How to write a dissertation introduction

The introduction of your research is the first chapter of your thesis or dissertation and it appears right after the table of contents. It’s an important thing to draw the reader's attention with a strong beginning. Although the introduction comes at the beginning of your dissertation or thesis, it doesn't need to be the first thing that you need to write. While structuring your dissertation you’ll actually be far better off writing your introduction, conclusion, and abstract after you have written all the other parts of the dissertation because If you write your introduction before anything else you will have to update your introduction several times as your ideas develop. But, you should also write a rough draft of your introduction near the beginning of the research to help guide you to set out a broad outline of your ideas. Your introduction should contain a clear statement of the research question and the aims of the research.

If you are having trouble writing your dissertation, you should buy dissertation online from Dissertation Master.

Starting with Introduction

A good introduction should:

  • Include an interesting opening sentence that will hold the attention of your reader

  • Tell what does the reader need to know to understand the dissertation

  • Specify your research aims and objectives

  • Outline the broad thrust of your work and argument

Your introduction should incorporate sub-areas with suitable headings/subheadings and should feature a portion of the key references that you intend to use in the main study. The length of the introduction is going to depend on the length of the total dissertation. For example, if you are writing 10000 words dissertation, the introductory section should consist of 1000 words. The students should commence the 1000 words in the introduction section by introducing the topic and providing the necessary background information to the readers.

Research Background

Background information is the additional information that your reader needs to know to understand your work. This is mostly the part of your introduction you should write first. Building a foundation of your introduction won't just encourage you in seeing more with regards to the subject yet, in addition, helps readers in concerning why the overall research region is interesting, central, and important, etc. You are going to want to begin outlining your background section by including major concepts related to your dissertation topic. This will give your supervisor and markers a thought that you've explored and investigated the research issue thoroughly and know about the various aspects related to your topic. The section of the introduction should not include research design and data collection method(s).

While writing the background section, you should avoid two mistakes that most students make, which are either writing the background information too short or too long. You should write two to three pages of introduction so that you can arrive at your research focus quite quickly while providing only the basic information that allows your reader to appreciate and see the value of your research in context.

Importance of Research

As a researcher, It's essential to show your motivation for doing this research. It is also essential for those who will be judging the merit of your work because it will demonstrate how your research will provide value to the scientific and academic communities. While writing the background information section you've already alluded to why your research is important, but you haven't explicitly stated how your research findings will benefit the academic communities. You must address the research objectives in the research. You should not just simply mention them in your dissertation introduction and then forget about them. You should give a brief overview of how your research will address a problem or gap in the field.

Overview of the structure

Now that you’ve clearly communicated what your research is going to be about and why it is important. It is time to help guide your reader through the dissertation, end with an overview of its structure, provide a brief summary of each chapter’s purpose and contents to show clearly how it contributes to your central aims. It is ideal to keep the overview concise. A couple of sentences are usually enough to describe the content of each chapter. If your research is complicated or doesn't follow a traditional design, you might have to write up to a paragraph for each chapter.

If you are having trouble writing your dissertation, you should buy dissertation online from Dissertation Master.