how to introduce a dissertation chapter

How To Write A Dissertation Introduction

A Simple Explainer With Examples + Free Template

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Reviewed By Dr Eunice Rautenbach (D. Tech) | March 2020

If you’re reading this, you’re probably at the daunting early phases of writing up the introduction chapter of your dissertation or thesis. It can be intimidating, I know.

In this post, we’ll look at the 7 essential ingredients of a strong dissertation or thesis introduction chapter, as well as the essential things you need to keep in mind as you craft each section. We’ll also share some useful tips to help you optimize your approach.

Overview: Writing An Introduction Chapter

The purpose and function of the intro chapter
Craft an enticing and engaging opening section
Provide a background and context to the study
Clearly define the research problem
State your research aims, objectives and questions
Explain the significance of your study
Identify the limitations of your research
Outline the structure of your dissertation or thesis

A quick sidenote:

You’ll notice that I’ve used the words dissertation and thesis interchangeably. While these terms reflect different levels of research – for example, Masters vs PhD-level research – the introduction chapter generally contains the same 7 essential ingredients regardless of level. So, in this post, dissertation introduction equals thesis introduction.

Free template for a dissertation or thesis introduction

Start with why.

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 ? 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:

What will you be researching? (in other words, your research topic)
Why is that worthwhile? (in other words, your justification)
What will the scope of your research be? (in other words, what will you cover and what won’t you cover)
What will the limitations of your research be? (in other words, what will the potential shortcomings of your research be?)

Simply put, your dissertation’s introduction chapter needs to provide an overview of your planned research , as well as a clear rationale for it. In other words, this chapter has to explain the “what” and the “why” of your research – what’s it all about and why’s that important.

Simple enough, right?

Well, the trick is finding the appropriate depth of information. As the researcher, you’ll 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 end up way too lengthy and dense. You need to balance painting a clear picture with keeping things concise. Don’t worry though – you’ll be able to explore all the intricate details in later chapters.

The core ingredients of a dissertation introduction chapter

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 universities will require. We call these the seven essential ingredients .

The 7 Essential Ingredients

The opening section – where you’ll introduce the reader to your research in high-level terms
The background to the study – where you’ll explain the context of your project
The research problem – where you’ll explain the “gap” that exists in the current research
The research aims , objectives and questions – where you’ll clearly state what your research will aim to achieve
The significance (or justification) – where you’ll explain why your research is worth doing and the value it will provide to the world
The limitations – where you’ll acknowledge the potential limitations of your project and approach
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 – in other words, you’ll achieve the purpose of the chapter.

Side note – you can also use these 7 ingredients in this order as the structure for your chapter to ensure a smooth, logical flow. This isn’t essential, but, generally speaking, it helps create an engaging narrative that’s easy for your reader to understand. If you’d like, you can also download our free introduction chapter template here.

Alright – let’s look at each of the ingredients now.

#1 – The Opening Section

The very first essential ingredient for your dissertation introduction 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.

This 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’ll lose interest, which will make it harder for you to earn marks. Just because you’re writing an academic paper doesn’t mean you can ignore the basic principles of engaging writing used by marketers, bloggers, and journalists. At the end of the day, you’re all trying to sell an idea – yours is just a research idea.

So, what goes into this opening section?

Well, while there’s no set formula, it’s a good idea to include the following four foundational sentences in your opening section:

1 – A sentence or two introducing the overall field of your research.

For example:

“Organisational 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 organisational skills development is an essential contributor to business growth.”

2 – A sentence introducing your specific research problem.

“However, there are conflicting views and an overall lack of research regarding how best to manage skills development initiatives in highly dynamic environments where subject knowledge is rapidly and continuously evolving – for example, in the website development industry.”

3 – A sentence stating your research aims and objectives.

“This research aims to identify and evaluate skills development approaches and strategies for highly dynamic industries in which subject knowledge is continuously evolving.”.

4 – A sentence outlining the layout of the chapter.

“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 shouldn’t be lengthy . Typically, these four sentences should fit neatly into one or two paragraphs, max. What you’re aiming for here is a clear, concise introduction to your research – not a detailed account.

PS – If some of this terminology sounds unfamiliar, don’t stress – I’ll explain each of the concepts later in this post.

#2 – Background to the study

Now that you’ve provided a high-level overview of your dissertation or thesis, it’s time to go a little deeper and lay a 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, key pieces of research in the area and so on. 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 to the study section would start by providing an overview of the skills development area and outline the key existing research. 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 pace of new 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 that the reader can understand the rest of your document.

Don’t make assumptions about the reader’s knowledge – in most cases, your markers will not 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.

#3 – The research problem

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 focus on.

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 into three sections – specifically:

What’s already well-established in the literature (in other words, the current state of research)
What’s missing in the literature (in other words, the literature gap)
Why this is a problem (in other words, why it’s important to fill this gap)

Let’s look at an example of this structure using the skills development topic.

Organisational 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 organisations (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 an 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 (1) the current state of research, (2) the literature gap and (3) why that gap is problematic. By doing this, the research problem is made crystal clear, which lays the foundation for the next ingredient.

#4 – The research aims, objectives and questions

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. In other words, 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 organisational skills development in fast-moving industries, this study will aim to identify and evaluate the skills development approaches utilised 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, web development companies in the UK).

Next up is the research objective (or objectives) . While the research aims cover the high-level “what”, the research objectives are a bit more practically oriented, looking at specific things you’ll be doing to achieve those research aims.

Let’s take a look at an example of some research objectives (ROs) to fit the research aim.

RO1 – To identify common skills development strategies and approaches utilised by web development companies in the UK.
RO2 – To evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies and approaches.
RO3 – 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 actions you’ll take and the specific things you’ll investigate in order to achieve your research aims. They break down the research aims into more specific, actionable objectives.

The final step is to state your research questions . Your research questions bring the aims and objectives another level “down to earth”. These are the specific questions that your dissertation or theses 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 look a bit obvious, but they are still extremely important. Let’s take a look at an example of the research questions (RQs) that would flow from the research objectives I mentioned earlier.

RQ1 – What skills development strategies and approaches are currently being used by web development companies in the UK?
RQ2 – How effective are each of these strategies and approaches?
RQ3 – What are the strengths and 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.

A final note about this section – it’s really important to be clear about the scope of your study (more technically, the delimitations ). In other words, what you WILL cover and what you WON’T cover. If your research aims, objectives and questions are too broad, you’ll risk losing focus or investigating a problem that is too big to solve within a single dissertation.

Simply put, you need to establish clear boundaries in your research. You can do this, for example, by limiting it to a specific industry, country or time period. That way, you’ll ringfence your research, which will allow you to investigate your topic deeply and thoroughly – which is what earns marks!

Need a helping hand?

#5 – Significance

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 . In other words, now that you’ve covered the what, it’s time to cover the why – enter essential ingredient number 5 – significance.

Of course, 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 incorporating 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 organisations 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 real-world value to organisations.

This 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. This 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 industry – and then “sell it” in this section.

#6 – 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.

But you’re probably thinking, hold up – what limitations? My research is well thought out and carefully designed – why would there be limitations?

Well, no piece of research is perfect . This is especially true for a dissertation or thesis – which typically has a very low or zero budget, tight time constraints and limited researcher experience. Generally, your dissertation will be the first or second formal research project you’ve ever undertaken, so it’s unlikely to win any research awards…

Simply put, your research will invariably have limitations. Don’t stress yourself out though – this is completely acceptable (and expected). Even “professional” research has limitations – as I said, no piece of research is perfect. The key is to recognise the limitations upfront and be completely transparent about them, so that future researchers are aware of them and can improve the study’s design to minimise the limitations and strengthen the findings.

Generally, you’ll want to consider at least the following four common limitations. These are:

Your scope – for example, perhaps your focus is very narrow and doesn’t consider how certain variables interact with each other.
Your research methodology – for example, a qualitative methodology could be criticised for being overly subjective, or a quantitative methodology could be criticised for oversimplifying the situation (learn more about methodologies here ).
Your resources – for example, a lack of time, money, equipment and your own research experience.
The generalisability of your findings – for example, the findings from the study of a specific industry or country can’t necessarily be generalised 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 research design – so be brutal.

#7 – The structural outline

Now that you’ve clearly communicated what your research is going to be about, why it’s important and what the limitations of your research will 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:

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 Two, the existing literature will be reviewed and a foundation of theory will be laid out to identify key skills development approaches and strategies within the context of fast-moving industries, especially technology-intensive industries.

In Chapter Three, the methodological choices will be explored. Specifically, 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 post which explains dissertation structure .

Keep calm and carry on.

Hopefully you feel a bit more prepared for this challenge of crafting your dissertation or thesis introduction chapter now. Take a deep breath and remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day – conquer one ingredient at a time and you’ll be firmly on the path to success.

Let’s quickly recap – the 7 ingredients are:

The opening section – where you give a brief, high-level overview of what your research will be about.
The study background – where you introduce the reader to key theory, concepts and terminology, as well as the context of your study.
The research problem – where you explain what the problem with the current research is. In other words, the research gap.
The research aims , objectives and questions – where you clearly state what your dissertation will investigate.
The significance – where you explain what value your research will provide to the world.
The limitations – where you explain what the potential shortcomings and limitations of your research may be.
The structural outline – where you provide a high-level overview of the structure of your document

If you bake these 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!

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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42 Comments

Thanks very much for such an insight. I feel confident enough in undertaking my thesis on the survey;The future of facial recognition and learning non verbal interaction

Glad to hear that. Good luck with your thesis!

Thanks very much for such an insight. I feel confident now undertaking my thesis; The future of facial recognition and learning non verbal interaction.

Thanks so much for this article. I found myself struggling and wasting a lot of time in my thesis writing but after reading this article and watching some of your youtube videos, I now have a clear understanding of what is required for a thesis.

Thank you Derek, i find your each post so useful. Keep it up.

Thank you so much Derek ,for shedding the light and making it easier for me to handle the daunting task of academic writing .

Thanks do much Dereck for the comprehensive guide. It will assist me queit a lot in my thesis.

thanks a lot for helping

i LOVE the gifs, such a fun way to engage readers. thanks for the advice, much appreciated

Thanks a lot Derek! It will be really useful to the beginner in research!

You’re welcome

This is a well written, easily comprehensible, simple introduction to the basics of a Research Dissertation../the need to keep the reader in mind while writing the dissertation is an important point that is covered../ I appreciate the efforts of the author../

The instruction given are perfect and clear. I was supposed to take the course , unfortunately in Nepal the service is not avaialble.However, I am much more hopeful that you will provide require documents whatever you have produced so far.

Thank you very much

Thanks so much ❤️😘 I feel am ready to start writing my research methodology

This is genuinely the most effective advice I have ever been given regarding academia. Thank you so much!

This is one of the best write up I have seen in my road to PhD thesis. regards, this write up update my knowledge of research

I was looking for some good blogs related to Education hopefully your article will help. Thanks for sharing.

This is an awesome masterpiece. It is one of the most comprehensive guides to writing a Dissertation/Thesis I have seen and read.

You just saved me from going astray in writing a Dissertation for my undergraduate studies. I could not be more grateful for such a relevant guide like this. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much Derek, this has been extremely helpful!!

I do have one question though, in the limitations part do you refer to the scope as the focus of the research on a specific industry/country/chronological period? I assume that in order to talk about whether or not the research could be generalized, the above would need to be already presented and described in the introduction.

Thank you again!

Phew! You have genuinely rescued me. I was stuck how to go about my thesis. Now l have started. Thank you.

This is the very best guide in anything that has to do with thesis or dissertation writing. The numerous blends of examples and detailed insights make it worth a read and in fact, a treasure that is worthy to be bookmarked.

Thanks a lot for this masterpiece!

