The document provides guidance on how to write the background section of a research study. It explains that the background section should introduce the topic, establish the context, and justify the importance and need for the study. It recommends including a discussion of existing literature on the topic, articulation of the research gap, the study aims and goals, the thesis statement, and significance of the study. The document then provides an example background section on a study of mathematical anxiety among junior high school students in New Zealand. It demonstrates how to introduce the topic, justify the problem, state the goal and thesis, and validate the research gap through literature, interviews, and observations.

1. How to write your
Background of the Study
A beginner's guide on

2. How do you write the background
of the study of your proposed
research?
First discuss the meaning and the
Core elements that it should contain
Understanding the nature of the
background of the study in research
and knowing exactly what to include
in it, allow us to have both greater
control and clear direction of the
writing process

3. What is the
Background
of the
Study?
Forms the first section of the
introduction to a research paper
Provides the overview of the study;
Establishes the context of the study
Explains why the proposed research
is important, and essential to
understanding the main aspects of
the study

4. The background of the study, therefore, is the section of the
research paper or thesis that identifies the problem or gap of
the study that needs to addressed and justifies the need for
conducting the study.
It also articulates the main goal of the study and the thesis
statement, that is, the main claim or argument of the paper

5. The Background of the Study
should contain the following
major points (Core Elements)
Brief discussion on what is known about the topic under
An articulation of the research gap or problem that needs
to be addressed
What the researcher would like to do or aim to achieve in
the study

6. The Background of the Study
should contain the following
major points (Core Elements)
The thesis statement, that is, the main argument or
contention of the paper (which also serves as the reason
why the researcher would want to pursue the study
The major significance or contribution of the study to a
particular discipline; and
Depending on the nature of the study, an articulation of the
hypothesis of the study

7. How to Write
the Opening
Paragraphs of
the Background
of the Study

8. Let’s Assume:
conducted a preliminary research
on your chosen topic,
read a lot of literature and gathered
relevant information for writing the
background of your study.
identified the gap of your proposed
research and have already
developed the research questions
and thesis statement.

9. There are different styles of writing
the background of the study.
There is no “one-size-fits-all” style of
writing this part of the research
You are free to develop your own

10. Begin the background of your study with
an overview of your research topic.
Suppose the topic
of your study is:
Lived experiences of
students with mathematical
anxiety
• Providing a definition
of the key concepts
• Highlighting the main
developments of the
research topic
You may start the
background of your study
with a discussion on the
meaning, nature, and
dynamics of the term
“mathematical anxiety”.
• Highly technical term
• Not readily understandable to
non-specialists in this field.

11. “Mathematical anxiety refers
to the individual’s unpleasant
emotional mood responses
when confronted with a
mathematical situation.”
Since you did not invent
the definition of the term
“mathematical anxiety”
then you need to provide
a citation to the source of
the material from which
you are quoting.

12. “Mathematical anxiety refers to
the individual’s unpleasant
emotional mood responses when
confronted with a mathematical
situation (Elliot, 2020).”
Then you may proceed
with the discussion on
the nature and
dynamics of the term
“mathematical anxiety”

13. “Lou (2019) specifically identifies
some of the manifestations of this
type of anxiety, which include,
but not limited to, depression,
helplessness, nervousness and
fearfulness in doing mathematical
and numerical tasks.”

14. After explaining to your readers the meaning,
nature, and dynamics (as well as some historical
development if you wish to) of the term
“mathematical anxiety”
Proceed to showing
the problem or gap
of the study
“Mathematical anxiety can negatively
affect not just the academic achievement
of the students but also their future
career plans and total well-being. Also,
there are no known studies that deal with
the mathematical anxiety of junior high
school students in New Zealand.”
Suppose that your
research problem
or gap is:

15. “If left unchecked, as Shapiro (2019) claims, this problem will
expand and create a total avoidance pattern on the part of the
students, which can be expressed most visibly in the form of
cutting classes and habitual absenteeism. As we can see, this
will negatively affect the performance of students in
mathematics. In fact, the study conducted by Luttenberger and
Wimmer (2018) revealed that the outcomes of mathematical
anxiety do not only negatively affect the students’ performance
in math-related situations but also their future career as
professionals. Without a doubt, therefore, mathematical anxiety
is a recurring problem for many individuals which will negatively
affect the academic success and future career of the student.”

