Background section

How it is used

Used in theses, articles, and reports. It often introduces the topic, summarizes prior work, and leads toward the research question.

Example sentences

1. Her supervisor said the background section was too broad and needed more focus on regional studies from the last decade.

   Here, the term names the contextual part of the paper, and the feedback concerns how selectively it prepares readers for the study.

2. I moved the historical overview to the background section so the introduction could state the problem more directly.

   In this sentence, the term identifies the place where supporting context belongs, separate from the shorter problem-focused introduction.

Common collocations

• revise the background section
• background section of the thesis
• detailed background section

Related terms

• thesisA long piece of original research written for a university degree; also the main idea or position that an essay or article argues for.
• dissertationA long, formal piece of research writing completed for a degree; in the US usually a doctoral thesis, in the UK often a final project for a bachelor's or master's.

More terms: Thesis and Article Structure

• abstract
• paper
• conclusion
• discussion
• draft
• limitation
• proofread
• IMRaD
• introduction
• methods section
• keyword
• appendix