Powerful insight. I can now take a step

Thank you very much for these valuable introductions to thesis chapters. I saw all your videos about writing the introduction, discussion, and conclusion chapter. Then, I am wondering if we need to explain our research limitations in all three chapters, introduction, discussion, and conclusion? Isn’t it a bit redundant? If not, could you please explain how can we write in different ways? Thank you.

Excellent!!! Thank you…

Thanks for this informative content. I have a question. The research gap is mentioned in both the introduction and literature section. I would like to know how can I demonstrate the research gap in both sections without repeating the contents?

I’m incredibly grateful for this invaluable content. I’ve been dreading compiling my postgrad thesis but breaking each chapter down into sections has made it so much easier for me to engage with the material without feeling overwhelmed. After relying on your guidance, I’m really happy with how I’ve laid out my introduction.

Thank you for the informative content you provided

Hi Derrick and Team, thank you so much for the comprehensive guide on how to write a dissertation or a thesis introduction section. For some of us first-timers, it is a daunting task. However, the instruction with relevant examples makes it clear and easy to follow through. Much appreciated.

It was so helpful. God Bless you. Thanks very much

I thank you Grad coach for your priceless help. I have two questions I have learned from your video the limitations of the research presented in chapter one. but in another video also presented in chapter five. which chapter limitation should be included? If possible, I need your answer since I am doing my thesis. how can I explain If I am asked what is my motivation for this research?

Thank you guys for the great work you are doing. Honestly, you have made the research to be interesting and simplified. Even a novice will easily grasp the ideas you put forward, Thank you once again.

Excellent piece!

I feel like just settling for a good topic is usually the hardest part.

Thank you so much. My confidence has been completely destroyed during my first year of PhD and you have helped me pull myself together again

Happy to help 🙂

I am so glad I ran into your resources and did not waste time doing the wrong this. Research is now making so much sense now.

Gratitude to Derrick and the team I was looking for a solid article that would aid me in drafting the thesis’ introduction. I felt quite happy when I came across the piece you wrote because it was so well-written and insightful. I wish you success in the future.

thank you so much. God Bless you

Thank you so much Grad Coach for these helpful insights. Now I can get started, with a great deal of confidence.

It’s ‘alluded to’ not ‘eluded to’.

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connecting chapters/chapter introductions

Writing a thesis, or indeed an academic book, means constructing an extended argument. One common problem in writing a very long text is that it’s not hard in 80,000 to 100,000 words for the reader to get lost in between chapters – they aren’t sure of the connection of one to the other and of how they work together to advance the case being made, move by move. And sometimes the writer can get lost too! That’s because chapters are often written in a different order to the order in which they are read, and sometimes they are written at very different times. Of course, sometimes the text is written straight through. But whatever the circumstances, it’s easy for both reader and writer to get lost in the overall argument because there is just soooo much detail to cover.

Here is one way to address the getting lost problem and one that many thesis writers find helpful. Confident and clever writers will find their own way to connect chapters together, but if you’re feeling a bit stuck this will help. It’s just a simple frame to use at the beginning of each new chapter. The frame – link, focus, overview – can be used for writing the first draft of the whole text. Because it’s a bit formulaic, it’s helpful to play with it on the second and third drafts so it reads more easily. But even when playing with it, keep the three moves because this is a good way to keep yourself as writer, and the reader, on track.

Paragraph One: LINK Make a connection to what has immediately gone before. Recap the last chapter. In the last chapter I showed that… Having argued in the previous chapter that… As a result of x, which I established in the last chapter….. It is also possible to make a link between this chapter and the whole argument… The first step in answering my research question (repeat question) .. was to.. . In the last chapter I …

Paragraph Two: FOCUS Now focus the reader’s attention on what this chapter is specifically going to do and why it is important. In this chapter I will examine.. I will present… I will report … This is crucial in (aim of thesis/research question) in order to….

Paragraph Three: OVERVIEW The third paragraph simply outlines the way that you are going to achieve the aim spelled out in the previous paragraph. It’s really just a statement of the contents in the order that the reader will encounter them. It is important to state these not simply as topics, but actually how they build up the internal chapter argument… I will begin by examining the definitions of, then move to seeing how these were applied… I first of all explain my orientation to the research process, positioning myself as a critical scholar.. I then explain the methodology that I used in the research, arguing that ethnography was the most suitable approach to provide answers to the question of…

Now, as I said, this is pretty mechanical and it doesn’t make for riveting reading. It’s meant for conventional theses and not those that break the mould. However, the bottom line is that it’s better to be dull and establish coherence and flow between chapters, than to have the reader, particularly if it’s your supervisor or the examiner, wondering what’s going on and how what they are now reading links back to what has gone before, and what the chapter is going to do. And if you’re the writer, it really does help keep you on the straight and narrow.

This post is the first of a four part series suggesting one strategy for achieving flow. Read the rest here , here and here.

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18 responses to connecting chapters/chapter introductions.

‘Mechanical’ approaches to specific aspects of writing can be life savers, both for the writer and the reader. Thanks for sharing that way of linking chapters/chapter introductions. I’ll definitely keep that in mind for an upcoming book project (as the on I am in the process of writing right now is more a “mosaic” approach than a traditional one on a more focused subject).

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I notice that you are speaking in the first person in some of the sentence starters. Thanks for that, Pat.

Like Liked by 1 person

Dear Pat This is to say that I greatly appreciate your posts, so relevant and helpful. There….I’ve found a moment to thank you. I’m sure I speak for a large number of researchers. Best wishes Rev’d Theresa

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Dear Pat. Good pointers and perfect timing for me as I have just started my writing. Thanks

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Hi Pat, I used this framework yesterday. What a great tool! It was useful in structuring my writing in relation to my question and aims. It also provided me with a structure to work from. Thank you.

Reblogged this on TouRNet and commented: …good helpful tips to help in the process of writing

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Hi patter, your tips on “Chapter Connection” in this website is so amazing, really useful. I was struggling with connecting the chapters in the book I am writing, then I came across this website, it fitted the missing puzzle I was looking for. Thank you for writing an article like this to help those of us stuck in similar situation . I really appreciate.

Reblogged this on lateneze and commented: Very helpful

Reblogged this on Xaquín S. Pérez-Sindín López .

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How To Write A Thesis Introduction Chapter

Crafting the introductory chapter of a thesis can be confusing. If you are feeling the same, you are the at right place.

This post will explore how you can write a thesis introduction chapter, by outlining the essential components of a thesis introduction. We will look at the process, one section at a time, and explain them to help you get a hang of how to craft your thesis introduction.

How To Write A Good Thesis Introduction?

The opening section of a thesis introduction sets the stage for what’s to come, acting as a crucial hook to capture the reader’s attention.

Unlike the broader strokes found in the table of contents, this initial foray into your research is where you must distill the essence of your thesis into a potent, digestible form.

A skillful introduction begins with a concise preview of the chapter’s terrain, delineating the structure of the thesis with a clarity that avoids overwhelming the reader.

This is not the stage for exhaustive details; rather, it’s where you prime the reader with a snapshot of the intellectual journey ahead.

In crafting this segment, insiders advise adhering to a quartet of foundational sentences that offer an academic handshake to the reader.

First Section: I ntroduces the broad field of research, such as the significance of organisational skills development in business growth.

Second Section: Narrows the focus, pinpointing a specific research problem or gap — perhaps the debate on managing skill development in fast-paced industries like web development.

Third Section: Clearly state the research aims and objectives, guiding the reader to the ‘why’ behind your study. Finally, a sentence should outline the roadmap of the introduction chapter itself, forecasting the background context, research questions, significance, and limitations that will follow.

Such a calibrated approach ensures that every element from the research objective to the hypothesis is presented with precision.

This method, a well-guarded secret amongst seasoned researchers, transforms a mundane introduction into a compelling entrée into your dissertation or thesis.

Background To The Study

This section sets the tone for the research journey ahead. The goal here is to capture the reader’s attention by threading relevant background information into a coherent narrative that aligns with the research objectives of the thesis.

To write a good thesis introduction, one must carefully describe the background to highlight the context in which the research is grounded.

This involves not just a literature review but a strategic presentation of the current state of research, pinpointing where your work will wedge itself into the existing body of knowledge.

For instance, if the research project focuses on qualitative changes in urban planning, the introduction should spotlight key developmental milestones and policy shifts that foreground the study’s aims and objectives.

When writing this section, articulate the focus and scope of the research, ensuring the reader grasps the importance of the research questions and hypothesis.

This section must not only be informative but also engaging. By the end of the introductory chapter, the reader should be compelled to continue reading, having grasped a clear and easy-to-understand summary of each chapter that will follow.

It’s a good idea to address frequently asked questions and to clearly state any industry-specific terminology, assuming no prior expertise on the reader’s part.

This approach establishes a solid foundation for the rest of the thesis or dissertation, ensuring the reader is well-prepared to dive into the nuances of your research project.

Research Problem

Crafting the nucleus of your thesis or dissertation hinges on pinpointing a compelling research problem. This step is crucial; it is the keystone of a good thesis introduction chapter, drawing the reader’s attention and setting the stage for the rest of your thesis.

A well-defined research problem addresses a gap in the existing literature, underscored by a qualitative or quantitative body of research that lacks consensus or is outdated, especially in rapidly evolving fields.

Consider the dynamic sphere of organizational skills development. Established research might agree on strategies for industries where skills change at a snail’s pace.

However, if the landscape shifts more quickly—take web development for example, where new languages and platforms emerge incessantly—the literature gap becomes evident.

Herein lies the research problem: existing strategies may not suffice in industries characterized by a swift knowledge turnover.

When writing your introduction, your goal is to clearly state this gap. A great thesis introduction delineates what is known, what remains unknown, and why bridging this chasm is significant.

It should illuminate the research objectives and questions, laying out a roadmap for the reader in a language that’s clear and easy to understand, regardless of their familiarity with the topic.

You’ll be able to capture and maintain the reader’s interest by effectively communicating why your research matters—setting the scene for your hypothesis and subsequent investigation.

Remember, a good thesis introduction should not only provide background information but also articulate the focus and scope of the study, offering a preview of the structure of your thesis.

Research Aims, Objectives And Questions

This pivotal section lays out the foundation by providing relevant background information, but it is the articulation of research aims, objectives, and questions that clarifies the focus and scope of your study.

The research aim is the lighthouse of your thesis, illuminating the overarching purpose of your investigation.

For instance, a thesis exploring skills development in fast-paced industries might present an aim to evaluate the effectiveness of various strategies within UK web development companies. This broad goal sets the direction for more detailed planning.

Research objectives drill down into specifics, acting as stepping stones toward achieving your aim. They are the tangible checkpoints of your research project, often action-oriented, outlining what you will do.

Examples might include identifying common skills development strategies or evaluating their effectiveness. These objectives segment the monumental task into manageable portions, offering a clear and easy way to write a structured pathway for the research.

Equally critical are the research questions, which translate your objectives into inquiries that your thesis will answer. They narrow the focus even further, dictating the structure of the thesis.

For instance:

“What are the prevalent skills development strategies employed by UK web development firms?”
“How effective are these strategies?”

Such questions demand concrete responses and guide the reader through the rest of the thesis.

Significance Of The Study

The “Significance of the Study” section within the introduction chapter of your thesis or dissertation holds considerable weight in laying out the importance of your research.

This segment answers the pivotal question: “Why does this research matter?” It is strategically placed after the background information and literature review to underscore the contribution your study makes to the existing body of research.

In writing this section, you’ll be able to capture the reader’s attention by clearly stating the impact and added value your research project offers.

Whether it’s a qualitative or quantitative study, the significance must be articulated in terms of:

Theoretical
Academic, and
Societal contributions.

