CARBON46(2008)183-184ava~lableatwww.sc~enced~rect.com$*/&BB@djournalhomepage:www.elsev~er.com/locate/carbonEditorialWritingascientificpaper:11.IntroductionandreferencesInmyfirstEditorialinthisseries,TitlesandAbstracts[Carbon2007;45(11):2143-41,Isaid:"Althoughtheseitemsarethefirstinthepaper,theyhavetobewrittenlast.Itisimpossibletoabstractsomethingthathasnotbeenwritten!(However)theyareusuallyaddedassometh~ngnecessarytocompletethesubmission,andlittleornothoughtisgiventothem."NowwecometotheIntroductionthatisnecessarilyatthebegin-ningofthemaintextbutshould,Ibelieve,notbewrittenbe-foretheothersections.ThereasonwhyIamincludingtheReferenceshereisbecausetheyareinextricablylinkedtotheIntroduction,asweshallsee.Iamawarethatmanypeople,includingsomeofmyvalu-ableandhighlyrespectedreviewers,willnotagreewithmythoughtsontheIntroductiontoapaper,andIguessthereareessentiallytwoopinionsthatmustberespected.Oneseesthissectionasgivingacompleteintroductiontothesubjectandtothematerialsandtechniquesusedinthemanuscript,andtheotherasanintroductiontothemanuscriptitself.Thefirstcanbeverylongwhilethesecond,muchshorter.Ifindmyselfinthelattercategory.Whatintroductorybackgrounddoesthereaderneedinordertounderstandthemanuscriptandplaceitincontext?Papersonthecurrent"hottopic"ofcarbonnanotubes(CNTs)areanexcellentexample.Irandomly(honestly!)se-lectedapaperfromapastissueofCARBONfromtheshelfinmyoffice.ItconcernedCNTgrowthusingCVD,andthefirstparagraphreadsasgivenbelow.AnycommentsImakearenotaimedattheauthorsofthisonepaper.Therearehun-dredsofpapersforwhichthesamecommentsapply."CNTsarearecentlydiscoveredformofcarbonwithagraph~ticlatticeandalong,tubularstructure[I].CNTshavebeenthesubjectofmuchinterestinrecentyears,duetotheirattractivemechanicalproperties(-1000GPaYoung'smodulus)[2-4J,tuneableelectronicbehavior(conductingorsemi-conductingdependingontubechiral-ity)[5]anduniquedimensions(-1-100nmdiameter,uptoseveralcmlength)16-81,Asaresultoftheseproperties,nanotubeshavepo-tentialapplicationsinmanyfields,includingc...
