0.The art of writing an introduction (1)

An introduction should do the following things:  Tell the reader simply and clearly what the subject is..  Tell the reader why the subject is important  Tell the reader how you are go

The art of writing an introduction—

for thesis and papers

Dr Corum

An introduction should do

the following things:

 Tell the reader simply and clearly what the subject is.

 Tell the reader why the subject is important

 Tell the reader how you are going to approach the subject i.e the

methodology of the author There are several elements to this What questions is the author going to ask? What questions will not be

asked? The material that the author will use How the material is

pertinent to the subject What books/secondary sources will be used and why they will be used In short, the reader ought to know that the work is based on serious research This establishes the author’s

credibility.

 How the thesis is an original contribution The author ought to briefly

review the major literature on the subject and explain how this work is not covered by existing works For example, the author might use

well-known material and ask new questions or approach an old

subject with new questions Perhaps the author is using new material

In any case, this part explains the need for this particular work.

 The author expresses his goal in writing the thesis This could be

developing ideas to help determine doctrine or to see if a better way might be found to solve an acknowledged problem.

A few other rules: Mostly

about argumentation.

 Do NOT frontload your thesis I.e “This thesis is to tell the world that the USAF ought to get 99% of

defense spending” If you start your research with a conclusion and then gear all of your work to proving your conclusion- then you will have no credibility

 You should not be absolutely sure of your conclusion when you start your thesis A really good thesis is one that objectively analyzes the material and often leads the author into ideas, solutions and conclusions that he never expected when he started If the material shows that some of the author’s preconceived notions are

faulty, then the author ought to follow the evidence and revise his thinking

Use proper argumentation

 Do not set up a straw man – some unnamed

people who have dumb ideas – and characterize the opposition as such It’s phony to shoot down

a straw man

 Avoid sweeping language and generalities

 Opposing arguments need to be examined in turn, objectively analyzed and their strong and weak points noted A thesis that openly and

objectively deals with different approaches in a fair manner and borrows good ideas from the

various approaches is one that will have a lot of credibility

 The author needs to discuss the strong and weak aspects of his approach to the subject

 A standard 10-page paper ought to have a one-page introduction Try for three paragraphs The first

paragraph should be short and

snappy and be no longer than 4

sentences You can go into detail

in the 2nd paragraph.

More on Introduction

 The main points in introducing an essay

or paper are the same as the main points

of a thesis introduction: Tell the reader what you are going to write about, Tell the reader how you will approach the subject, i.e.—what questions are you

going to ask, what framework you will use etc

 Then you will point out the expected

result of your paper—come to some

lessons about leadership, decision

making effectiveness etc

 As with a thesis intro—do NOT tell the reader up front what the conclusions are.