For instance, it may fill gaps identified in the literature review, propose innovative solutions to pressing problems, or advance our understanding in a certain field.

A good thesis introduction will succinctly convey three main things: the research objective, the hypothesis or research questions, and the importance of your research.

It’s a good idea to provide your reader with a roadmap, foreshadowing the structure of the thesis and offering a summary of each chapter, thus enticing the reader to continue reading.

When you write the introduction section, it should also serve as a concise synopsis of the focus and scope of your research.

It’s often beneficial to include examples of introductions that clearly state the research objectives and questions, offering a snapshot of the whole thesis, and setting the stage for the rest of your thesis.

Limitations Of The Study

A thorough thesis introduction lays out specific research objectives and questions, yet it also sheds light on the study’s inherent boundaries. This is the purpose of the Limitation of The Study section.

The limitations section is not a confession of failure; instead, it’s a good idea to see it as demonstrating academic maturity.

Here, you clearly state the parameters within which the research was conducted.

For instance, a qualitative study might face scrutiny for subjectivity, or a quantitative one for potentially oversimplifying complexities. Other common constraints include the scope—perhaps focusing on a narrow aspect without considering variable interplay—resources, and generalizability.

For example, a study concentrated on a specific industry in Florida may not hold water in a different context, for example in Tokyo, Japan.

It’s essential to write this section with transparency. A good thesis introduction doesn’t shy away from limitations. Instead, it captures the reader’s attention by laying them out systematically, often in a dedicated paragraph for each chapter.

This honesty allows the reader to understand the research’s focus and scope while providing a clear and easy-to-follow structure of the thesis.

This approach also serves to manage the reader’s expectations. By preempting frequently asked questions about the scope of your research, the introductory chapter establishes a trust that encourages the reader to continue reading, aware of the contours shaping the body of research.

Thus, a well-articulated limitations section is not just part of the thesis; it is an integral piece of a responsibly woven research narrative.

Structural Outline Of Thesis, Thesis Statement

Within the thesis or dissertation, the structural outline section is akin to a compass, orienting the reader’s journey through the academic landscape laid out within the pages.

Crafting this section is a strategic exercise, one that requires an understanding of the work’s skeleton.

In essence, it’s the blueprint for the construction of a scholarly argument, and writing a good thesis necessitates a clear and easy-to-follow outline.

When you write a thesis outline, it’s not only about catching the reader’s attention; it’s also about holding it throughout the rest of the thesis.

This is where the structural outline comes into play, often beginning with an introduction chapter that presents the thesis statement, research objectives, and the importance of your research.

Following the introduction, a typical outline might proceed with Chapter 2, offering a literature review to acquaint the reader with existing literature and how this piece of research fits within it.

Subsequent chapters, each with a paragraph in the outline, detail the methodological approach—whether it’s qualitative or quantitative—and the research’s focus and scope.

A well-thought-out outline should also preview the structure of the thesis, succinctly:

Summarizing the main aim and objectives of each chapter, and
Indicating the type of data and analysis that will be presented.

This roadmap reassures the reader that the dissertation or thesis will cover the necessary ground in a logical progression, continuing from where the introduction first captivated their interest.

The structural outline is not only part of the thesis—it’s a strategic framework that informs the reader what to expect in each subsequent chapter.

Done correctly, this section allows the reader to understand the whole thesis in a nutshell and can often serve as a checklist for both the reader and the writer.

This ensures that the key stages of the research project are clearly stated and that the reader is provided with a roadmap to guide them through the detailed landscape of your scholarly work.

Write An Introduction Chapter With Ease

Mastering the thesis introduction chapter is a critical step towards a successful dissertation. It’s about striking a balance between engagement and information, presenting a snapshot of your research with clarity and intrigue.

Remember to start with a hook, establish the context, clarify your aims, and highlight the significance, all while being mindful of the study’s scope and limitations.

By adhering to these principles, your introduction will not only guide but also inspire your readers, laying a strong foundation for the in-depth exploration that follows in your thesis or dissertation.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

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How to write a fantastic thesis introduction (+15 examples)

The thesis introduction, usually chapter 1, is one of the most important chapters of a thesis. It sets the scene. It previews key arguments and findings. And it helps the reader to understand the structure of the thesis. In short, a lot is riding on this first chapter. With the following tips, you can write a powerful thesis introduction.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase using the links below at no additional cost to you . I only recommend products or services that I truly believe can benefit my audience. As always, my opinions are my own.

Elements of a fantastic thesis introduction

Open with a (personal) story, begin with a problem, define a clear research gap, describe the scientific relevance of the thesis, describe the societal relevance of the thesis, write down the thesis’ core claim in 1-2 sentences, support your argument with sufficient evidence, consider possible objections, address the empirical research context, give a taste of the thesis’ empirical analysis, hint at the practical implications of the research, provide a reading guide, briefly summarise all chapters to come, design a figure illustrating the thesis structure.

An introductory chapter plays an integral part in every thesis. The first chapter has to include quite a lot of information to contextualise the research. At the same time, a good thesis introduction is not too long, but clear and to the point.

A powerful thesis introduction does the following:

It captures the reader’s attention.
It presents a clear research gap and emphasises the thesis’ relevance.
It provides a compelling argument.
It previews the research findings.
It explains the structure of the thesis.

In addition, a powerful thesis introduction is well-written, logically structured, and free of grammar and spelling errors. Reputable thesis editors can elevate the quality of your introduction to the next level. If you are in search of a trustworthy thesis or dissertation editor who upholds high-quality standards and offers efficient turnaround times, I recommend the professional thesis and dissertation editing service provided by Editage .

This list can feel quite overwhelming. However, with some easy tips and tricks, you can accomplish all these goals in your thesis introduction. (And if you struggle with finding the right wording, have a look at academic key phrases for introductions .)

Ways to capture the reader’s attention

A powerful thesis introduction should spark the reader’s interest on the first pages. A reader should be enticed to continue reading! There are three common ways to capture the reader’s attention.

An established way to capture the reader’s attention in a thesis introduction is by starting with a story. Regardless of how abstract and ‘scientific’ the actual thesis content is, it can be useful to ease the reader into the topic with a short story.

This story can be, for instance, based on one of your study participants. It can also be a very personal account of one of your own experiences, which drew you to study the thesis topic in the first place.

Start by providing data or statistics

Data and statistics are another established way to immediately draw in your reader. Especially surprising or shocking numbers can highlight the importance of a thesis topic in the first few sentences!

So if your thesis topic lends itself to being kick-started with data or statistics, you are in for a quick and easy way to write a memorable thesis introduction.

The third established way to capture the reader’s attention is by starting with the problem that underlies your thesis. It is advisable to keep the problem simple. A few sentences at the start of the chapter should suffice.

Usually, at a later stage in the introductory chapter, it is common to go more in-depth, describing the research problem (and its scientific and societal relevance) in more detail.

You may also like: Minimalist writing for a better thesis

Emphasising the thesis’ relevance

A good thesis is a relevant thesis. No one wants to read about a concept that has already been explored hundreds of times, or that no one cares about.

Of course, a thesis heavily relies on the work of other scholars. However, each thesis is – and should be – unique. If you want to write a fantastic thesis introduction, your job is to point out this uniqueness!

In academic research, a research gap signifies a research area or research question that has not been explored yet, that has been insufficiently explored, or whose insights and findings are outdated.

Every thesis needs a crystal-clear research gap. Spell it out instead of letting your reader figure out why your thesis is relevant.

* This example has been taken from an actual academic paper on toxic behaviour in online games: Liu, J. and Agur, C. (2022). “After All, They Don’t Know Me” Exploring the Psychological Mechanisms of Toxic Behavior in Online Games. Games and Culture 1–24, DOI: 10.1177/15554120221115397

The scientific relevance of a thesis highlights the importance of your work in terms of advancing theoretical insights on a topic. You can think of this part as your contribution to the (international) academic literature.

Scientific relevance comes in different forms. For instance, you can critically assess a prominent theory explaining a specific phenomenon. Maybe something is missing? Or you can develop a novel framework that combines different frameworks used by other scholars. Or you can draw attention to the context-specific nature of a phenomenon that is discussed in the international literature.

The societal relevance of a thesis highlights the importance of your research in more practical terms. You can think of this part as your contribution beyond theoretical insights and academic publications.

Why are your insights useful? Who can benefit from your insights? How can your insights improve existing practices?

Formulating a compelling argument

Arguments are sets of reasons supporting an idea, which – in academia – often integrate theoretical and empirical insights. Think of an argument as an umbrella statement, or core claim. It should be no longer than one or two sentences.

Including an argument in the introduction of your thesis may seem counterintuitive. After all, the reader will be introduced to your core claim before reading all the chapters of your thesis that led you to this claim in the first place.

But rest assured: A clear argument at the start of your thesis introduction is a sign of a good thesis. It works like a movie teaser to generate interest. And it helps the reader to follow your subsequent line of argumentation.

The core claim of your thesis should be accompanied by sufficient evidence. This does not mean that you have to write 10 pages about your results at this point.

However, you do need to show the reader that your claim is credible and legitimate because of the work you have done.

A good argument already anticipates possible objections. Not everyone will agree with your core claim. Therefore, it is smart to think ahead. What criticism can you expect?

Think about reasons or opposing positions that people can come up with to disagree with your claim. Then, try to address them head-on.

Providing a captivating preview of findings

Similar to presenting a compelling argument, a fantastic thesis introduction also previews some of the findings. When reading an introduction, the reader wants to learn a bit more about the research context. Furthermore, a reader should get a taste of the type of analysis that will be conducted. And lastly, a hint at the practical implications of the findings encourages the reader to read until the end.

If you focus on a specific empirical context, make sure to provide some information about it. The empirical context could be, for instance, a country, an island, a school or city. Make sure the reader understands why you chose this context for your research, and why it fits to your research objective.

If you did all your research in a lab, this section is obviously irrelevant. However, in that case you should explain the setup of your experiment, etcetera.

The empirical part of your thesis centers around the collection and analysis of information. What information, and what evidence, did you generate? And what are some of the key findings?

For instance, you can provide a short summary of the different research methods that you used to collect data. Followed by a short overview of how you analysed this data, and some of the key findings. The reader needs to understand why your empirical analysis is worth reading.

You already highlighted the practical relevance of your thesis in the introductory chapter. However, you should also provide a preview of some of the practical implications that you will develop in your thesis based on your findings.

Presenting a crystal clear thesis structure

A fantastic thesis introduction helps the reader to understand the structure and logic of your whole thesis. This is probably the easiest part to write in a thesis introduction. However, this part can be best written at the very end, once everything else is ready.

A reading guide is an essential part in a thesis introduction! Usually, the reading guide can be found toward the end of the introductory chapter.

The reading guide basically tells the reader what to expect in the chapters to come.

In a longer thesis, such as a PhD thesis, it can be smart to provide a summary of each chapter to come. Think of a paragraph for each chapter, almost in the form of an abstract.

For shorter theses, which also have a shorter introduction, this step is not necessary.

Especially for longer theses, it tends to be a good idea to design a simple figure that illustrates the structure of your thesis. It helps the reader to better grasp the logic of your thesis.

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Writing a Dissertation: The Introduction

The introduction to your dissertation or thesis may well be the last part that you complete, excepting perhaps the abstract. However, it should not be the last part that you think about.

You should write a draft of your introduction very early on, perhaps as early as when you submit your research proposal , to set out a broad outline of your ideas, why you want to study this area, and what you hope to explore and/or establish.

You can, and should, update your introduction several times as your ideas develop. Keeping the introduction in mind will help you to ensure that your research stays on track.

The introduction provides the rationale for your dissertation, thesis or other research project: what you are trying to answer and why it is important to do this research.

Your introduction should contain a clear statement of the research question and the aims of the research (closely related to the question).

