Answer:
• Why is background information important? It helps you to focus on names, dates, events, organizations, terms, etc., associated with a topic. It can help you to formulate/reformulate your topic (or, to put it another way, it can help you decide whether to broaden or narrow your topic).
• Provide a foundation of knowledge on the topic. Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication and give credit to other researchers. Identify inconstancies: gaps in research, conflicts in previous studies, open questions left from other research.
