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The first chapter of a dissertation is normally given the title
Introduction, and it serves many purposes. It is the place
where you should
- discuss the motivation for the work that is being reported
- state and define the problem that the dissertation is trying
to address or solve
- state the aims and objectives of the work
- give an indication of how the work will be progressed
- provide a brief overview of each of the main chapters that the
reader will encounter
When writing the motivation for the research work that has been
carried out, do not go into the details. Leave this for later chapters.
Give a brief overview of the problem that you are tackling, and
be specific about what the work is trying to achieve, and what you
will be doing to meet these objectives. From an assessment point
of view, one of the measures of success is whether the objectives
listed in this chapter have been achieved. While a research project
may start off with a set of objectives, it is often the case that
these will change as the project evolves. Such is the nature of
research. You should take this into consideration when stating the
objectives of the project.
Like the Abstract, the Introduction
should be written to engage the interest of the reader. It should
also give the reader an idea of how the dissertation is structured,
and in doing so, define the thread of the contents.
| Tip |
Leave the Introduction chapter as one of the last
to write. By then, the structure of the dissertation
would be fixed, making it easier to give the overview
of the chapters and what they contain. Also, based
on the results that have been included, you would
have an idea of what the "real" contributions
of the dissertation are, enabling you to state the
objectives accordingly.
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