It should also introduce and briefly review the literature on your topic to show what is already known and explain the theoretical framework. If there are theoretical debates in the literature, then the introduction is a good place for the researcher to give his or her own perspective in conjunction with the literature review section of the dissertation.

The introduction should also indicate how your piece of research will contribute to the theoretical understanding of the topic.

Drawing on your Research Proposal

The introduction to your dissertation or thesis will probably draw heavily on your research proposal.

If you haven't already written a research proposal see our page Writing a Research Proposal for some ideas.

The introduction needs to set the scene for the later work and give a broad idea of the arguments and/or research that preceded yours. It should give some idea of why you chose to study this area, giving a flavour of the literature, and what you hoped to find out.

Don’t include too many citations in your introduction: this is your summary of why you want to study this area, and what questions you hope to address. Any citations are only to set the context, and you should leave the bulk of the literature for a later section.

Unlike your research proposal, however, you have now completed the work. This means that your introduction can be much clearer about what exactly you chose to investigate and the precise scope of your work.

Remember , whenever you actually write it, that, for the reader, the introduction is the start of the journey through your work. Although you can give a flavour of the outcomes of your research, you should not include any detailed results or conclusions.

Some good ideas for making your introduction strong include:

An interesting opening sentence that will hold the attention of your reader.
Don’t try to say everything in the introduction, but do outline the broad thrust of your work and argument.
Make sure that you don’t promise anything that can’t be delivered later.
Keep the language straightforward. Although you should do this throughout, it is especially important for the introduction.

Your introduction is the reader’s ‘door’ into your thesis or dissertation. It therefore needs to make sense to the non-expert. Ask a friend to read it for you, and see if they can understand it easily.

At the end of the introduction, it is also usual to set out an outline of the rest of the dissertation.

This can be as simple as ‘ Chapter 2 discusses my chosen methodology, Chapter 3 sets out my results, and Chapter 4 discusses the results and draws conclusions ’.

However, if your thesis is ordered by themes, then a more complex outline may be necessary.

Drafting and Redrafting

As with any other piece of writing, redrafting and editing will improve your text.

This is especially important for the introduction because it needs to hold your reader’s attention and lead them into your research.

The best way to ensure that you can do this is to give yourself enough time to write a really good introduction, including several redrafts.

Do not view the introduction as a last minute job.

Continue to: Writing a Literature Review Writing the Methodology

See also: Dissertation: Results and Discussion Dissertation: Conclusions and Extra Sections Academic Referencing | Research Methods

Directories

Chapter introductions

Your overall thesis objectives or questions can be distinguished from specific objectives of each chapter, however, it should be broad enough to embody the latter. So whenever you have difficulty deciding what information to include in the thesis introduction and what to include in the introductory sections of individual chapters, remember it's primarily a matter of scale (see the table below).

Introductions

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How to write an introduction chapter for a thesis

Louisa Hill is a Senior Teaching Fellow and delivers workshops for Postgraduate Researchers who want to teach.

When writing a thesis, you will need to write an introductory chapter. This chapter is critical as it is the first thing that the examiner will read and it is therefore important to make a good first impression.

A good introduction chapter should incite the reader to read the rest of the thesis by establishing the context of your topic, the motivation for undertaking your work and the importance of your research.

As a lecturer and supervisor, I have read many introductory chapters for research projects such as theses. Here is my advice to those undertaking a research project and writing a thesis.

Capture the reader’s interest

Initially you need to capture the reader’s attention with a discussion of a broader theme relating to your research. To add impact draw on research, data and quotations from international or national professional bodies, governmental organisations or key authors on the topic of study.

Give an overview of your research topic

Your discussion should then begin by detailing the broader aspects of the topic more, before focussing on the specific topic of your research. It is a good idea when you do this to assume that the reader knows nothing about your topic. Therefore definitions, drawing on key research, need to be clarified and explained. Alternatively, if having read key literature for the literature review chapter, you are not satisfied with existing definitions, then draw on these, to devise your own (but make it clear you have done this).

Detail how your research is going to make a contribution

You must then sell your idea for undertaking the research topic, demonstrating the main reasons why the research will make a significant contribution to the current body of research. This can be achieved by demonstrating a gap or limitation with existing research, then showing how your research will resolve this. There are different types of contribution (see Constructing Research Questions: Doing Interesting Research ).

Explain what your interest is in the topic

Next you need to demonstrate your personal reasons for choosing the topic. These could relate to your previous research, work or experiences.

List your research objectives

You need to include your three or four overarching research objectives. Also include corresponding research questions if it is a qualitative piece of research or hypotheses if it is quantitative-based. The former are usually derivatives of the research objectives. Note though that these objectives and questions or hypotheses are fluid in nature and can be tweaked as you undertake the research.

Give a forthcoming chapter overview

The final part of the introduction is an overview of the rest of the chapters in the thesis. The other sections can go in any order, providing it is a logical sequence.

Learn from others

Look at other theses for example from White Rose etheses or your university library’s website. The majority of journal articles that you will read in the content of your topic will also provide useful insights.

Speak with your supervisor

Remember to always speak with your supervisor and have regular catch-ups. They will be able to offer guidance and encouragement, and steer you in the right direction.

How to Write a Dissertation Discussion Chapter – A Quick Guide with Examples

Published by Alvin Nicolas at August 12th, 2021 , Revised On September 20, 2023

Dissertation discussion is the chapter where you explore the relevance, significance, and meanings of your findings – allowing you to showcase your talents in describing and analyzing the results of your study.

Here, you will be expected to demonstrate how your research findings answer the research questions established or test the hypothesis .

The arguments you assert in the dissertation analysis and discussions chapter lay the foundations of your conclusion . It is critically important to discuss the results in a precise manner.

To help you understand how to write a dissertation discussion chapter, here is the list of the main elements of this section so you stay on the right track when writing:

Summary: Start by providing a summary of your key research findings
Interpretations: What is the significance of your findings?
Implications: Why are your findings important to academic and scientific communities, and what purpose would they serve?
Limitations: When and where will your results have no implications?
Future Recommendations : Advice for other researchers and scientists who explore the topic further in future.

The dissertation discussion chapter should be carefully drafted to ensure that the results mentioned in your research align with your research question, aims, and objectives.

Considering the importance of this chapter for all students working on their dissertations, we have comprehensive guidelines on how to write a dissertation discussion chapter.

The discussion and conclusion chapters often overlap. Depending on your university, you may be asked to group these two sections in one chapter – Discussion and Conclusion.

In some cases, the results and discussion are put together under the Results and Discussion chapter. Here are some dissertation examples of working out the best structure for your dissertation.

Alternatively, you can look for the required dissertation structure in your handbook or consult your supervisor.

Steps of How to Write Dissertation Discussion Chapter

1. provide a summary of your findings.

Start your discussion by summarising the key findings of your research questions. Avoid repeating the information you have already stated in the previous chapters.

You will be expected to clearly express your interpretation of results to answer the research questions established initially in one or two paragraphs.

Here are some examples of how to present the summary of your findings ;

“The data suggests that”,
“The results confirm that”,
“The analysis indicates that”,
“The research shows a relationship between”, etc.

2. Interpretations of Results

Your audience will expect you to provide meanings of the results, although they might seem obvious to you. The results and their interpretations should be linked to the research questions so the reader can understand the value your research has added to the literature.

There are many ways of interpreting the data, but your chosen approach to interpreting the data will depend on the type of research involved . Some of the most common strategies employed include;

Describing how and why you ended up with unexpected findings and explaining their importance in detail
Relating your findings with previous studies conducted
Explaining your position with logical arguments when/if any alternative explanations are suggested
An in-depth discussion around whether or not the findings answered your research questions and successfully tested the hypothesis

Examples of how you can start your interpretation in the Discussion chapter are –

“Findings of this study contradict those of Allen et al. (2014) that”,
“Contrary to the hypothesized association,” “Confirming the hypothesis…”,
“The findings confirm that A is….. even though Allen et al. (2014) and Michael (2012) suggested B was …..”

3. Implications of your Study

What practical and theoretical implications will your study have for other researchers and the scientific community as a whole?

It is vital to relate your results to the knowledge in the existing literature so the readers can establish how your research will contribute to the existing data.

When thinking of the possible consequences of your findings, you should ask yourself these;

Are your findings in line with previous studies? What contribution did your research make to them?
Why are your results entirely different from other studies on the same topic?
Did your findings approve or contradict existing knowledge?
What are the practical implications of your study?

Remember that as the researcher, you should aim to let your readers know why your study will contribute to the existing literature. Possible ways of starting this particular section are;

“The findings show that A….. whereas Lee (2017) and John (2013) suggested that B”, “The results of this study completely contradict the claims made in theories”,
“These results are not in line with the theoretical perspectives”,
“The statistical analysis provides a new understanding of the relationship between A and B”,
“Future studies should take into consideration the findings of this study because”

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4. Recognise the Limitations of your Research

Almost every academic research has some limitations. Acknowledging them will only add to your credibility as a scientific researcher.

In addition to the possible human errors, it’s important to take into account other factors that might have influenced the results of your study, including but not limited to unexpected research obstacles, specific methodological choices , and the overall research design.

Avoid mentioning any limitations that may not be relevant to your research aim, but clearly state the limitations that may have affected your results.

For example, if you used a sample size that included a tiny population, you may not generalise your results.

Similarly, obstacles faced in collecting data from the participants can influence the findings of your study. Make a note of all such research limitations , but explain to the reader why your results are still authentic.

The small sample size limited the generalisability of the results.
The authenticity of the findings may have been influenced by….
The obstacles in collecting data resulted in…
It is beyond the framework of this research…

5. Provide Recommendations for Future Research

The limitations of your research work directly result in future recommendations. However, it should be noted that your recommendations for future research work should include the areas that your own work could not report so other researchers can build on them.

Sometimes the recommendations are a part of the conclusion chapter . Some examples;

More research is needed to be performed….

The Purpose of Dissertation Discussion Chapter

Remember that the discussion section of a dissertation is the heart of your research because a) it will indicate your stance on the topic of research, and b) it answers the research questions initially established in the Introduction chapter .

Every piece of information you present here will add value to the existing literature within your field of study. How you structured your findings in the preceding chapter will help you determine the best structure for your dissertation discussion section.

For example, it might be logical to structure your analysis/discussions by theme if you chose the pattern in your findings section.

But generally, discussion based on research questions is the more widely used structure in academia because this pattern clearly indicates how you have addressed the aim of your research.

Most UK universities require the supervisor or committee members to comment on the extent to which each research question has been answered. You will be doing them a great favour if you structure your discussion so that each research question is laid out separately.

Irrespective of whether you are writing an essay, dissertation, or chapter of a dissertation , all pieces of writing should start with an introduction .

Once your readers have read through your study results, you might want to highlight the contents of the subsequent discussion as an introduction paragraph (summary of your results – as explained above).

Likewise, the discussion chapter is expected to end with a concluding paragraph – allowing you the opportunity to summarise your interpretations.

The dissertation analysis & discussion chapter is usually very long, so it will make sense to emphasise the critical points in a concluding paragraph so the reader can grasp the essential information. This will also help to make sure the reader understands your analysis.

Also Read: Research Discussion Of Findings

Useful Tips

Presentation of graphs, tables, and figures.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, students spent days creating graphs and charts for their statistical analysis work . Thanks to technology, you can produce even more accurate graphs and figures today in a shorter period.

Using Microsoft Word, STATA, SPSS, Microsoft Excel and other statistical analysis software, we can now draw beautiful-looking figures, tables , and graphs with just a few clicks and make them appear in our document at the desired place. But there are downsides to being too dependent on technology.

Many students make the common mistake of using colours to represent variables when really they have to print their dissertation paper final copy in black and white.

