Your introduction is a summary of 100 – 200 words, stating what the objectives are/what you are going to write about. Many students confuse this section with the background/history sections but generally they will be expected to be kept separate.
Top Dissertation Introduction Tips
A good formula for you introduction is to put the issue in context as concisely as possible. Answer the question: why do this study? Why now? Why here? Why me? State the aims of the study.
Chapter one is very important and is possibly best compiled by answering a series of questions as follows.
- Is there a problem?
- What is it?
- Why does it need to be solved?
- What is your hypothesis (hunch)?
- Who will benefit from your investigation?
- In what sense will they benefit?
- In what sense will my contribution add to what is already known?
- How in general terms are you going to solve the problem, e.g., collect data, analyse data?
- By what methods? E.g., a case study approach.
- What are the constraints or limitations of the study?
A good way to end the introduction is to state the dissertation objectives. Don’t forget that this is a SHORT intro for your reader to the subject, to put the issue in context. The background and history will be dealt with elsewhere.