16. Now that you already have both explained the meaning,
nature, and dynamics of the term “mathematical
anxiety” and articulated the gap of your proposed
research
State the main
goal of your
study
“Hence, it is precisely in this context that
the researcher aims to determine the
lived experiences of those students with
mathematical anxiety. In particular, this
proposed research aims to determine the
lived experiences of the junior high school
students in New Zealand and identify the
factors that caused them to become
disinterested in mathematics.”

17. Articulate the thesis statement
the thesis statement is the
statement of your argument or
contention in the study.
It is more of a personal argument
or claim of the researcher, which
specifically highlights the possible
contribution of the study.

18. “The researcher argues that there is a need to determine the
lived experiences of these students with mathematical anxiety
because knowing and understanding the difficulties and
challenges that they have encountered will put the researcher in
the best position to offer some alternatives to the problem.
Indeed, it is only when we have performed some kind of a
‘diagnosis’ that we can offer practicable solutions to the problem.
And in the case of the junior high school students in New Zealand
who are having mathematical anxiety, determining their lived
experiences as well as identifying the factors that caused them to
become disinterested in mathematics are the very first steps in
addressing the problem.”

19. Five essential elements that must be articulated
in the background of the study, namely:
1. A brief discussion on what is known
about the topic under investigation
2. An articulation of the research gap or
problem that needs to be addressed
3. What the researcher would like to do or
aim to achieve in the study (research
goal)
4. The thesis statement, that is, the main
argument or claim of the paper; and
5. The major significance or contribution
of the study to a particular discipline.

20. How to Write
the Body of the
Background of
the Study
What should be
its content?

21. One of the best ways to write the body of the
background of the study is to:
Attack it from its
vantage point of the
research gap
Research Gap:
There are Junior High School
students in New Zealand who
are experiencing
mathematical anxiety

22. “Epistemological”
aspect of research
Remember that a “statement”
remains an assumption until you
can provide concrete proofs to it
Specific branch of philosophy
that deals with the validity of
knowledge
To Validate knowledge
is to provide concrete
proofs to our
statements

23. • The body of the background of
the study, therefore, should be
a presentation and articulation
of the proofs to our claim that
indeed there are junior high
school students in New Zealand
who are experiencing
mathematical anxiety.

24. Look for literature on
mathematical anxiety among
junior high school students in
New Zealand and cite them here.
If there are not enough literature
on this topic in New Zealand, then
we need to conduct initial
interviews with these students or
make actual classroom
observations and record instances
of mathematical anxiety among
these students
it is always a good
idea if we combine
literature review
with interviews and
actual observations.

25. Assuming you already have the data, then you may
now proceed with the writing of the body of your
background of the study
“According to records and based on the researcher’s
firsthand experience with students in some junior
high schools in New Zealand, indeed, there are
students who lost interest in mathematics. For one,
while checking the daily attendance and monitoring
of the students, it was observed that some of them
are not always attending classes in mathematics but
are regularly attending the rest of the required
subjects.”

26. “As a matter of fact, this phenomenon is also
observed in the work of Estonanto. In his study
titled ‘Impact of Math Anxiety on Academic
Performance in Pre-Calculus of Senior High
School’, Estonanto (2019) found out that, inter
alia, students with mathematical anxiety have
the tendency to intentionally prioritize other
subjects and commit habitual tardiness and
absences.”

27. “With this initial knowledge in mind, the
researcher conducted initial interviews with
some of these students. The researcher learned
that one student did not regularly attend his
math subject because he believed that he is not
good in math and no matter how he listens to
the topic he will not learn.”

