LET'S START - INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

The introduction describes the broader context and issues

that surround the topic. It links the broader context, in a gen-

eral sense, to the problem that you investigated. This is

where you place the topic in perspective by providing data

and a rationale documenting the need for the study

(Walonick, 2005). The introduction may also contain the

background of the study. In some cases, a researcher may

choose to embed the background of the study into the intro-

duction; in other cases, the background of the study is sepa-

rate from and follows the introduction.

Dissertation Examples

1. “The 1903 meeting of a group of deans of women has

been cited as the first organized activity of what was to

become the profession of student affairs . . . and as an im-

portant milestone in the entry of women into the admin-

istration of higher education in the United States. . . .

However, little has been written about the groups them-

selves. This study provides a description of the groups

from the first general meeting in 1903 to the last confer-

ence’s assignment as a subcommittee of the National As-

sociation of Deans of Women in 1922, using maturation

variables of the Maturation Model for Professional Asso-

ciations. . . . The resulting study builds upon past re-

search to provide detail and clarify our knowledge of the

early history of the profession of student affairs.” (Gerda,

2004, p. 12)

2. “The aim of this study is to describe the direct or instru-

mental use of policy-relevant information in the policy-

making process of the Chilean secondary education re-

form carried out between 1995 and 2000. This is a very

peculiar setting because of the strong background in social

research of the policymakers who were in charge of

the design and implementation of the reform policy. The

result of this study provides a better understanding of the

type of relationship between information and policymak-

ing that occurs when researchers who are involved ex-

tensively with planning and carrying out underlying re-

search also play the role of policymakers who both

identify relevant problems and devise appropriate solu-

tions.” (Tellez, 2004, p. 1)