Dissertations - The Introduction Chapter

If you are working on your Dissertation right now, you might be struggling to get started on your Introduction - what should you write? How should this short section develop without turning into the full study in itself?

Based on my experiences (and all my previous mistakes!) of writing these extended projects, then this might help a little...:

Think of the Introduction as "setting the scene" for your study. It could usefully move through these stages...:

Your Aims are what you are going to do (use words like "Establish...", "Investigate...", "Explore...", etc).

Your Objectives are how you are going to do so (eg "Conduct interviews with...", "Devise a questionnaire to...", etc).

Some researchers add Research Questions (which their Conclusion chapter will explicitly answer, using the results of the dissertation) or Hypotheses (statements that the study will ultimately either prove or disprove).

One last thing, don't get too precious about the exact wording of your Introduction at this stage. You will almost certainly end up redrafting it at the end because of things that haven't worked or changes that you've had to make to overcome problems that have cropped up over the course of your study.

This is to be expected and accepted - all you need is a general plan, a framework to work within, at this stage.

More information and guidance for writing extended projects is available in the "Dissertations" folder here.