In this video, we're going to look at how to write a high-quality dissertation or thesis introduction chapter. We're going to explore the seven essential ingredients of a strong introduction chapter, one at a time, as well as the essential things that you need to keep in mind as you craft each section. We'll also share some useful tips and tricks to help you optimize your approach. So grab a cup of coffee, grab a cup of tea - whatever works for you and let's jump into it! Hey, welcome to Grad Coach TV, where we demystify and simplify the oftentimes a seemingly bizarre world of academic research my name is emma and today we're going to look at how to write a high quality dissertation or thesis introduction chapter so that you can craft your intro with confidence if you're new here be sure to subscribe for more videos that can help you conquer your dissertation or thesis now before we jump into it let's quickly clarify some terminology you'll notice that i've used the words dissertation and thesis interchangeably while these terms do reflect different levels of research for example masters versus phd level research the introduction chapter generally contains the same seven essential ingredients regardless of level so in this video dissertation equals thesis with that out of the way let's take a look at how to craft a winning dissertation introduction chapter step by step to craft a high quality dissertation or thesis introduction chapter you need to understand exactly what this chapter needs to achieve in other words what's its purpose well as the name suggests the introduction chapter needs to introduce the reader to your research so that they understand what you're trying to figure out or what problem you're trying to solve more specifically you need to answer four important questions in your introduction chapter these questions are number one what will you be researching in other words your research topic number two why is it worthwhile so your justification number three what will the scope of your research be so in other words what will you cover and what won't you cover and number four what will be the limitations of your research so basically what will the potential shortcomings be simply put your dissertations introduction chapter needs to provide an overview of your planned research as well as a clear rationale for it this chapter has to explain both the what and the why of your research what's it all about and why is that important simple enough right well the trick is finding the appropriate depth of information as the researcher you're gonna be extremely close to your topic and this makes it easy to get caught up in the minor details while these intricate details might be interesting you need to write your introduction chapter on more of a need to know type basis or it will just end up becoming way too lengthy and dense you need to balance painting a clear picture with keeping things concise but don't worry you'll be able to explore all of the intricate details in later chapters right now that you understand what you need to achieve from your introduction chapter we can get into the details while the exact requirements for this chapter can vary from university to university there are seven core components that most institutions will require we call these the seven essential ingredients first i'll lay the ingredients out on the table and then we'll take a closer look at each of them if you have any questions about any of the ingredients just drop a comment below and we'll do our best to help all right the seven essential ingredients are as follows number one the opening section where you'll introduce your reader to your research in high level terms number two the background to the study where you'll explain the context of your project number three the research problem this is where you'll explain the gap that exists in the current research number four the research aims objectives and questions where you'll clearly state what your research will aim to achieve number five the significance or justification where you'll explain why your research is worth doing and the value it will provide to the world number six the limitations this is where you'll acknowledge the potential limitations of your project and approach and number seven the structure where you'll briefly outline the structure of your dissertation or thesis to help orient the reader by incorporating these seven essential ingredients into your introduction chapter you'll comprehensively cover both the what and the why i mentioned earlier essentially you'll achieve the purpose of the chapter you can also use these seven ingredients in this order as the structure for your chapter to ensure a smooth logical flow now this isn't essential but generally speaking it can help to create an engaging narrative that's easy for your reader to understand right now that we've laid out these seven ingredients let's get cooking the very first essential ingredient for your dissertation introduction chapter is well an introduction or opening section just like every other chapter your introduction chapter needs to start by providing a brief overview of what you'll be covering in the chapter the section needs to engage the reader with clear concise language that can be easily understood and digested if the reader your marker has to struggle through it they're going to lose interest which will make it harder for you to earn marks just because you're writing an academic paper doesn't mean that you can ignore the basic principles of engaging writing that's used by marketers bloggers and journalists at the end of the day you're all trying to sell an idea yours just happens to be a research idea so what goes into this opening section well there's no set formula but it is a good idea to include the following four foundational sentences in your opening section number one a sentence or two introducing the overall field of your research for example organizational skills development involves identifying current or potential skills gaps within a business and developing programs to resolve these gaps management research including x y and z has clearly established that organizational skills development is an essential contributor to business growth number two a sentence introducing your specific