The introduction is certainly the most read section of any deliverable, and it largely determines the attitude of the reader/reviewer will have toward the work. Therefore, it is probably the most delicate part of the writing of a report.
Unfortunately, many people (even very experienced ones) seem to have difficulties at writing a good introduction. For some, it is a daunting task.
In this short article, I present a very simple method for writing a good introductory chapter. Actually, the core of this method was taught to me many years ago by Krzysztof Apt. At that time, it surprised me in its simplicity and efficiency. In ten years, I have been happily applying it to all introductions I have written.
Of course, I am not the first one coming up with such a recipe: a necessarily incomplete list of links to articles about scientific writing is reported in the last section.