The introduction is the first chapter of the thesis or dissertation and appears just after the index. It is essential to engage the reader with a solid start. Set the stage for your research with a clear focus, purpose, and direction.

Thus, the purpose of the introduction is to give the reader a clear idea of what the thesis will be about. You should provide background information about the specific problem or issue you are addressing, and you should clearly outline your response. Depending on the faculty or school, your answer may be called a position, contention, or main argument. Whatever term is used, it’s essentially your answer to the research question.

When writing an introduction, a general to specific structure is usually used. That is, introduce the specific problem or topic that the thesis will address in a general sense to provide it with context, before reducing it to your particular position and line of argument.

Key elements of an introduction

Background and context information

The introduction usually begins by providing background information on the topic at hand, so that the reader understands the key problem being addressed and why it is worth writing about. However, it is important that it is brief and only includes information directly relevant to the topic.

It can also be an appropriate place to introduce the reader to key terms and provide definitions, if necessary.

Scope of the debate

It is important to establish the parameters of the thesis. It’s not possible to cover everything on a topic – and you’re not expected to do so – so you need to tell the reader how you’ve decided to limit the focus of your thesis.

Position/containment

State your position on the topic (also called the main argument, or contention, or thesis statement). Make sure you answer the question directly (and the entire thesis question if there is more than one part).

The “exposition of your position” may be a one-sentence answer to the thesis question, but will often include 2 or 3 sentences that explain the answer in more detail.

Outline the structure or main points of support of your thesis

Provide an overview of how you are approaching the thesis. This usually includes details of the case studies you will use and/or a summary of the most important points you will make.

How to start a thesis introduction?

Identify research gaps

Review and evaluate existing literature critically. It will help the researcher find and address research gaps.

Present the background

A good introduction of the thesis always exposes the historical background of the chosen topic. It is usually quoted in the first paragraph and shows the current position of the topic.

Support your topic with relevant literature

The introduction is a mixture of previous research and literature review. Therefore, the topic must be supported by relevant resources.

It also serves to explain the context and importance of previous studies. Also, recognize credible sources of information to solidify your claim.

Mention the hypothesis

Formulate a hypothesis of your research work. Discuss what you intend to achieve along with the possibilities.

Provide the importance of your research

The gap will help assess the situation and explain the importance of current research. So, add the purpose of your work by explaining why the research is done. It will also demonstrate the possible contributions of the research work in the future.

Outline research questions

The next step is to outline the research questions. These should be relevant to the purpose of your study. In addition, it will also help you discuss the issues you intend to address.

Set out the objectives of the research

State the objectives of the research to define the main purpose of the work. It should give an orientation to the research by providing an overview of what it aims to achieve.

Create a schema

Create a well-structured outline to organize and collect ideas. Also, include an index at the beginning of your thesis. It serves as a mind map to discuss the layout of your thesis proposal.

Discuss research methodology

The next step is to define the terms and methodology that you are going to apply in your research. It is a good technique to make your study authentic, credible and useful.

Finish your introduction

Ask yourself the following questions after you finish writing the introduction.

Does your introduction discuss the problem your thesis addresses? Does this section address the contribution that research work makes? Also, does it provide a detailed overview of your thesis? Do you end up briefly discussing the content of each chapter? Do you make an argument in favor of the investigation? Finallly, do you clearly write down the questions, problems, and hypotheses of the research?

5 Ws approach

The 5 Ws approach to information gathering originated as a tool to help journalists write their stories. Although it is popular in many professions, we refer to the 5W technique as “the reporter’s questions”.

Who?

When studying history or other aspects of social studies, the “who” refers to the person or persons who participated in the event. There are often many different answers to this question when exploring a topic. Learning about World War II, the “who” would be the people involved in the war: the Germans, the Americans, the Japanese, etc.

Examples of WHO questions

Who were the pilgrims?

Who signed the Declaration of Independence?

What

The “what” is extremely important, because it tells us specific details about the event, the landmark, the geographical accident, the place, etc. This “what” is the basis of the entire research topic and should be explored in great detail. If a researcher is studying the California Gold Rush of 1848, he or she should explore what the gold rush was, what caused it, and the specific details of the event/events that took place.

Example of WHAT questions

What caused the Civil War?

What are the geographic features of the Midwest?