Any colours on graphs and figures will eventually be viewed in the grayscale presentation. Recognizing different shades of grey on the same chart or graph can sometimes be a little confusing.

For example, green and purple appear as pretty much the same shade of grey on a line chat, meaning your chart will become unreadable to the marker.

Another trap you may fall into is the unintentional stuffing of the dissertation chapter with graphs and figures. Even though it is essential to show numbers and statistics, you don’t want to overwhelm your readers with too many.

It may not be necessary to have a graph/table under each sub-heading. Only you can best judge whether or not you need to have a graph/table under a particular sub-heading as the writer.

Image result for excel graphs and charts

Relating to Previous Chapters

As a student, it can be challenging to develop your own analysis and discussion of results. One of the excellent discussion chapter requirements is to showcase your ability to relate previous research to your research results.

Avoid repeating the same information over and over. Many students fall into this trap which negatively affects the mark of their overall dissertation paper .

Concise and to-the-point information will help you effectively convey your point to the readers.

Although you must demonstrate how your findings relate to previous research, it is equally important to ensure you are not simply rewriting what has already been said in the introduction and literature review chapters.

The best strategy is to use examples from previous sections to postulate an argument.

Hyperlinks are recommended to take the reader from one section to another. This is especially important for submitting electronic documents as .word or .pdf files. Hyperlinking is tedious and time-consuming, so you should allow for this in your dissertation timeline to avoid rushing in the closing stages.

Also read: How to Write the Abstract for the Dissertation.

Using Subsections and Subheadings

You might want to reflect on the structure of the discussion in your organizstion of the dissertation discussion chapter, and for that, you will need to create sub-sections.

It is essential to keep subsections to the point and as short as possible. Use a layer of subheadings if possible.

For example

Subsection 4.1 of Chapter 4- Discussion can be further divided into sections 4.1.1 and 4.2.2. After three numerical layers (4.1.1, 4.2.2, and 4.2.3), any subheadings need not appear in the contents table.

The titles of all subsections will appear on your table of contents so choose the wordings carefully. A title too long or too short might confuse the reader. A one or two-word subheading will not give the reader enough information to understand the section.

Likewise, using a research question or long sentences in the subheading is not recommended. It might help to examine how other researchers and writers create these subheadings.

Critical Thinking

Your critical thinking skills are the crux of your dissertation discussion chapter. You will do yourself a great disservice if you fail to put the critical thinking element into the equation.

After all, this exercise aims to showcase clarity in your thoughts and arguments. Markers of the dissertation give more importance to the analysis and discussion chapter. But you could be marked negatively if this particular chapter lacks critical thinking.

Many students struggle to distinguish between fundamental descriptive analysis and critical thinking with their opinions on the research topic.

Critical thinking is a skill developed over time, and it might be daunting for you to come to terms with the idea of critical thinking and its use in your analysis. But even if you are no expert, you must try your best.

“Still unsure about how to write a dissertation discussion chapter ? Why not take advantage of our UK-based dissertation writing service ? Your dissertation is essential to your degree, so you cannot risk failing it.

With our custom writing service , you are guaranteed to have all your dissertation paper elements put into the right place. Our expert academics can help you with your full dissertation paper or a part of it. Click here to learn more about our dissertation services.

Duplication of Content

Another critical error students make reaffirming the point the graph/chart was supposed to make. Writing out the same information as presented in the graph defeats the whole purpose of having them in the first place.

You will be expected to form your opinions and arguments based on the findings (as presented by the graphs), so keep an eye on this mistake. Finally, avoid simply inserting a graph without any explanation whatsoever.

It should be noted that there is no correct or incorrect number of charts/figures one can use in the dissertation findings and discussion chapter. A balance must be struck.

Avoid Over Interpretation

This is a major no-no when writing a dissertation discussion. Do not make an argument that isn’t backed by your collected data.

The results and interpretations that cannot be supported should not be mentioned. Your research will be deemed unauthentic and will also be questioned by your supervisor if you do so. Results should be interpreted without any bias.

How to Write the Findings of a Dissertation.

Do not Speculate

Speculation in the discussion chapter of your dissertation is discouraged. Your dissertation’s discussion is based on your collected data and how it relates to your research questions. Thus, speculating here will undoubtedly undermine your research’s credibility.

Also, try not to generalise your findings. If your research is based on a specific population, do not state that the same findings might apply in every case. As indicated previously, it is essential to acknowledge the limitations of your research.

On the other hand, if you think your discussion needs to address other populations as well, start your sentence like this ‘We speculate that..’ or ‘It is speculated that..’ This will keep you from getting into any trouble.

What are the elements of the Dissertation Discussion?

The list of the main elements of the discussion chapter are:

Implications : Why are your findings important to academic and scientific communities, and what purpose would they serve?
Future Recommendations: Advice for other researchers and scientists who explore the topic further in future.

What are the steps of writing a Dissertation Discussion Chapter?

Write a summary of the findings
Provide a summary of your findings
Interpretations of Results
Recognise the Limitations of your research
Provide Recommendations for Future Research.

Can we use graphs and charts in the Dissertation Discussion Chapter?

Yes, using graphs to aid your statistical results and enhance presentation is essential, but do not overwhelm it with a lot of graphs in multiple colours.

Introduction: The Dynamics of Truthfulness and Media

Open Access
First Online: 21 December 2023

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Beate Schirrmacher 4 &
Nafiseh Mousavi 5

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Intermediality ((PSI))

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In this introduction to “Truth Claims Across Media,” we approach pressing questions related to facts and fakes, authority and authenticity, information and disinformation through an intermedial perspective. As digital technology allows us to blend different media and modes on an unprecedented scale, we need to delve deeper into how our media choices impact our perception of truthfulness. We present the concepts of truthfulness and truth claims, examining what kind of knowledge about the actual world can be derived from specific media products. The intermedial perspective serves as a lens through which we can elucidate how the interplay between facts, coherence, and audience engagement varies in different media contexts. From this perspective, it becomes possible to discuss how media choices influence knowledge production and relate to the evolving demands for authenticity and witnessing in today’s shifting media landscape.

You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF

Media, genres, facts and truth: revisiting basic categories of narrative diversification

“Truth Is a Feeling in Your Gut”: Ronaldo Fryman, Conspiracy Theories, and Media Satire

Media Logic and the Mediatization Approach: A Good Partnership, a Mésalliance, or a Misunderstanding?

1.1 facts, fakes, and truths: a media-oriented approach.

Whether you look at the entertainment industry, social media, artistic realms, or the political and civil spheres, truth claims, authenticity discourses, and knowledge communication are high on the agenda everywhere. Social media influencers strive for creating an authentic persona, and TV series promise to show the audience the truth about a crime that actually happened. The crucial role of testimonies and witnessing for social justice has been made more than clear with social movements like #MeToo and political protests all over the world. Emergencies like the Covid-19 pandemic and the ecological crisis are global reminders that we do not have time to waste on misinformation; we need to get things right.

Adding to the complexity, there appears to be a communication paradox. The loss of influence of former gatekeepers and experts in the digital public sphere has led to a more multivoiced but also a more fragmented and polarized public debate. Digital social networks provide new and valuable ways to share opinions and information, but they also offer infrastructure for spreading false information. Digital technology allows for flexible integrations of words, images, and sounds, which can challenge perceived notions of authentic human presence in the form of deep fakes or chatbots. The internet has democratized access to information and publication but has also led to communication practices that threaten democratic processes.

The current disagreement on facts, fakes, and truths as well as the tensions between authority and authenticity, empirical and personal experience are complex problems with disruptive social consequences that are not easily addressed. The emergence of terms such as “post-truth” and “fake news” is a symptom of such complexity. “Post-truth,” according to the Oxford Dictionaries ( 2016 ), refers to situations “in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” This does not mean that a society could be “past” truth, but, rather, it signifies how certain actors increasingly treat truth as irrelevant (McIntyre, 2018 ). “Fake news,” another current term of relevance to our topic, is used as a shorthand to describe the various forms of false information spread for strategic reasons (Tandoc, 2019 ), but, it is also a term that is used rhetorically to attack opponents and to discredit facts that contradict specific ideologies and beliefs. Even if you want to describe the current “information disorder” more objectively, with the many different kinds of mis- and disinformation that “pollute” the information sphere (Wardle & Derekshan, 2017 ), this still leaves us with an underlying problem: What can be defined as mis- or disinformation is consumed as “information” and relevant “news” by certain audiences.

While truth still matters, there is disagreement on which sources qualify as truthful and how this can be established. As a result, a general agreement about facts, truth, and trust appears to be lost and needs to be renegotiated, as different forms of truth claims collide. Authorities and experts are challenged by alternative voices (Holt, 2020 ). There are different ways to establish facts and reach conclusions. You can rely on empirical facts, but you can also use evidence from personal testimonies and rely on what you perceive as authentic behavior. The hierarchy between these methods and which method trumps the other is currently under debate.

Disagreements over truth claims are not limited to today’s world, but perhaps they have never been as visible and so dominant. The diversity of the mediascape is a significant factor behind this, and following Michael Lynch ( 2016 ), we find that the new digital possibilities to communicate also greatly affect how we gain and construct knowledge. The contradictory social and communicational challenges, new potentials, and disruptive effects can be connected to how digital technology has transformed the way we communicate, work, and socialize. In other words, the emergence of new media foregrounds the role of media in the construction of knowledge.

Emphasizing the importance of media for knowledge communication, this volume suggests that we need a media-oriented approach to understand truth claims and truthfulness in communication. Most of our knowledge about the world is mediated by sources we regard as reliable such as friends or experts. We also gain knowledge from media products such as textbooks, news media, encyclopedias, documentaries, scientific articles, and testimonials, as well as novels, movies, poems, and games. The kind of knowledge we expect and gain is different depending on whether we read a novel or a scientific report, whether we watch a movie or the news, share information among friends, or act as an expert. All communication is dependent on material objects or perceivable phenomena. The choice of objects and their affordances define what we can communicate and how. Yet the way the material and medial specificities form the information they convey goes very often unnoticed. The point is that as long as media are functioning and familiar, we treat them as transparent and focus mostly on the “content” they mediate. We tend to notice the media involved when they are broken or self-reflectively draw attention to themselves, or when we have to learn how to use them, in the case of new and unfamiliar media. So while digital technology enables us to combine and switch between different modes and media types in hitherto unprecedented scale, the underlying transformation processes that take place when different texts, images and sounds integrate or when individual media products such as texts, videos, memes are shared across platforms are easily overlooked.

The question of media authenticity and related social conflicts have previously followed in the wake of media revolutions (Enli, 2015 ). For instance, printing technology increased the speed of spreading information, which transformed fifteenth- and sixteenth-century European societies but also destabilized them (Pettegree, 2015 ; see also Langen & Stjernfelt, 2022 ). New ways to access information meant the loss of authority for former gate keepers, particularly the Catholic Church; anonymous hate speech, spread in pamphlets; and polarization and conflict about religious truth. The connection between the technology of printing and a century of religious wars in Europe might be discouraging. However, considering how practices, standards, and conventions led to the fact that having something “in black and white” (that is in writing or print) came to express a degree of reliability and trustworthiness, we can probably assume that it would be possible to stabilize the current communication complex in a similar fashion.

