How to Write a Thesis Introduction
What types of information should you include in your introduction? In the introduction of your thesis, you’ll be trying to do three main things, which are called Moves : Move 1 establish your territory (say what the topic is about) Move 2 establish a niche (show why there needs to be further research on your topic) Move 3 introduce the current research (make hypotheses; state the research questions) Each Move has a number of stages. Depending on what you need to say in your introduction, you might use one or more stages. Table 1 provides you with a list of the most commonly occurring stages of introductions in Honours theses (colour-coded to show the Moves). You will also find examples of Introductions, divided into stages with sample sentence extracts. Once you’ve looked at Examples 1 and 2, try the exercise that follows. Most thesis introductions include SOME (but not all) of the stages listed below. There are variations between different Schools and between different theses, depen