Where

The “where” refers to the setting or location of the event. There is often more than one place if it is a historical event. It is important that the thesis is quite detailed in this aspect. If a researcher is doing a thesis on the pilgrims, the place where they landed is very important to know how they formed a settlement and how they lived.

Example of questions about the WHERE

Where did the pilgrims disembark in 1620?

Where do immigrants usually come from in the United States?

When

The “when” refers to the time when an event takes place. It can span many years, or simply be a short period of time. A timeline is an excellent tool for showing the “when” of an event. By studying the Great Depression, students would identify that it began in August 1929 and lasted until March 1933. The researcher may also include other dates of importance within that time period.

Examples of WHEN questions

When did the United States become independent?

When did the First World War take place?

Why

This “W” is not always obvious, and is probably the most difficult and the one that requires the most research. Sometimes there are several reasons, and sometimes there are different opinions. When the Puritans came to America from England, why did they? Why was life hard for them? Another important “why” when researching history is why are we learning this? Why is it important for me to know?

Examples of WHY questions

Why do people immigrate to the United States?

Why does the judicial system exist?

Example of Introduction Thesis Business Leadership

Business leadership has been described as the “ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute to the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members” (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004, p. 63). Whether this ability is something you are born with, or whether it is something you can learn, has been the subject of considerable debate. Kambil (2010) has outlined two categories of leadership attributes that help frame the debate: “traits” (mostly innate) and “skills” that can be developed through experience or training.

This research will draw on leadership trait theory to argue that leaders are born first, but then they must be done. Although good business leaders share certain traits essential to success, such as “curiosity, courage, perseverance, personal ethics, and trust” (Kambil, 2010, p.43), they also need skills that can be learned, such as communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution, which are only developed with practice. A potential leader must develop their natural traits, as well as learn and practice skills that help them persuade, equip, and inspire others to realize their vision.

Example Introduction Thesis on Coming of Age and its implications

Coming of age is usually defined as the passage from childhood to adulthood. In literature and cinema, it is usually a very tense process; after all, it is a decisive moment in our lives. It is usually accompanied by some kind of loss, but also by a gain of wisdom. We see it in our own lives: our first kiss, our first job, or even the experience of pain for the first time.

Since coming of age is a universal experience, it helps us, as a culture, to have narratives that explain the process as a kind of guide or template, or even to let us know that we are not alone. This research will illustrate that J.D. Salinger’s novel The Keeper in the Rye remains the quintessential coming-of-age story, that it remains relevant more than 50 years later, and, finally, that Salinger remains an important voice in American literature.

Example Introduction Thesis Research on Britain’s Role in storming the Bastille

In 1789, Britain’s eyes were on France’s turbulent political scene. Within a few decades, the once formidable French divine-law monarchy had been reduced to a state of relative impotence by frequent wars, growing social unrest, and a pressing financial crisis stemming from the nation’s incessant militarism and lavish court expenditures.

As France’s socio-political scene intensified, remarkable events came to the London stage with a flourish of historicity, drama and hyperbole. These works, accordingly, provide a revealing lens for examining the British response and interpretation of the initial events of the French Revolution. In particular, John Dent’s The Triumph of Freedom, performed in 1790, and The Royal Fugitives, staged in 1791, offer intriguing displays of British sentiment surrounding the storming of the Bastille and Louis XVI’s flight to Varennes.

Despite their decidedly French subject matter, the intense professions of British nationalism in the works and the inclusion of English in the leading roles suggest that Britain celebrated the rise of freedom and democracy in France, but refused to honour the role of French citizens in promoting these virtues. Instead, the works seem to interpret French radicalism as the product of an undercurrent of democratic sentiment initiated by Britain, thus allowing Britain to take credit for such favorable circumstances as the fall of the Bastille and the reconquest of Louis XVI.

Example Introduction Thesis Mechanical Engineering

Meeting imaging (IP) requirements at the sub-30 nm regime can be one of the most difficult challenges facing the semiconductor industry. In the case of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL), all sources of IP error must be minimized, compensated for or completely eliminated. One of the possible sources of error is the lack of flatness of the EUVL mask during exposure scanning.

