How to write an introduction to
your project report
Jill Barber
How big?
• You should be aiming for a total of 8000 words
(half that for CAC). (Generally fewer words for
science than pharmacy practice).
• Usually few words is better than lots of words.
• The introduction is 20 marks out of 75, so
perhaps 2000 words. You will not get marks
for making it very long. Try to be concise.
It’s your report
• You decide what the report is about.
• Three students studied the NMR spectra of the
antibiotic kirromycin bound to fully
deuteriated EFTu.
Introduction 1: G-binding proteins
Introduction 2: antibiotics
Introduction 3: deuterium
Nobody wrote about NMR, but that was also
possible.
Aims and Objectives
• Your aims must be worthwhile:
To cure cancer
To bring about world peace
To solve global warming
• Your objectives must be realistic:
To evaluate public attitudes to global warming in Rochdale
using a questionnaire
To convene an international, interfaith student council
To make a new compound, a bit like the one the PhD student
made last year with promising anti-tumour activity in vitro.
Work out the plot
• Your introduction should tell a story.
• It should take you from your Aim to your
Objectives.
• Examples:
Writing the Introduction
Start with the contents page.
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Macrolide Antibiotics 1.2 Erythromycin
1.2.1 Mode of Action
1.2.2 Chemistry of Erythromycin 1.2.3 Intramolecular Cyclisation
1.3 Problems of Erythromycin A 1.4
Modifications of Erythromycin A 1.5 Erythromycin B
1.6 Prodrugs 1.6.1 2’-esters
of Erythromycin 1.6.2 N-substituted 3- or 4-
aminomethylbenzoate esters 1.7 Aims
Discuss this with your supervisor
Populate the headings
• 1.1 Macrolide Antibiotics
• Macrolide antibiotics are one of the most widely used groups of
antibacterial agents and have been extensively used for decades
to combat a wide range of infections. Macrolide antibiotics
derive the name from their chemistry. All of them contain a 12,
14, 15 or a 16-member macrocyclic ring. The majority contain an
amino sugar and/or a neutral sugar. In the last fifteen years, the
field of macrolide antibiotics has undergone a remarkable
renaissance (Wise, 1990, Kirst, 1991). The most commonly used
macrolide antibiotics are erythromycin, clarithromycin and
azithromycin.
Appearance
Examiners hate:
• Time New Roman (use Arial or Calibri)
• Very small text (11 point is good)
• Poorly produced figures and tables
Use figures and tables wherever possible but
take trouble over them.
Trick for figures: create a table with two rows.
Insert (not paste) a picture into the top row.
Type legend into second row.
Writing
• Write clearly and directly
• Take ownership of the material
• Be prepared to be critical
• Try to develop an interesting style
Writing
Antibacterial drug resistance The responsibility for reducing
development can be reduced by antibacterial drug resistance in
hospitals falls to cleaners and patients,
increasing the level of hygiene as much as to healthcare professionals.
in the hospital. Compliance The importance of hygiene in
level among patients with preventing the spread of infection was
bacterial infection increased. recognised by Florence Nightingale,
but has never been more important
they are to advised to finish the than it is today. It is essential that
course of antibacterial given. patients finish courses of antibiotics,
Types of formulation/routes of and this requires not only that they
administration for patient need understand the importance of
to be monitored or asked to compliance, but that compliance is not
made unduly difficult by inappropriate
patients to increase compliance. dosing regimes or formulation.
Writing
Macrolide antibiotics are one of the
most widely used groups of antibacterial
agents and have been extensively used
for decades to combat a wide range of
infections. Macrolide antibiotics derive
the name from their chemistry. All of
them contain a 12, 14, 15 or a 16-
member macrocyclic ring. The majority
contain an amino sugar and/or a neutral
sugar. In the last fifteen years, the field of
macrolide antibiotics has undergone a
remarkable renaissance (Wise, 1990,
Kirst, 1991). The most commonly used
macrolide antibiotics are erythromycin,
clarithromycin and azithromycin.
Tell the truth
• If you don’t understand something, don’t put
it in.
• Question everything: Who said it? When?
Why?
“Why is this lying bastard lying to me?” Jeremy
Paxman.
The first sentence
• “The past is another country; they do things differently
there.”
• “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man
in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
• “Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were
proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you
very much.”
• “The Hundred Acre Swimming Pool at the Grimbledown
Hotel, South Yorkshire, was the scene of a particularly
grisly murder.”
Questions
