THE INTRODUCTION OF A THESIS OR DISSERTATION

A thesis or a dissertation is the most important part of the work in a postgraduate program. It can be defined as an exposition of a subject or a research paper written formally by a student to complete the prerequisites required to earn a degree from a university. It is a written essay supported with facts and submitted to get a university degree. You have to be able to convince the reader that your point of view is interesting and logical. In thesis or dissertation writing, students are required to make a persuasive case. Writing a good draft of your thesis is essential so you won’t stress yourself over writing and rewriting many times. This stress can occur because a thesis or dissertation can be rejected by the supervisor if he/she feels it is not good enough.

In writing a thesis or dissertation, the first thing to do is to collate and organize evidence, after which it is important to look for possible correlations with known facts. It is important to also look for the significance of the related facts in order to have a working thesis. It is important to have a strong thesis in order to get your degree. You have to consider some things to decide if your thesis is strong enough. You need to ask yourself if you have taken a position that other people can challenge. It is also important to know if your thesis statement is specific enough or too vague. Your thesis needs to be able to answer the question of how and why, and it should also be able to guide the reader to the part you want them to think about.

Chapter one of your thesis is the introduction. The introduction to a thesis should contain the exact subject of the thesis or dissertation. In a paragraph or two, briefly state the general topic or field of interest and give additional background. It should also contain a paragraph in which the terms and scope of the topic of the research are defined and introduced. The relevance of the topic of research should also be made know in the introduction. The introductory chapter should end with a sentence that clearly states what the result of the study or research will be.

When writing the introduction chapter, it is important to be able to captivate the attention of the reader or supervisor; therefore, it is essential to write captivating content in the first chapter. This chapter is the first part of the thesis that will be read by the supervisor before he/she will give an approval to go on with the research. This chapter we can say is the powerhouse of the whole thesis or dissertation; hence, it should be fully loaded with proof. A thesis is not meant to be creative writing; therefore, if a word or phrase is established in the introductory chapter it should be used all through the dissertation. Most people scan through the introduction of a thesis or dissertation to gauge whether the thesis is worth putting in time and effort to read the entire thesis. This is why it is important to have a captivating and engaging introduction which shows your research and boosts the reader’s interest. The introductory aspect of the thesis can make or mar a student’s thesis.

WHAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN YOUR INTRODUCTION

There are about 8 things that should be written in the introduction of your thesis or dissertation. In this   section, we will discuss the things that should be in the introduction to the dissertation:

• 1.  The background information: This section of the thesis is really important as it must have in it some mention of what will be discussed in the following chapters of the thesis or dissertation. As mentioned earlier, the keywords used in the introduction should be used subsequently in the chapters that follow the introduction.
• 2.  The problem statement: This section of the introduction arises from the aforementioned one which is the background information. This is the statement of the gap in the knowledge discussed in former paragraphs that reviewed the most present literature found. The exact reason for the entire study is the difference in knowledge. This section of the introduction will comprise a definition of the general need for the research and the exact problem that is to be addressed.
• 3.  Study objective: The objective of the study is a paragraph or statement that identifies if the research design is a qualitative, quantitative, ethnographic, mixed-method, or any other design to be used.
• 4.  Research questions: The research question is the starting point for collecting data and it arises from the study objective.

• 5.  Importance of the study: This part of the introduction is used to portray the significance or importance of the research. This is a statement about which importance of your work and its impact on your field of research, what it adds to the body of knowledge, and how beneficial it is to other people.
• 6.  Scope of study and limitations: The scope of study talks about how far the tentacles of your research will reach. As a student who is writing a thesis or dissertation, it is important to be careful not to make the scope of study too broad so as to avoid a situation where you are unable to do justice to the work. Your scope of study needs to cover the following; the overall purpose of the study, the sample of the study, the time frame of the study, the area (geographical) of study, and the theories that will be discussed in the thesis.
• 7.  Assumptions: Assumptions are things that readers will simply believe are true and they will accept these facts as plausible. It is important to make correct assumptions while writing a thesis so as to avoid making a false conclusion.
• 8.  Theory: The theory in a thesis is used to give the point of view on which the study is based. When creating a theoretical framework, it is important to identify the key concepts, assess and explain relevant theories, and show how well your research fits in.