Dissecting a Manuscript Series

Panel 1 Highlights: The Introduction

Written by Ryan White (Education Committee)

Panelists

Highlights

Dr. Antonia Chen is currently the Deputy Editor for adult reconstruction at JBJS, and is the Director of Research, Arthroplasty Services and an Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is an distinguished clinician-scientist, and for her research efforts, she has been awarded multiple grants and has been recognized with numerous national and international awards recognizing her practice changing work. She also hosts a very popular podcast “Your Case is on Hold”. If you haven’t listened, definitely check it out.

Dr. Marc Swiontkowski is the Editor-in-Chief of JBJS, and is a Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Minnesota. Over his career, he has served as president of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, president of the Mid America Orthopaedic Association, and representative to the Board of Directors of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. Dr. Swiontkowski also has a podcast called OrthoJoe. Definitely check that out if you haven’t already.

These panelists provided a plethora of knowledge in just a one hour panel. Below are some highlighted advice/quotes from our panelists:

  • Approach the introduction like a funnel - start with the big picture, then narrow to the exact problem, identify background information and what's missing from it, then explain how your study fills that gap.

  • The introduction can be broken into three sections:

    • Background information so the reader knows why the topic is important.

    • State current literature and the gaps your study aims to fill.

    • Clearly state the purpose of your study and your hypothesis.

  • The ideal length of an introduction is 3 paragraphs or roughly 1 page. Some papers will require more. Do not exceed 5 paragraphs.

  • Write your Introduction and Methods before your results to keep your writing objective. 

  • Avoid extraneous sentences/information in your background that is not a focus of your study (i.e. Minimize fluff) 

  • Cite as many papers as you need to support your paper without over-citing. You do not need multiple citations for simple summary statements. 10-15 citations are appropriate. 

  • Make sure you are citing important manuscripts in the field - look at the number of citations of cited sources.

  • Your purpose statement is everything so make it good! The purpose of the introduction is not to compare and contrast. Leave that to the discussion.

  • Listing the purposes of the study numerically (“The purpose of the study is 1)... 2)...”) can be a useful technique to keep a paper’s objective organized in multi-purpose studies.

  • Before submission, always check journal guidelines as not following their instructions can lead to a quick rejection. 


Common Mistakes to Avoid: 

  • The study aim/purpose not matching what the study goes on to examine

  • Not identifying a gap within the current literature and tying your study into this gap.

 

Overview

“Introduction” was the first panel hosted by the MSOS Education Committee as part of the research panel series “Dissecting a Manuscript”. The purpose of this panel was to gather advice from our expert panelists on where to begin when writing an introduction, how to craft an effective introduction, and finally apply these in dissecting 3 published manuscripts. We were honored to have these panelists discuss their thoughts.