Following Lynch, one way to contribute to this process of stabilization is to map and understand the collision and variety of the epistemic rules that are in place in different media contexts ( 2016 , 60). In recent years, significant work has been done for a better understanding of some of the disruptive phenomena we mentioned: mapping post-truth politics (McIntyre, 2018 ), exploring the various reasons behind the amplified spreading of false and misleading information (Zimdars & McLeod, 2020 ; Farkas & Schou, 2020 ; Tandoc, 2019 ; Bakir & McStay, 2018 ; Althuis et al., 2018 ), and the characteristics of conspiracy theories and the role of human bias in knowledge communication (Butter & Knight, 2020 ). Scholars insist on defending and reconstructing the concept of truth (Zuidervaart et al., 2013 ; Benson & Stangroom, 2007 ) and the relationship between trust and knowledge communication (Krämer, 2017 ; Salvi & Turnbull, 2017 ). In this volume, we contribute to this process by exploring how reliable, trusted, truthful information is shaped by the media involved.

Truth Claims Across Media approaches truthful communication across different media types as well as cultural and medial contexts. We approach media in a broad sense and explore the impact of material and medial aspects in all forms of human communication, thus looking beyond what is called “the media” in everyday speech. Whether we think of journalism, cinema, literature, or social media, in each media context, facts and experiences are treated and mediated differently in complex systems that integrate material, sensorial, semiotic, and cultural aspects. Different conventions and social contexts form what Lars Elleström ( 2021 ) calls qualified media types such as news, cinema, social media forums, or visual arts. More basic media types, such as texts and images, integrate differently in, for example, a comic strip, a graphic memoir, a news article, or a meme. However, all these different media types with different conventions converge on our digital devices turning into affordances that we can choose and pick from (Helles, 2013 ). As a consequence, even different forms of truth claims collide. The texts and images of a graphic memoir and a news feature not only look and are produced differently; but we also approach and evaluate them with different forms of truth expectations.

Therefore, we need to be more specific about whether media products convey knowledge about observable facts, personal experiences, or beliefs, and more specifically, how truth claims are manipulated by fakes and are negotiated in art. Truth Claims Across Media explores the epistemological question of how different kinds of truth claims collide, merge, or are confused. To this end, the volume brings together various media types and contexts, including journalism and literature, the arena of press conferences, documentaries and mockumentaries, images in political magazines and on Instagram, horror movies, screen biofiction, and (computer) games to increase data literacy.

1.2 Truth Claims Across Media: The Intermedial Approach

This volume explores the implicit truth claims of different media types, understood as the implicit reasons why and in which ways we conceive them as truthful to the physical and social world. We approach these different media contexts and their different truth claims from an intermedial perspective. Historically, intermedial theory developed from the study of artistic media such as literature, film, music, and visual arts and looks at how they integrate, transfer, and transform media characteristics, including what is perceived as media form or media content (Elleström, 2021 ; Rippl, 2015 ; Clüver, 2007 ; Rajewsky, 2005 ; Wolf, 1999 ). With our approach, we highlight that intermediality is more broadly useful. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Lars Elleström ( 2021 ), we highlight intermediality as a tool to explore all kinds of relationships between dissimilar media types, between different qualified media types such as news and literature, and between (or within) specific media products, such as news features and short stories. Elleström’s approach to intermediality departs from the characteristics that all kinds of media products have in common, which he calls the media modalities. Intermedial analysis then can highlight, for instance, how transmedial characteristics such as rhythm or narrativity play out in specific ways in different media and how all types of media adaptation join transfer and transformation (Elleström, 2014 ).

The intermedial perspective of finding similarities without ignoring crucial differences provides a valuable vantage point for understanding communication in a digitized society. Media and communication scholars therefore increasingly draw on intermediality as a concept to understand the hybridity, convergence and malleability of digital media and to explore the relationship between mass and interpersonal communication, the digital and the analogue (Rice, 2017 ; Helles, 2013 ; Jensen, 2016 ). In this introduction, we use an intermedial perspective to address the different forms of truthfulness that arise from material, perceptual, and semiotic media choices. We tease out the similarities and differences between how truth claims are made and how different forms of truthfulness are perceived in different media contexts. We argue that if one wants to better understand the attraction of conspiracy theories, why what is fake news for some is alternative information to others, or why post-truth politics can afford to ignore truthfulness with factual events, we need to look closer into how factual truth claims interact with other forms of claims that promise to be coherent with and thus truthful to conviction, beliefs, and experiences.

The challenge is that the truth claims that are at stake in a media context usually are not discussed explicitly. While the intermedial study of truthfulness and truth claims across media is still emerging (Bruhn et al., 2021 ; Elleström, 2018 ; see also Tseng, 2022 ), the implicit truth claims made by media products become first visible when metadiscourse draws attention to them or when scandals reveal that claims of truthfulness are not always sincerely made. Fake identities on social media, so-called native advertisements that imitate journalism, or the visual accuracy of the fictional events of deep fakes can lead to situations where audiences confuse constructed mediation with actual presence, in what Gunn Enli calls authenticity scandals ( 2015 ). These confusions also arise out of the fact that audiences address one kind of media product with the truth claims of another. Authenticity scandals tend to happen when new technology challenges existing conventions and evaluations of truth claims in a specific context. With the arrival of deep fake, for instance, the indexical truth claim of the moving images cannot be trusted by default to the same extent anymore. With the widespread use of artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, conversation is no more automatically an indexical sign for human presence.

The broad transmedial scope of this volume can therefore be seen as a first intermedial step that brings similarities and dissimilarities between truth claims across media contexts to the forefront. The individual articles explore the questions of trust, different truth claims, and truthfulness in a specific media context. The articles, spanning across disciplines, present different methodologies in addressing the questions of truth claims and truthful representation in the media types of journalism, literature, cinema, and photography as well as in social media and digital educational games. Some offer concrete approaches and describe projects that deal with topical social challenges like disinformation strategies, knowledge communication in the pandemic and media literacy. Others focus on how artistic media types, in the form of metafictive literary texts, graphic novels, documentaries, mockumentaries, and biofiction, highlight and negotiate the complexity of different forms of truthful representation. Not all articles explicitly deal with digital media, but all of them draw attention to collisions between conflicting truth claims that can be encountered in the digital sphere as well. All the essays demonstrate that truthfulness in communication needs to be specified and explored more carefully in research. Statements of truth are situated in a context; they are grounded in implicit truth claims that should be made specific, and the experience of truthfulness can relate to different aspects of the social world. Taken together, the articles build a constellation of the transmedial characteristics that informative, artistic, and interactive media share, even if these transmedial characteristics are used and combined differently.

In the following section, we start to map the common underlying similarities of different kinds of truth claims. We present “truth claim” and “truthfulness” as concepts that enable us to spell out the prerequisites of the perception of truthfulness in communication in different contexts.

1.3 Truths, Truth Claims, Truthfulness, and Trust

The philosopher William James describes truth as an agreement with reality (James, 2008 [1907], 136). While this minimal definition might be accepted by many, philosophers do not agree on how this agreement is reached, whether in correspondence to facts, in coherence with a set of beliefs or propositions, or within a certain limit of inquiry (Burgess & Burgess, 2011 , 14). However, although truth can be defined as a form of agreement and the result of a process, it is often referred to as if it were an object in the social world that can be found or revealed. Thus, speaking of truth is always a shorthand that refers to knowledge that can be defined as “correct beliefs” or “true opinions” because they are justified or grounded (Klauk, 2020 , 187–188; Lynch, 2016 , 12–14). This process of grounding opinions, of gaining knowledge by forming agreements is based on different social acts, sets of rules, power relations, and trust relationships.

The lack of consensus about the ontological status of truth also might indicate that different aspects are relevant in the empirical knowledge production. When we speak of empirical, legal, poetic, or subjective truth, the cultivation of true beliefs is based on different operations and rules, and they refer to knowledge about different aspects of the social world. The steps to justify alleged truths often remain implicit (Klauk, 2020 , 188). They are, in other words, socially constructed, but we want to stress that they should also be seen as media-dependent. Following what philosopher Ian Hacking points out, that “every new kind of truth-telling requires a new technology” (Hacking, 2005 , 171), we claim that new technologies and media types might also affect practices of truth-telling.

The interplay of different aspects and the changes in agreements all motivate a closer look into the truth claims of media and how they contribute to the perception of truthfulness in different ways. When film and media scholar Tom Gunning discusses the truth claims of photography, he understands truth claims as the reasons implicitly brought forth by a media product, looking at how and in what ways we can trust it (Gunning, 2004 ). These claims appeal to the audience’s knowledge of the media’s production process, the acts usually involved in creating the media product, and what kind of knowledge these media products usually convey. Gunning discusses the truth claim of photography as based on the indexicality of the production process but also informed by the detailed iconicity of the photographic image. These implicit reasons, Gunning stresses, do not say anything about the actual truthfulness of a specific media product; instead they are “a claim made for it based on our understanding of its inherent properties” (Gunning, 2004 , 42). On the contrary, fakes pretend to draw on the truth claims of production in a rhetorical way without in reality being grounded in the actual production process. Still, truth claims provide an explanation for why we heuristically tend to draw a specific form of knowledge from certain media types. The truth claim of journalism, for instance, presents the professional work of journalists as a form of knowledge-production based on accounts of recent events (Ekström & Westlund, 2019 ; Carlson, 2017 ). The journalistic authority and its truth claim is based on specific practices such as the observation of eyewitnesses and research as well as a specific form of presentation, which includes the indexicality of photographs and the quotation sources (Haapanen, 2017 ; Kroon Lundell, 2010 ).

While the concept of truth claims provides the reasons why we should trust a particular media product, the concept of truthfulness can be used to better describe what kind of knowledge about the actual world we can draw from a specific media product. Truthfulness is often understood as a personal quality and a form of honesty. Philosopher Bernard Williams’s understanding of truthfulness as a “commitment” to or “respect” of truth highlights truthfulness as a personal quality that is based on accuracy in the search for truth and sincerity when communicating the truth to others (Williams, 2002 , 11). Yet when John Hyman explores truthfulness in painting, he stresses that even media can be truthful, in respect to what they represent and how they represent it (Hyman, 2021 , 498).

When intermedial scholar Lars Elleström approaches truthfulness in communication from a semiotic perspective, he describes truthfulness in communication as an indexical relationship that connects communication with the actual world in the form of “extracommunicational truthfulness” but also has an inward direction that “establishes intracommunicational coherence” ( 2018 , 423). This semiotic approach makes it possible to describe “what kind of external truthfulness can be expected from certain media products” (ibid., 444). Indexical signs form what semiotician Peirce calls “real connections” that are based on contiguity (ibid., 434). Therefore, indexical signs, traces, and symptoms are used as proofs, as they can convince us of the presence or existence of something else that we cannot immediately perceive with our senses (like a former presence or an inner state). This proof, however, needs to be constructed. While smoke is an indexical sign of fire, smoke rising above the treetops will not tell what kind of fire it is or who started it. A fingerprint proves that a specific person has been at a specific place but does not explain why or when. Therefore, photographs used as indexical signs, such as in legal contexts, “can only be the supporting evidence for a statement” (Gunning, 2004 , 42). Photographs of red marks on skin can be presented as proof of physical abuse or a rash. At the same time, there are photographs that circulate in social media as proof for a specific event although they have been taken at other occasions. Understanding truthfulness as an interplay of various indexical relations helps us understand why the spreading of mis- and disinformative narratives cannot be countered by fact-checks alone but calls for an approach that considers how facts and narratives integrate.

Elleström’s indexical approach to truthfulness enables an intermedial analysis of the construction of truthfulness. It allows us to identify similarities between the truth claims of different media types and to differentiate expected from actually perceived forms of truthfulness. Truthfulness in communication needs to connect to the actual world and also provide or guarantee coherence. When reading, listening, or watching news, we not only look at the facts but also respond to how well they connect. All forms of knowledge communication depend on narratives and need to connect to previous knowledge. Facts are never isolated and even fictive stories need to be anchored in our previous knowledge in order for them to make sense to us. Thus, external and internal indexical relationships communicate different forms of knowledge in different kinds of media products, though they integrate differently in, say, a scientific report and a fantasy novel.