research problem for example however there are conflicting views and an overall lack of research regarding how to best manage skills development initiatives in highly dynamic environments where subject knowledge is rapidly and continuously evolving for example in the website development industry number three a sentence stating your research aims and objectives for example this research aims to identify and evaluate skills development approaches and strategies for highly dynamic industries in which subject knowledge is continuously evolving and lastly number four a sentence outlining the layout of the introduction chapter for example this chapter will provide an introduction to the study by first discussing the background and context followed by the research problem the research aims objectives and questions the significance and finally the limitations as i mentioned this opening section of your introduction chapter should not be lengthy typically these four sentences should fit neatly into one or two paragraphs max what you're aiming for here is a clear and concise introduction to your research not a detailed explanation now if some of this terminology sounds unfamiliar don't stress it we'll cover it in more detail later in this video right with your opening section out of the way it's time to add the next ingredient the background to your study so let's jump into that now that you've provided a high level overview of your dissertation or thesis it's time to go a little deeper and lay the foundation for your research topic this foundation is what the second ingredient is all about the background to your study so what is the background section all about well this section of your introduction chapter should provide a broad overview of the topic area that you'll be researching as well as the current contextual factors this could include for example a brief history of the topic recent developments in the area important concepts and key pieces of research in other words in this section you need to provide the relevant background information to give the reader a decent foundational understanding of your research area let's look at an example to make this a little more concrete if we stick with the skills development topic i mentioned earlier the background section would start by providing an overview of what organizational skills development is and outline the key existing research regarding development approaches then it would go on to discuss how the modern day context has created a new challenge for traditional skills development strategies and approaches specifically that in many industries technical knowledge is constantly and rapidly evolving and traditional education providers struggle to keep up with the new pace of technologies importantly you need to write this section with the assumption that the reader is not an expert in your topic area so if there are industry specific jargon and complex terminology you should briefly explain that here so the reader can understand the rest of your document don't make assumptions about the reader's knowledge in most cases your markers won't be able to ask you questions if they don't understand something so always err on the safe side and explain anything that's not common knowledge right with your background and context laid out the next step is to articulate what's missing from the current body of skills development research in other words the research problem which is ingredient number three so let's dive into it now that you've given your reader an overview of your research area it's time to get specific about the research problem that you'll address in your dissertation or thesis while the background section would have alluded to a potential research problem or even multiple research problems the purpose of this section is to narrow the focus and highlight the specific research problem you'll address but what exactly is a research problem you ask well a research problem can be any issue or question for which there isn't already a well-established and agreed-upon answer in the existing research in other words a research problem exists when there's a need to answer a question or set of questions but there's a gap in the existing literature or the existing research is conflicting and or inconsistent so to present your research problem you need to make it clear what exactly is missing in the current literature and why this is a problem it's usually a good idea to structure this discussion in two three sections specifically number one what's already well established in the literature in other words what's widely agreed upon by researchers number two what's missing in the literature so where is the literature gap and three why this is a problem so why it's important to fill this gap let's look at an example of this structure using the skills development topic organizational skills development is critically important for employee satisfaction and company performance reference numerous studies have investigated strategies and approaches to manage skills development programs within organizations reference this paragraph explains what's already well established in the literature however these studies have traditionally focused on relatively slow paced industries where key skills and knowledge do not change particularly often this body of theory presents a problem for industries that face a rapidly changing skills landscape for example the website development industry where new platforms languages and best practices emerge on extremely frequent basis this paragraph explains what's missing from the literature as a result the existing research is inadequate for industries in which essential knowledge and skills are constantly and rapidly evolving as it assumes a slow pace of knowledge development industries in such environments therefore find themselves ill-equipped in terms of skills development strategies and approaches this paragraph explains why the research gap is problematic as you can see in this example in a few lines we've explained number one the current state of research number two the literature gap and number three why that gap is a problem by doing this the research problem is made crystal clear which lays the foundation for your own research so with the research problem clearly