Introduction sections of biomedical research papers: integration of research variables into social functions

It has long been recognized that learning to write academic genres essentially means developing an understanding of the social practices of one’s discipline, becoming aware of the functions of texts and how these functions are conventionally accomplished. The conventions of their writing, therefore, are always embedded in deeper epistemological frameworks that are frequently discipline specific (1). Specifically, the research paper remains the pre-eminent genre of the academy (2). Its publication involves a long process of persuading editors, reviewers and peers to accept a claim as interesting or valid, drawing on approved and familiar discourses to do so (2). And its writing presents challenges for non-native English scholars and novice scholars due to their unawareness of its social nature and conventions.