To understand the current information disorder, it is not enough to focus either on facts, narratives or human biases. If we start to explore more in detail how the extracommunicational truthfulness of facts relates to the intracommunicational coherences of narratives and how their relationships either confirm or challenge expectations and beliefs, we can analyze truthfulness in communication in a more fine-grained manner than using binaries like true and false, fake and authentic, and fiction and fact. We can start to describe what type of truthfulness we expect and actually perceive as well as which kinds of truth claims are made and may be colliding. An intermedial perspective allows us to spell out how facts, narrative, and audience engagement play out differently in different media types and to explore both underlying similarities without forgetting crucial differences between media products. We can consider the interplay of different forms of truth claims that go along with the empirical objectivity of facts, the coherences provided by narratives, and the psychological biases of personal engagement that are appropriate in some contexts but problematic in others.

In considering this interplay of truth claims, we need to address how the digital transformation has changed the practices of knowledge production and how these changes relate to an increased demand for authenticity.

1.4 Knowledge Communication, Authenticity, and Witnessing in a Changing Mediascape

Knowledge communication is built on trust and the willingness to rely on others. Most of our world knowledge is not only mediated but formed in what Sybille Krämer ( 2017 ) calls “epistemic dependence,” which means that “[w]e rely on being informed through others in order to be able to know anything at all.” Krämer stresses therefore that “thinking and knowing are terms for fundamentally cooperative actions” (ibid., 247).

Similar to what the technologies of writing and printing have done before, digital technology allows more people to profit from the knowledge of others without meeting them in person, therefore changing the way to create knowledge. When media prevent us from relying on our senses to evaluate information from others in face-to-face communication, we have to find strategies to identify reliable information that we can trust quickly and heuristically.

Digital technology already affects our understanding of how and to what extent we trust texts and images. Digital texts and images look similar to their printed equivalent, but—due to their digital materiality—they can be more easily combined, changed, and manipulated (Manovich, 2002 ). Due to its production process, printed text provides a different form of truth claim. Printed text published in book form and distributed by publishing houses vouches for a series of gatekeeping and editing procedures that cannot be expected by default from texts that only exist in digital form. A lot of digital text that now appears in Times New Roman font on the screen would have been written by hand or machine typed and be visibly recognizable as drafts before the arrival of word-processing software. A similar change in trust and practices goes for the digital image. Digital photographs are still indexically connected to a camera that has captured an image at a specific time and place (Gunning, 2004 , 40). However, the relationship between the indexical and iconic relationships has changed.

With the development of the internet, digital technology makes vast amounts of information more accessible, and it offers information in a networked, interactive way. One important change in the history of the internet and new media is the move from what is generally called Web 1.0—the web that for most general and non-expert users was a read-only web and was retroactively labelled as “the web of documents” (Shivalingaiah & Naik, 2008 , 499) or “a web of cognition” (Fuchs et al., 2010 , 42)—to the read-write, communicative Web 2.0, which was then followed by the emergence of social media platforms. While in Web 1.0, more similar to analog mass media, the majority of users were consumers of the information, in Web 2.0 they are given the opportunity to not only react to the existing knowledge and interact with other users but, moreover, generate and share content to a much greater extent than before. Being at both ends of knowledge production thanks to the interactive and participatory affordances of what now is called social media, individuals found unprecedented possibilities for claiming truthfulness while also facing complex challenges in trusting media products and other users. The complexity has deepened with later developments in AI and machine learning and the general dependency on applications. The information one receives is regulated by the user’s history in the communication algorithms of search engines. Since these search engines provide search results based on previous queries, the results of internet searches are different for everyone. In this way, while different platforms have become more user-friendly, and media users are given individually tailored access to different applications, the task of distinguishing truthful from fake has become more complex.

Thus, a lot of information we find on the internet cannot be trusted by default. What Lynch calls “google knowing,” knowledge based on the use of search engines, gives instantaneous answers but is still dependent on others (Lynch, 2016 , 25). The kinds of data and information we can get via internet search results are not selected or edited by gatekeeping experts. Instead, they have to be actively evaluated by the user. Therefore, by deduction, the same data can lead to different conclusions depending on different worldviews. As a consequence, the epistemic rules, practices and logical strategies differ from the rules for printed knowledge. The digital materiality of texts and images and the digital networked knowledge production also leads to new practices for how to trust and verify information, including methods such as the post-published editing and discussion of Wikipedia entries or digital image verification using reverse image search.

The changes in technology also have repercussions for the power relations of what Foucault calls the regimes of truth, that is, the discourses, practices, institutions, and actors that are involved in the production of statements considered true in a specific historical and social context. The liberal truth regime of democratic societies builds on a scientific model of truth production by expert authority and accepts objective facts beyond political contest (Foucault, 1980 , 131–132). This regime is destabilized when gatekeepers like experts and their hierarchical forms of truth-telling are drawn into question. Apart from truth regimes, Foucault describes the market as a competing site of truth that produces a market price truthful to the current value of things (Foucault, 2008 , 31). In the fragmented digital public sphere, media scholars discern a regime that is more characterized by “truth markets,” what Harsin would call “a regime of post-truth” (Harsin, 2015 ). A lot of what is shared and amplified in digital networks engages and calls for emotional response. In this kind of communicative situation, the aim is to control the attention economy. Thus, “the domination of truth regimes now demands popular attention to/participation in its discursive games” (Harsin, 2015 , 331).

When established practices and institutional actors are called into question, other criteria will lead people’s decisions about which ideas and actors to trust. The demand for authenticity, Sybille Krämer points out, tends to arise in knowledge crises. In situations of insecurity and ignorance, claims of authenticity create qualities that cannot be produced in other ways (Krämer, 2012 , 25). In these situations, authenticity promises to put us in the presence of something that lies out of reach, in the past or beyond our perception. A material authenticity expresses a truthful connection with the past via historical objects, rituals, and traditions. As a personal quality, authenticity refers to human behavior that truthfully or sincerely expresses the inner states. However, although authenticity is called for in times of uncertainty, the concept at the same time tends to destabilize the acceptance of social conventions, as a claim of authenticity also justifies the breaking of social rules (Taylor, 1992 ). Krämer indicates how the material and the personal, the social and the individual often work together if authenticity is at stake (Krämer, 2012 , 19).

The relationship between media and authenticity is contradictory. Many media types promise an experience of immediacy, a form of mediation that gives (seemingly unmediated) access to a sense of presence (Bolter & Grusin, 1999 ). This sense of mediated presence needs to be constructed in specific ways, thus the introduction of every new medium has redefined authenticity (Enli, 2015 , 109). And while new media offer new forms of contact, they are at the same time accused of inauthenticity and loss of presence. This pattern can be traced throughout history, from Plato’s critique of writing technology to the need for a rhetoric of sincerity in the wake of the printing revolution and the Protestant Reformation (Trilling, 1972 ) to Walter Benjamin’s ( 2018 [1936]) reflections about the aura of the original artwork in relation to its audio/visual reproduction. Currently, digital technology has created new needs for authentication that ensure real human presence in computer-based communication.

The claim of authenticity is thus a rhetorical, paradoxical claim for immediacy that is put forward with a “rhetoric of sincerity” (van Alphen et al., 2009 ) or with different forms of authenticity markers (Enli, 2015 ; Gilmore, 2007 , 49–50). This claim of authenticity is used as a commercial selling point (Craig & Cunningham 2017 ; Gilmore & Pine 2007 ) but increasingly also as a political stance (Parry-Giles, 2014 ). Donald Trump’s success illustrates how personal authenticity, namely, a claim to coherence between outer actions and inner convictions, can, in certain contexts, compensate for the lack of empirical coherence with facts. Digital media and technology highlight other paradoxes. YouTubers and influencers construct media personas that heavily rely on the promise of personal authenticity (Jensen et al., 2021 ), yet CGI or deep fakes put us in the presence of personalities, creatures, and events that may never have existed.

Knowledge communication, authenticity, and mediation all connect to the act of witnessing. At first glance, the embodied testimony of eyewitnesses who vouch with bodily presence for their testimony appears to be the opposite of mediated communication. However, media theorists John Durham Peters ( 2001 ) and Sybille Krämer ( 2015 ) argue the reverse. They present the knowledge gained through the testimony of a witness as a model for how we gain knowledge through media. This highlights that all knowledge beyond our own experience and perception relies on trusting the testimony of either persons or media products (Krämer, 2015 , 149). The role of media as (un)reliable witnesses in knowledge communication then draws attention to evaluation practices. Concerning information retrieved on the internet, two different epistemological stances are possible (Krämer, 2017 ). You can consider this information as first-hand knowledge actively gained from visual perception and deduction in your research, or you can choose to focus on the epistemic dependence of relying on authority and testimony of experts and media products.

This evaluation of media products as reliable or unreliable witnesses reveals further complexities. Current credibility research indicates how processes of evaluation are transforming. Credibility research differentiates between the credibility of the source, medium, and message (Flanagin & Metzger, 2010 ). When media products are shared online, different sources (such as friends, experts, and institutions), media types (such as social media and journalism), and communicative acts nest into each other. When assessing credibility, audiences merge objective and subjective parameters and respond to specific cues, and credibility research notes the decline of authority cues and an increase in identity cues (Hilligoss & Rieh, 2008 ). The affective and emotional response creates a specific form of truth claim, as shown by Chew and Mitchell’s study on interactivity in life-writing ( 2015 ).

As we explain above, the interrelations of knowledge communication, witnessing, and authenticity in the current complex mediascape speak to various aspects of making and perceiving truth claims across different media. The articles in this volume, grouped under four topics that are introduced in the following section, address different truth claims, different claims of authenticity, and the entanglement of different levels of testimony and evaluation while shedding light on the complexities and interdependence of these claims and practices.

1.5 Disposition of This Volume

1.5.1 part i factual evidence and coherence in knowledge communication.

The volume begins with three articles focusing on journalistic practices and knowledge communication by authorities that discuss not only the reliance on factual evidence but also narrative structures and strategies of coherence that shape communicative events. Taken together, they provide examples of manipulative, truthful, informative, and complex usages of multimodal resources by gatekeepers in communicating knowledge or extending political agendas.

In “A Story Too Good to Be True” Beate Schirrmacher looks at manipulations of factual narratives in journalistic practices. Her article provides a comparative analysis of two journalistic features with a rhetorical and narratological method that works as a kind of reverse engineering and is developed from intermedial and semiotic conceptualizations of truth claims. By offering a fine-grained analysis of the ways facts, narrative tools, and pre-existing experiences interact in journalistic narratives, this article opens up for developing rhetorical tools for supporting informative and detecting misinformative narrative strategies.

Magdalena Saryusz-Wolska’s “The Montage of the National Past” analyzes covers of contemporary Polish right-wing magazines, looking at how the historical references are juxtaposed and appropriated. The article foregrounds the importance of magazine covers as “crucial elements of the iconosphere” and demonstrates how juxtaposing different visual elements from different historical contexts can lead to an abuse of history. This, Saryusz-Wolska argues, is manifest, for example, in the way polarizing associations on Polish right-wing magazine covers are constructed between the contemporary political agents and events and the notorious ones in the past.

Byrman and Westum, in “Trustworthiness in the Swedish strategies for Covid-19,” analyze recordings of press conferences of the Swedish Public Health Agency at a few crucial moments during the pandemic. Their article maps out the discursive and communicative strategies of the Swedish authorities in transferring knowledge to the public while looking at the collisions of truth claims and expectations. Highlighting the way multimodal resources and communicative patterns are used in these communicative events, they demonstrate how knowledge communication by official gatekeepers is far from straightforward.