articulated the next step is to state what you're going to do about it in other words what your research aims objectives and questions will be which is ingredient number four let's jump into it now that you've clearly identified your research problem it's time to identify your research aims and objectives as well as your research questions in other words it's time to explain what you're going to do about the research problem so what do you need to do here well the starting point is to clearly state your research aim or aims the research aim is the main goal or the overarching purpose of your dissertation or thesis it's a high level statement of what you're aiming to achieve let's look at an example sticking with the skills development topic given the lack of research regarding organizational skills development in fast-moving industries this study will aim to identify and evaluate the skills development approaches utilized by web development companies in the uk as you can see in this example the research aim is clearly outlined as well as the specific context in which the research will be undertaken in other words the web development industry in the uk next up is the research objective or objectives while the research aims to cover the high level what the research objectives are a bit more practically oriented looking at the specific things you'll be doing to achieve those research aims let's take a look at an example of some research objectives to fit the research aim objective number one to identify common skills development strategies and approaches utilized by web development companies in the uk objective number two to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies and approaches and objective number three to compare and contrast these strategies and approaches in terms of their strengths and weaknesses as you can see from this example these objectives describe the specific actions you'll take and things you'll investigate in order to achieve your research aims in other words they break down the research aims into more specific actionable objectives the final step is to state your research questions your research questions brings the aims and objectives another level down to earth these are the specific questions that your dissertation or thesis will seek to answer they're not fluffy ambiguous or conceptual they're very specific and you'll need to directly answer them in your conclusions chapter the research questions typically relate directly to the research objectives and sometimes can even look a bit too obvious but they're still extremely important let's take a look at an example of the research questions that would flow from the research objectives i mentioned earlier research question number one what skills development strategies and approaches are currently being used by web development companies in the uk research question number two how effective are each of these strategies and approaches research question number three what are the strengths and the weaknesses of each of these strategies and approaches as you can see the research questions mimic the research objectives but they are presented in question format these questions will act as the driving force throughout your dissertation or thesis from the literature review to the methodology and onward so they're really important if you want to learn more about research questions be sure to check out our detailed post on the grad coach blog i'll include a link below this video a final note about this section it's really important to be clear about the scope of your study in other words what will you cover and what won't you cover if your research aims and objectives and questions are too broad you'll risk losing focus or investigating a problem which is too big to solve within a single dissertation so you need to establish clear boundaries in this section of your introduction chapter you can do this for example by limiting it to a specific industry country or time period that way you'll ring fence your research which will allow you to investigate your topic deeply and thoroughly which is what earns marks right now that you've laid out your research aims objectives and research questions it's time to move on to the next ingredient let's do it now that you've made it clear what you'll be researching it's time to make a strong argument regarding your study's importance and significance so basically now that you've covered the what it's time to cover the why but hold on didn't we already discuss this in the earlier sections well yeah kinda by this stage you've already briefly alluded to the importance of your study in your background and research problem sections but you haven't explicitly stated how your research findings will benefit the world so now's your chance to clearly state how your study will benefit either industry academia or ideally both in other words you need to explain how your research will make a difference and what implications it will have let's take a look at an example this study will contribute to the body of knowledge on skills development by surfacing and evaluating skills development strategies and approaches for industries in which knowledge and skills are rapidly and constantly changing this will help address the current shortage of research in this area and provide real-world value to organizations operating in such dynamic environments as you can see in this example the paragraph clearly explains how the research will help fill a gap in the literature and also provide practical value to organizations the section doesn't need to be particularly lengthy but it does need to be convincing you need to sell the value of your research here so that the reader understands why it's worth committing an entire dissertation or thesis to it the section needs to be the salesman of your research so spend some time thinking about the ways in which your research will make a unique contribution to the world and how the knowledge you create could benefit both academia and the industry then go on and sell it in this section once you've done that it's time to move on to the sixth essential ingredient of the dissertation introduction the limitations now that you've sold your research to the reader and hopefully got them excited about what's coming up in the