With non-telecentric illumination of the mask, any lack of flatness of the modeled surface of the lattice will induce PI errors in the wafer of the device. To solve this problem, the SEMI P37 standard has established the flatness specifications for the EUVL mask substrate. The objective of this study was to identify the most accurate procedures for measuring and subsequently describing the lack of flatness of the substrate.

Example Introduction Thesis Legal Writing

It begins with a very basic premise: the courts can only decide a small fraction of the constitutional issues that the U.S. government generates. At this point, this is commonplace among constitutional theorists. But it is a commonplace of a peculiar kind. It is a commonplace of a peculiar kind: it is talked about a lot, but it is almost never taken seriously.

Proponents of broader constitutional protections often neglect, or outright ignore, the limited capacity of the judiciary. Opponents of such protections routinely write as if “government by the judiciary” is a real and troubling possibility. Meanwhile, there has been very little work exploring why the judiciary has such limited capacity or how we should expect this limitation to affect the substance of its constitutional decisions.

Example Introduction Thesis on the Evaluation of the Role of Stories as Pedagogical Tools in Higher Education

Storytelling has been an essential communication technique for thousands of years, and while teachers and parents still think they are important for educating younger children, for most of us they have been limited to the role of entertainment since our teens. This thesis states that stories are ideal pedagogical tools, whatever the age of the student, due to their unique position in cultural and cognitive development.

To argue this, three main areas will be considered: First, the prevalence of stories across eras and cultures and how the similarity of story structure suggests an inherent understanding of their form that could be useful to scholars teaching multicultural cohorts in organizing class material.

Second, the power of stories to allow listeners to relate personally to content and how this increases the likelihood of changing thoughts, behaviors, and decisions, a concept that has not gone unnoticed in some fields, both professional and academic; and finally, the way different areas of the brain are activated when reading, listening or watching a story unfold, suggesting that both comprehension and ease of recall, two key components of learning, are likely to increase. Each of them alone could constitute a reasoned argument for

Example Introduction of Thesis Study Habits

The way a student takes their studies largely determines their level of academic performance. The level of preparation and learning strategies consciously developed and employed by students greatly influence their level of academic performance.

Thus, the habit of study is one of the biggest factors of students or learning that greatly influences the academic achievement of students. If students, at all levels, teachers, administrators, parents and guardians, school counselors, and government undermine it, the trend and threat of poor student performance, both in internal and external exams, will continue to boom and become more devastating and alarming.

This study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The choice of this design was based on the fact that a group used for the study a group of respondents that is considered representative of the general population. for study. The study sample consisted of 1050 high school students from 30 schools in the study area. A simple random sampling technique of the probabilistic type was used.

Example Introduction to research on teachers’ self-efficacy towards inclusive education
in Singapore’s preschool classrooms

This proposed study aims to advance knowledge of how general education teachers, specifically kindergarten teachers, are responding to inclusive education in Singapore. There is currently no legislation requiring inclusive educational practices for children with special needs.

However, in recent years, the Ministry of Education (EOM) has invested considerable resources in teacher training and in the provision of infrastructure for inclusive education. resources in teacher training and in the provision of infrastructure to integrate children with special needs into the regular school system. special in the ordinary school system. In addition, with regard to pre-school education, the Ministry of Education has published a curriculum framework for kindergartens in 2003 which aims to provide a learning learning environment for all children, recognizing the fact that each individual has different ways of learning, with individual preferences and abilities.

Children with differences and disabilities are an important concern and responsibility of the community. Kindergarten teachers have a critical role in inclusive settings to facilitate the needs of these children. These integrated environments can provide enriching experiences for all children. More importantly, early intervention has been shown to be critical for children with special learning needs. Therefore, it is necessary to examine how of children with special learning needs in general education classrooms.

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You may also be interested in: Examples to develop the conclusions of your thesis

Bibliographic References

Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for an Argument Paper. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; “Writing Introductions.” In Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide. Peter Redman. 4th edition. (London: Sage, 2011), pp. 63-70

Sharpling, Gerald.Writing an Introduction. Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick; Samraj, B. “Introductions in Research Articles: Variations Across Disciplines.” Español for Specific Purposes 21 (2002): 1–17

Swales, John and Christine B. Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Skills and Tasks. 2nd edition. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2004

Examples to develop the introduction of your thesis

Examples to develop the introduction of your thesis. Photo: Unsplash. Credits: Brooke Cagle

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