1.5.2 Part II Personal Quests for Empirical Truth: Testimony and Media Hybridity

Both articles in the second section focus on hybrid media products that showcase personal quests for empirical truth when confronted with historical disasters. Both discuss various types of indexicality and look at how hybrid materiality is used to mediate the complexities of the tension between searching for factual evidence and forming coherent narratives.

In “Unveiling Truth and Truthfulness in the Graphic Memoir Heimat, ” Camila Figueiredo analyzes Nora Krug’s celebrated graphic memoir with a focus on the way different intermedial relationships form the claims to extracommunicational truthfulness and how coherence is created by authenticity and testimony. Figueiredo maps out Krug’s journey in-between media in her quest through archives and memories to find out about her family members’ involvement with the Nazi regime during the Second World War, demonstrating the unsolvable tensions and insurmountable gaps in witnessing the past.

In her article, Nafiseh Mousavi approaches another hybrid media product and an example of media witnessing in a more recent historical disaster, namely, the ISIS genocide of Yazidis in 2014. In focus is the documentary film Night and Fog in Kurdistan in which drawn images are integrated with recorded images. Focusing on the mobilized drawn images, Mousavi analyzes the various functions these drawn images uphold in the documentary practice and the multiple media relationships that frame them. Through this analysis, the article looks at the way hand-drawn images are used to fill the representational gaps and how they affect the truth claims of the documentary film.

1.5.3 Part III Fact and Fake Across Media Types

The articles in the third section look at specific genres across different media that are conventionalized through an interaction between concepts of fact and fake: mockumentary, screen biofiction, author interviews, and Zombie movies. The cases these articles work with are distinguished in the way they play with and challenge the conventions of the genre and, further, the binary understandings of authentic/true/factual vs. fake/false/fictional.

In “Fictionality as a Rhetorical Tool in Political Mockumentary Films; The Interplay of Fictionality and Factuality in C.S.A. : The Confederate States of America,” Tamás Csönge demonstrates how an alternative version of the past can work as a relevant criticism of the present. Csönge defines fictionality and factuality in the frame of rhetorical narratology and positions the political satirical discourse of mockumentaries in general and C.S.A in particular in such framework. The article argues that interweaving fact and fiction in cases like C.S.A effectively reveals the constructedness and historicity of norms while drawing on past and referring to the present.

In “Clemens J. Setz on Bursting the Reader’s Reality Bubble,” Nataša Muratova and Anna Obererlacher map the contours of author interviews in a new way, not as a direct window into the author’s mind but as an element of larger practices of authorial staging that interweave fact and fiction and are framed by discourses of authority as well as claims to authenticity in the so-called “presence culture.” The case they analyze, Bot–Gespräch ohne Autor (2018), with its presentation of a fictional author interview in the form of a Turing test, allows them to shed light on the intricacies of the relationship between the author, claims of authenticity and the reader’s truth expectations with the help of the intermedial concept of media representation on one hand and the narratological concept of faketional on the other.

Anna Gutowska’s article discusses another dimension of presentism in a genre that gets part of its legitimacy from its reliance on the extracommunicational truthfulness of historical characters and their lives, namely, biofiction. Studying The Great (2020), a biofiction series about the early years of the reign of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, “‘An Occasionally True Story’: Biofiction, Authenticity and Fictionality in The Great (2020)” demonstrates how the deliberate inaccuracy of The Great works as a claim to a more authentic understanding of history. Gutowska does that by situating The Great in the broader frames of the relevant genres of biofiction such as queen pics and discussing examples of the deliberate inaccuracy of the series. The author highlights the affective results of such strategies in shocking the audience and presenting them with the derangements of history.

In “Impure Realism, Pure Eventness, and Horror Cinema in the Post-truth Era,” Yeqi Zhu argues for a revised understanding of horror cinema in general and Zombie-movies in particular, not as escapist but, rather, as a genre that addresses contemporary tensions, such as the current tensions of a post-truth era. Her article offers a case study of the 2017 Japanese zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead , a zombie movie about making a zombie movie, and discusses in detail how realism is approached in this movie with a focus on communication.

1.5.4 Part IV Interaction, Trust, and Truthfulness on Social Media

Moving from aesthetic media genres to social media, the articles in the fourth section focus on the complexities of truth claims and trustworthiness in social media interactions.

The section begins with an article that addresses the problem of misinformation in an empirical and participatory way. In their article “Developing Misinformation Immunity in a Post-Truth World: Human Computer Interaction for Data Literacy,” Elena Musi, Kay L. O′ Halloran, Elinor Carmi, and Simeon Yates not only discuss the challenges of online communication but take a step further. The authors present a practical example of how to deal with digital misinformation by developing and examining the Fake News Immunity chatbot. The chatbot educates users in recognizing misinformation by providing them with tools for identifying fallacies. The article and the empirical experiment of the chatbot demonstrate how interactive aspects of online communication can be used for training users in digital literacy.

In a less interventional and more observatory study, Augustė Dementavičienė, Fausta Mikutaitė, and Aivaras Žukauskas analyze interactions in two Lithuanian anti-vaccination Facebook groups in search of patterns of affects and narratives that shape the discourses of truthfulness. “When the Post-Truth Devil Hides in the Details: A Digital Ethnography of Virtual Anti-Vaccination Groups in Lithuania” identifies four main categories in shaping the discourse in these group: crisis of trust, competion with science, populism, and anti-public discourse. The authors argue for context-specific understandings of post-truth. As the article shows, the dominant Western conceptualizations of concepts like post-truth prove to be inadequate in contexts such as post-Soviet societies where the relationship between authority and authenticity has a complicated history.

Finally, in “Towards a grammar of Manipulated Photographs: The Social Semiotics of Digital Photo Manipulation,” Morten Boeriis adopts a multimodal social semiotic approach in looking at digital photo manipulation in relation to validity and trustworthiness. As a step towards establishing a “grammar” of digital manipulation, the article provides a detailed categorization of digital photo manipulation tools and practices that can lead to the manipulation of interpersonal, ideational, and structural meaning potentials. In light of that, Boeriis argues for the interpersonal validity system as a frame for assessing photographic claims of trustworthiness, a framework that positions photo manipulations not in the narrow binaries of fake and authentic but in dynamic communicative relationships.

1.6 Conclusion: The Dynamics of Truthfulness and Media

Zooming out and looking at the different sections together, we can see how recurring questions and problems emerge in very different media contexts. In a way, in many of the discussions, the core problems are to see how facts are made coherent in various informative, testifying and artistic forms of communication, and how different ways of making sense of the facts and empirical data lead to different forms of engagement in communication. The creative play with fact and fiction in literature or film is not only a self-reflexive metadiscourse but negotiates the very paradoxes that trouble a polarized public discourse. Empirical facts and data, personal experience and interactive engagement are closely intertwined in online communication, and they need to be brought together when designing tools for digital literacy.

However, seeing the similarities in truth claims across media is different from saying that all truth claims are valid everywhere. Instead, the intermedial perspective allows for a more fine-grained description of how fundamental similarities in the interplay of facts, coherence, and engagement play out differently in media specific contexts. For instance, authentic expression may be a valid truth claim to communicate subjective perspectives, but it needs to be connected with empirically based statements about the social world in witnessing and testimony. With a dedicated quest for facts, a desire for coherence and a healthy self-awareness about the fallacies, we are more prepared for responding to challenges of communication in a digitized society. We hope that this volume provides a point of departure for future research that further explores the interplay between facts, coherence, and engagements in and across different media.

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Schirrmacher, B., Mousavi, N. (2024). Introduction: The Dynamics of Truthfulness and Media. In: Schirrmacher, B., Mousavi, N. (eds) Truth Claims Across Media. Palgrave Studies in Intermediality. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42064-1_1

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Overview of the structure. To help guide your reader, end your introduction with an outline of the structure of the thesis or dissertation to follow. Share a brief summary of each chapter, clearly showing how each contributes to your central aims. However, be careful to keep this overview concise: 1-2 sentences should be enough.
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Order and format of dissertation chapters may vary by institution and department. 1. Introduction 2. Literature review 3. Methodology 4. Findings 5. Analysis and synthesis 6. Conclusions and recommendations Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter makes a case for the signifi-cance of the problem, contextualizes the study, and provides an ...
How To Write A Dissertation Introduction Or Thesis Introduction Chapter
Learn how to craft a top-notch dissertation introduction or thesis introduction in 7 easy steps. We explain how to develop a high-quality introduction chapte...
Dissertation Masterclass
The first chapter of your dissertation or thesis is the introduction. It comes right after the table of contents, and its main goal is to explain the background of your research topic, your focus and scope, the importance of your research, your questions and goals, and a brief summary of your structure. Your introduction chapter gets the reader ...
How To Write A Thesis Introduction Chapter
Limitations Of The Study. - Outlines study boundaries. - Addresses constraints. - Manages reader expectations. - Establishes trust with transparency. Structural Outline Of Thesis. - Acts as a blueprint for the thesis. - Outlines each chapter succinctly. - Ensures logical progression of research work.
Writing a Research Paper Introduction
Table of contents. Step 1: Introduce your topic. Step 2: Describe the background. Step 3: Establish your research problem. Step 4: Specify your objective (s) Step 5: Map out your paper. Research paper introduction examples. Frequently asked questions about the research paper introduction.
How to write a fantastic thesis introduction (+15 examples)
The thesis introduction, usually chapter 1, is one of the most important chapters of a thesis. It sets the scene. It previews key arguments and findings. And it helps the reader to understand the structure of the thesis. In short, a lot is riding on this first chapter. With the following tips, you can write a powerful thesis introduction.
Writing a Dissertation: The Introduction
Top Tip: Your introduction is the reader's 'door' into your thesis or dissertation. It therefore needs to make sense to the non-expert. Ask a friend to read it for you, and see if they can understand it easily. At the end of the introduction, it is also usual to set out an outline of the rest of the dissertation.
Dissertation & Thesis Outline
A thesis or dissertation outline helps you to organize your ideas succinctly, and can provide you with a roadmap for your research. FAQ About us . Our editors ... Example: IS-AV construction Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the problem and Chapter 2 discusses the relevant literature. Example 3: The "I" construction.
The Introduction Chapter of a Dissertation
As the name suggests, the introduction chapter acquaints a reader or evaluator with the contents, main argument (s), and scope of a dissertation. It is the first official chapter of your dissertation and is placed after the table of contents. Think of it as a preview of the whole dissertation, a glimpse into what the project is all about.
How to write the introductory chapter of a masters thesis?
The introduction can be a separate chapter that gives an overview of the whole thesis, and it can be followed by other chapters about the Background of the study, Literature review, etc. Alternatively, it can be a large chapter with subsections such as Background, Literature Review, Statement of the problem, etc.
Chapter introductions
Chapter introductions. The purpose of the thesis introduction is to orient the reader to the research presented in the body of your thesis. The introduction should include all information necessary to prepare the reader, to put the reader in the picture in terms of the specifics of your research project: what the thesis focuses on; the context ...
How to write an introduction chapter for a thesis
Give a forthcoming chapter overview. The final part of the introduction is an overview of the rest of the chapters in the thesis. The other sections can go in any order, providing it is a logical sequence. Learn from others. Look at other theses for example from White Rose etheses or your university library's website. The majority of journal ...
How to Write a Dissertation Discussion Chapter
Here are some examples of how to present the summary of your findings; "The data suggests that", "The results confirm that", "The analysis indicates that", "The research shows a relationship between", etc. 2. Interpretations of Results. Your audience will expect you to provide meanings of the results, although they might seem ...
Introduction: The Dynamics of Truthfulness and Media
Abstract. In this introduction to "Truth Claims Across Media," we approach pressing questions related to facts and fakes, authority and authenticity, information and disinformation through an intermedial perspective. As digital technology allows us to blend different media and modes on an unprecedented scale, we need to delve deeper into ...
Introduction
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