rest of your dissertation it's time to briefly discuss the potential limitations of your research now you're probably thinking hold up what limitations my research is well thought out and carefully designed why would there be limitations well sorry to be the bearer of bad news but no piece of research is perfect this is especially true for a dissertation or thesis which typically has a very tight or zero budget tight time constraints and limited researcher experience generally your dissertation will be the first or maybe second formal academic research project you've ever undertaken so it's unlikely to win any research awards simply put your research will invariably have limitations but don't stress yourself out this is completely acceptable and expected even professional research has limitations as i said no piece of research is perfect the key is to recognize the limitations up front and be completely transparent about them so that future researchers are aware of them and can improve the study's design to minimize the limitation and strengthen the findings so long story short your limitations section should show that you've thought about the ways in which your study is limited generally you'll want to consider at least the following four common limitations these are number one your scope for example perhaps your focus is very narrow and doesn't consider how certain variables interact with each other number two your research methodology for example a qualitative methodology could be criticized for being overly subjective or a quantitative methodology could be criticized for oversimplifying the situation number three your resources for example a lack of time money equipment and or your own research experience number four the generalizability of your findings for example the findings from a study of a specific industry or country can't necessarily be generalized to other industries or countries don't be shy here there's no use trying to hide the limitations or weaknesses of your research in fact the more critical you can be of your study the better the markers want to see that you are aware of the limitations as this demonstrates your understanding of academic research so be brutal right once you've clearly communicated the limitations of your dissertation or thesis it's time to mix in the final introduction ingredient which is the structural outline let's get to that now that you've clearly communicated what your research is going to be about why it's important and what the limitations will likely be the final ingredient is the structural outline the purpose of this section is simply to provide your reader with a roadmap of what to expect in terms of the structure of your dissertation or thesis in this section you'll need to provide a brief summary of each chapter's purpose and contents including the introduction chapter a sentence or two explaining what you'll do in each chapter is generally enough to orient the reader you don't want to get too detailed here it's purely an outline not a summary of your research let's look at an example to make this a little more tangible in chapter one the context of the study has been introduced the research objectives and questions have been identified and the value of such research argued the limitations of the study have also been discussed in chapter 2 the existing literature will be reviewed to identify key skills development approaches and strategies within the context of fast-moving industries especially technology intensive industries in chapter 3 the theoretical framework will be presented the adoption of a qualitative inductive research approach will be justified and the broader research design will be discussed including the limitations thereof so as you can see from the example this section is simply an outline of the chapter structure allocating a short paragraph to each chapter done correctly the outline will help your reader understand what to expect and reassure them that you'll address the multiple facets of the study by the way if you're unsure of how to structure your dissertation or thesis be sure to check out our video which explains dissertation structure from start to end i'll include the link below all right so that covers the seven essential ingredients of a high quality dissertation or thesis introduction chapter i've thrown a lot at you in this video so let's quickly recap on the most important bits the seven essential ingredients of a winning dissertation introduction chapter are one the opening section where you give a brief high-level overview of what your research will be about two the study background where you introduce the reader to the key theory concepts and terminology as well as the context of your study three the research problem where you explain what the problem with the current research is in other words the research gap four the research aims objectives and questions where you clearly state what your dissertation will investigate five the significance where you explain what value your research will provide to the world six the limitations where you explain what the potential shortcomings of your research may be and finally seven the structural outline where you provide a high level overview of the structure of your document if you bake these seven ingredients into your dissertation introduction chapter you'll be well on your way to building an engaging introduction chapter that lays a rock solid foundation for the rest of your document remember while we've covered the essential ingredients here there may be some additional components that your university requires so be sure to double check your project brief if you enjoyed the video please hit that like button and leave a comment if you have any questions if you're in the process of writing your dissertation be sure to subscribe to the grad coach channel for more research related content lastly if you need a helping hand with your research check out our private coaching service where we work with you on a one-on-one basis chapter by chapter to ensure that you craft a winning dissertation if that sounds interesting to you book a free consultation with a friendly coach at www.gradcoach.com as always i'll include a link below and that's all for this episode of grad coach tv until next time good luck you