What Is the Secret of Powerful Introduction?

Your introduction is some kind of cover for your dissertation; it is the first chapter, that’s why readers pay considerable attention to it when they take your dissertation into their hands. You may agree or disagree with this comparison but it clearly illustrates and helps understand the whole importance of the introduction.

First of all, the introduction is an easy way for other people to look through your paper and see whether it covers a sphere of their interest and includes necessary information. No doubts, if there is something catchy and striking in your introduction, it will awaken the curiosity and the intention to read the whole dissertation. On the other hand, the introduction can facilitate the writing process and make it more organized. As a result, we can talk about three main purposes:

• Present your topic. It’s pretty predictable but still, it is true.
• Grab the reader’s attention. Make your audience intrigued and show that you can offer them more in the main part.
• Prove that your study is relevant. Nobody is interested in the outdated information that can’t be applied in real life.

What Should Be Included in Your Introduction?

Despite the fact that the introduction is the first chapter, many students leave it for later and this is a mistake. From the very beginning, you should plan and think about what information you need for your research. You should create a draft of the introduction in the early stage as it helps you to clearly see in what direction to move, what sphere you aim to examine and what results you want to get. While working on the dissertation you may explore new facts and ideas and such situations are normal. The only thing you should remember is to update your introduction too, that’s why be ready to correct and update it several times. Work on your research proposal, as this point largely determines not only the content of your introduction but also the way you submit the material in the main part of your dissertation. In general, you should combine in your introduction several necessary parts:

1. You present the topic of your paper and offer objective and problem statement. In this way, you must declare what research questions you want to solve and what goals you need to achieve in order to find the solution.
2. Make a brief overview of the scientific situation on your topic. Here you should describe the key scientific debate on this or that issue if any exists, besides, this section is an appropriate place to mention the latest and most relevant literature and studies on your topic.
3. Describe in brief how you will provide your research. You don’t have to tell in detail what you are going to do. Your main task is to offer a broad context, clearly explain why you are interested in this topic, and demonstrate the scope of your work. There is no sense to present any results or conclusions in the introduction. On the contrary, you should only hint, just open the door and invite readers to learn more while reading the whole text.
4. Disclose theoretical and practical relevance. This point plays a crucial role, so work hard on it. By means of arguments, reference to the work of outstanding researchers, short and accurate quotes, you can confirm the scientific relevance of the topic you chose. The next point is to show how your research can be applied in real life, or in other words – demonstrate the practical use. If you can’t do it yourself, ask for some advice from your friend. No doubts, they look at the situation from another perspective and, maybe, will bring a breath of fresh air to your work.
5. Provide the outline of your dissertation. In this point, you describe the general construction of your paper, how many chapters and pages it covers. Try to summarize the plot of each chamber in one sentence.