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intro part 1 A

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15 views4 pages

intro part 1 A

Uploaded by

realriul1428
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WRITING AN INTRODUCTION

The opening paragraphs of an introduction tend to follow a predictable


pattern which includes:

o Establish the territory of your research, convincing the reader


that your topic has value by:
▪ claiming importance, making statements about why the
topic matters
▪ making generalisations, indicating in broad terms what
we know and don't know about a topic
▪ synthesising prior research to guide the reader into your
research
o Identify a niche, highlighting what is unknown or unclear in the
literature, by:
▪ presenting counter-claims in or about existing research,
emphasising disagreement or shortcomings
▪ indicating a gap, highlighting an unanswered question
your research can fill
o Occupy the niche, expressing your intention to conduct
research to address the gap by:
▪ stating the purpose of your research (i.e., to fill the gap)
▪ outlining the structure of your paper

ESTABLISH THE TERRITORY

Establishing the territory that defines the broad area of our research is
generally accomplished in three ways:

1.
1. Claim importance – by demonstrating that a general area of
research is important, critical, interesting, problematic, relevant,
or otherwise worthy of investigation; and
2. Make generalisations about the current state of
knowledge – providing statements about the current state of
knowledge, consensus, practice or description of
phenomena; and
3. Synthesise prior research – summarising the work of others
concisely, getting ready to identify what your research will
focus on in the section that follows.

Let us consider what each involves, along with some useful phrases and
sentence starters, and some examples from existing papers.

1. Claim importance
To open this section, we aim to convince the reader as quickly as possible
why they should read about the topic. There are many ways of doing this.
For example:

o Show that your research addresses an important or time-


sensitive issue in the field. This is particularly effective when
the issue requires quick action to address, and there are
consequences associated with inaction.
o Describe the effect that the research topic has on humans, or
on other living things. This could include physical,
psychological, emotional, financial or interpersonal effects.
o Highlight the potential practical applications of your research.
This could include implications for government policy,
technological advancement, or improving workplace practice.
o Quote statistics that show the significance of the topic. For
instance, illustrate the number of people affected by something,
or large amounts of money spent.
o Indicate that there is a question to which we currently do not
have an answer. For example, we could ask why we believe
one thing over another, or what would happen if we did
something different to the norm.

Below is a list of some useful expressions or lexical bundles commonly


used in papers to show importance (Cortes, 2013):

o X has featured in a great deal of...


o X has been used in a variety of....
o X is one of the most...
o X is one of the major...
o X is one of the most important...
2. Make generalisations about the current state of knowledge
In this section, the aim is to summarise in one sentence what we know (or
don't know) about a topic or discipline.

We can use phrases like:

o X has been shown to...


o It has been shown that X is....
o It is well known that X is...
3. Synthesise prior research
To finish surveying the territory, it is a good idea to summarise the work of
others in one sentence, so that you are ready to identify a research gap in
the next section.

Useful phrases for this include:

o X is likely to be...
o As a result of X, Y is....
o It has been suggested that...
o The impact of X on Y is...

In the social sciences, arts and humanities, a citation is still used, but there
is a greater tendency to avoid hard statements of fact. The following
example is from an educational psychology paper:

Mead (1934) elaborated on this account by arguing that it is not


perceptions of significant others that influence the self-concept but rather
the individual’s assessment of how he or she is generally perceived by
others.

Once you have surveyed the general territory of your thesis by claiming its
importance and explaining the current state of knowledge in general terms,
it is time to become more specific.

The second section of your opening introduction involves identifying a


specific gap in the literature or "niche" (small area) that has not been
explored, or is underexplored. It is often the case that you will point out
what the gap is first, then indicate that your thesis will fill that gap second.
We will consider the first of these on this page, and the second on the next
page.

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