Writing A Dissertation Introduction: Things You Must Know

The hardest part of any academic paper is the opening paragraph. When you finally sit down to write your dissertation, you will have everything you are going to write about mapped out in your head. You have completed your research and now all you have to do is put your findings down on paper. Before you do that, however, you must write an introduction. Writing an introduction for your dissertation can be difficult as you are tasked with setting the tone for the rest of you paper. Fortunately, this is not an impossible task. With our five easy tips, you will have your introduction completed in no time.

1. Keep it short -
• Your introduction should never be as long as the other paragraphs in your dissertation. Keep it to ten lines at the most.
• If you write a long introduction, you will be expected to write longer paragraphs throughout your paper. Any paragraph shorter than your introduction will seem too short.


2. State what topic you have chosen -
• In your introduction, you should always state which topic you have chosen to discuss. Do this early on; within the first three lines.
• Explain why you chose this topic and what you hope to gain from studying it.


3. Don't introduce any information -
• Your opening paragraph is not the place to begin discussing your topic in detail. Save all of your information for the main body of the essay.
• Many times, people will include a short point in their introductory paragraph as they do not have enough information to fill an independent paragraph. Do not do this. If this is the case, simply leave the information out of your dissertation.


4. Don't spend too much time -
• Your introduction should not take up a great deal of time. It can be easy to lose yourself in the writing process, but save that for the main body of the dissertation.
• If you spend an hour on your introduction, you will likely feel like you deserve a break after finishing it. Taking a break after only completing your introduction will do nothing but make sure you fall behind.


5. End on a strong line -
• Just like your concluding paragraph, or indeed any paragraph, your introduction should end on a strong line. It should encourage the reader to keep reading while not seeming desperate.
• Remember - try to avoid sounding like a news anchor when you do this.