Things You Must Be Careful About Dissertation Introduction Chapter

For students, dissertation writing is the toughest part at a graduate or postgraduate level of degrees. A graduate and postgraduate thesis is usually divided into five chapters, and to draft each, one chapter should focus on some specific components. Thus, the dissertation writing process becomes easier after initial preparation or research. At first, you may feel intimidated while drafting an introduction chapter of your dissertation. In this regard, this guide will help you in drafting a well-organised introduction for your dissertation.

What is the dissertation introduction chapter?

The introduction is the first chapter of every dissertation. It is the point where you need to describe the purpose of your research, the problem to be addressed and the definition of key terms involved in a study. In simple words, the dissertation introduction chapter aims to tell the reader why your study is important, what you are writing about and how you will approach it. Further, to draft an introduction, you can divide the chapter into five steps:
Step 1: Describe the topic of interest in your dissertation.
Step 2: Explain what specific aspects of the topic you will cover in your research.
Step 3: Create a clear thesis statement
Step 4: Explicate the rationale of the research/ dissertation.
Step 5: Create a section to write the aims and objectives of your study.
Step 6: Overview the overall structure of your dissertation.

Research before you write:

If you are scared and nervous about the dissertation introduction chapter, then the best way to be confident is to make in-depth research. The fact is, the more you research is extensive, the easier the writing phase will be. So, before starting graduate/ postgraduate dissertation introduction, you must read at least thirty most relevant research papers. Reading not only improves your words’ selection but also speeds up your writing phase. Moreover, it helps you in knowing your reader as well. Hence, you need to be careful about research while writing a dissertation introduction chapter. This is because good research is a basic element of a high-quality dissertation. In case of any problem, you can get help from cheap dissertation writing services.

Be careful about the problem statement in an introduction

After research, another basic element about which you need to be a little more conscious of is the thesis statement. On one side, the research helps writers in outlining a well-organised dissertation introduction chapter and, on another side, it helps you in drafting a good problem statement, which is a structural element of an introduction. By definition, a problem statement is a summary of your identified problem that you are going to solve in your research or dissertation. We often place the problem statement at the end of the first paragraph of an introduction. In short, the problem statement defines the quality of your research, so the students can follow a proper guideline to create a problem statement for their dissertation introduction.

Pay special attention to the background of your research

The background of your research is a vital component of a dissertation introduction chapter. It provides all the necessary information about a topic. While reading the introduction, the readers often look for things that may help them understand the remaining dissertation. So, the writer’s responsibility is to provide a brief history or background of the topic. Remember, the background must not be either too long or too short. It must include all important details about a study, and it must be concise at the same time. You can use different normal ordering techniques to write a well-organised background. Hence, the thing that you must be careful about in the dissertation introduction is the significance of a background. Without a well-organised or informative background, you cannot fulfil the purpose of the dissertation introduction chapter.

Write rationale to prove the worth of your study

The reader always wants to know why you undertake a specific study. The introduction is the platform where you can state all necessary information about the selection and importance of a given topic. For fulfilling the purpose, the rationale is extremely important. By definition, the rationale for research gives the reasons for undertaking a specific study. It explains why a topic under study is important, which aspects make it different from others’ work, what the after-effects of this research will be, and what the factors are there that the research will primarily focus on. In general, the rationale is the part of the introduction that explains the needs of the study. Here, the researcher should focus on the aspects that must be sufficient enough to prove your study’s worth.

Things to be noted while writing making research questions:

The formulation of research questions is probably the most important part of the dissertation introduction chapter. This is because the research questions explain the quality of the rest of the dissertation. In fact, the guidelines to formulate the research questions and objectives vary from discipline to discipline. In general, the research question must be explicit to define the central theme of the research. At this step, the writer must identify dependent and independent variables. Identification of the dependent and independent variables is a little tricky but important aspect of dissertation writing. Though there is no universal set of criteria to form a research question, you need to take care of a few things.

1. The research questions should be clear and focused
2. They should not be too narrow or too broad
3. They must not be too difficult or too easy.
4. Research questions must be researchable.
5. Research questions should be analytical in nature rather than being descriptive

Further, the research questions set the stage for defining the research aim’s and objectives.

End your introduction on overview of the rest of the dissertation:

To end a dissertation introduction chapter, you should conclude by examining its structure and summarise each chapter to illustrate how it contributes to your main goals. Usually, one or two paragraphs are needed to describe the content of each chapter. If your research is more complex or does not follow the traditional framework, you may need one paragraph for each chapter. For example, a dissertation in humanities might develop a thematic argument rather than divide research into methods, findings and discussions. If your structure is unconventional, explain how everything fits together.

In summary, knowledge about each important part of the dissertation introduction chapter is necessary for students, especially for those who are writing it for the first time. With time and practice, everything becomes easy. Hence, with proper research, practice and attention, you can write a high-quality dissertation introduction chapter.