RA2. The missing elements are need for more research and value/justification. The need for more research element was not included by the researcher probably because the researchers have an up to-date or the latest information on that particular subject. Based on the table 1 above, RA1 and RA3 can be considered as a research article of high quality because both of the articles have the most elements of information in the introduction section. Meanwhile, RA2 cannot be considered as a quality research article because there are only three elements of information in the introduction section.

The results also indicate that the researchers in the field of education do not follow the format suggested by Weissberg & Buker (1990). The researchers may have their own reason not to follow the format. For example, they may not really focus on the format in the introduction section because their main focus and objective is directly to what to investigate. So, I assumed that the researchers actually have their own reasons not to follow the format, especially in the introduction section of their research articles.

Table 2
Information Element/Stage Setting Example An increase in the consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a decrease in the incidence of cardiovascular disease and reduce risks of certain cancer . Citrus fruits and derived products have a beneficial effect on the human health. (RA2:377) Aspects/s Already Studied Not long ago , Luthria carried out a detailed study about the influence of sample preparation on assay of phenolic acids from eggplant (RA3:383) Need/s for More Research But little literature on the composition of phenolic acids in Ponkan and Huyou was available. (RA3:383) Purpose Therefore, the aim of this work was to

investigate the composition and distribution of phenolic acids in Ponkan and Huyou during maturity. (RA3:383)

Value/justification

An attempt to classify the different varieties according to their chemical composition has been made. (RA2:378)

Table 2 above is used to show examples of information elements in the three introduction sections related to my field of study. The words were identified to show the existence of any of the five elements in the introduction section for each of the articles. For setting element, the best words that to describe it is the word decrease in the incidence of cardiovascular disease and reduce risks of certain cancer and beneficial effect on the human health. This sentences show the setting of the research article for RA2. Definitely, the author used those sentences to describe the setting element in the research article. To describe aspects already studied, the words Not long ago, Luthria carried out a detailed study is the words used to show that the aspect already studied by researcher mention. The words were found in the RA3. Needs for more research element was best described by the words But little literature on the composition of phenolic acids in Ponkan and Huyou was available . The words used indicated that there is a need for more research to carry out on that particular subject. The words were found in the RA3.
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The words Therefore, the aim of this work was clearly demonstrate the objective or the purpose of the research article. This words found in the RA3. The sentence described the researcher objective and what they wanted to do in their research. The last element is value or justification. The words An attempt to classify the different varieties according to their chemical composition has been made is the best to describe this element. The words were used to justify the researchers point toward their research. The sentences found in the RA2.

DISCUSSION The result of my research found that the researcher in the field of education did not follow the format as suggested by Weissberg & Buker (1990). The missing of certain information elements in the introduction section pointed out that the researchers were not followed the format in their research writing. I found that, value or justification was the element that absence in all of the articles. This is probably because the researchers might prefer to put the value/justification element in the other section of the journal paper. In the meantime, I found that the most important information element is the purpose element because this element was shown in all articles collected. As I mentioned before, the objective of this project paper is to find out whether the researchers follow the format in writing research article as suggested by Weissberg & Buker. I think that Ive achieved my objective for this project paper.

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However, I must say that the result of this research was not up to the standard required in education research because there were many limitations on this project paper. There were only three research articles used and it is not enough to get a reliable result. The time given to finish this project paper was too short. Meanwhile, I also found that, it was quite difficult to understand the journal articles because of limited in English language proficiency. I found that the words used in the journal articles are sometimes very technical and complicated. On the other hand, I found that this project paper really gave me a lot more knowledge for my future thesis writing. This project paper also helped me to understand the various type of writing research paper and the introduction section in particular. As a recommendation, I suggest that it is better if a future research use larger samples rather than only three samples to get more reliable result.

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