28. “Another student also mentioned that she was
influenced by her friends’ perception that
mathematics is hard; hence, she avoids the
subject. Indeed, these are concrete proofs that
there are some junior high school students in
New Zealand who have mathematical anxiety. As
already hinted, “disinterest” or the loss of
interest in mathematics is one of the
manifestations of a mathematical anxiety.”

29. And then you need to validate
this observation by conducting
another round of interview and
observation in other schools
So, you may continue
writing the body of the
background of the study
with this
“To validate the
information gathered from
the initial interviews
and observations, the
researcher conducted
another round of
interview and observation
with other junior high
school students in New
Zealand.”

30. “On the one hand, the researcher found out that
during mathematics time some students felt
uneasy; in fact, they showed a feeling of being
tensed or anxious while working with numbers
and mathematical problems. Some were even
afraid to seat in front, while some students at
the back were secretly playing with their
mobile phones. These students also show
remarkable apprehension during board works like
trembling hands, nervous laughter, and the
like.”

31. “As Finlayson (2017) corroborates, emotional symptoms
of mathematical anxiety involve feeling of
helplessness, lack of confidence, and being nervous
for being put on the spot. It must be noted that these
occasionally extreme emotional reactions are not
triggered by provocative procedures. As a matter of
fact, there are no personally sensitive questions or
intentional manipulations of stress. The teacher
simply asked a very simple question, like identifying
the parts of a circle. Certainly, this observation
also conforms with the study of Ashcraft (2016) when
he mentions that students with mathematical anxiety
show a negative attitude towards math and hold self-
perceptions about their mathematical abilities.”

32. “On the other hand, when the class had their
other subjects, the students show a feeling of
excitement. They even hurried to seat in front
and attentively participating in the class
discussion without hesitation and without the
feeling of being tensed or anxious. For sure,
this is another concrete proof that there are
junior high school students in New Zealand who
have mathematical anxiety.”

33. Solicit observations from
other math teachers
To further prove the point
that there indeed junior
high school students in
New Zealand who have
mathematical anxiety

34. “The researcher further verified if the problem is
also happening in other sections and whether other
mathematics teachers experienced the same observation
that the researcher had. This validation or
verification is important in establishing credibility
of the claim (Buchbinder, 2016) and ensuring
reliability and validity of the assertion (Morse et
al., 2002). In this regard, the researcher attempted
to open up the issue of math anxiety during the
Departmentalized Learning Action Cell (LAC), a group
discussion of educators per quarter, with the
objective of ‘Teaching Strategies to Develop Critical
Thinking of the Students’.

35. During the session, one teacher corroborates the
researcher’s observation that there are indeed junior
high school students in New Zealand who have
mathematical anxiety. The teacher pointed out that
truly there were students who showed no extra effort
in mathematics class in addition to the fact that some
students really avoided the subject. In addition,
another math teacher expressed her frustrations about
these students who have mathematical anxiety. She
quipped: “How can a teacher develop the critical
thinking skills or ability of the students if in the
first place these students show avoidance and
disinterest in the subject?’.”

36. How to Write the
Concluding part of the
Background of the Study

37. the conclusion of the
background of the
study is just a
rehashing of the
research gap and
main goal of the
study stated in the
introductory
paragraph.
The purpose of this is
just to emphasize, after
presenting the
justifications, what the
study aims to attain and
why it wants to do it.

38. “Given the above discussion, it is evident that
there are indeed junior high school students in
New Zealand who are experiencing mathematical
anxiety. And as we can see, mathematical
anxiety can negatively affect not just the
academic achievement of the students but also
their future career plans and total well-being.
Again, it is for this reason that the
researcher attempts to determine the lived
experiences of those junior high school
students in New Zealand who are experiencing a
mathematical anxiety.”

39. Research Presentation End