Helping you write outstanding dissertations or thesis by discussing the variations between award winners in their approach, and their use of language. These slides, like many of our others come from our bi-weekly conferences at: https://www.bigmarker.com/communities/doctoralnet/conferences

1. How to write
an outstanding introduction?
The
Difference Between
Normal & Outstanding…
Dr. E. Alana James,
Director of Student
Advancement
DoctoralNet.com

2. Chat Please…thinking about any book, textbook, magazine article,
dissertation or thesis you have read = what information do you expect in the
introduction?
• What is going to give
your work a good start?
• What does your reader
need to understand
right at the beginning?

3. Overview
From the new book:
James, E. A., & Slater, T. (2014). Write Your
Doctoral Dissertation or Thesis Faster: A
Proven Map to Success. Thousand Oaks,
CA, USA: Sage Publications.

4. Three goals….
1. Make your reader
feel comfortable
2. Help them
understand the
context
3. Convince them
they want to read
the rest

5. HOW MANY OF YOUR UNIVERSITIES
REQUIRE A CERTAIN SCOPE AND
SEQUENCE TO THE HEADINGS IN
YOUR INTRODUCTION?
Chat Please…
1st question you have to answer:
What information does your reader need?
How to organize that information?

6. Let’s look at some intros
C. Hinnerichs (2011) Dr Public Health – Walden university

7. Mey
Dr Marine Photography
Meyer, E. T. (2007) PhD in Information Science Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

8. Dr Education
Broomes, O. (2010) Dept of Sociology and Equity Studies, University of Toronto

9. Dr Aeronautical Engineering
Dulac, N. (2007) PhD Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, MIT

10. Great first paragraphs
Much has been written about the
challenges children face when
moving between countries,
including changes in culture,
school organization and
curriculum, and, often, language.
Few studies, however, have
quantified the effects on
academic performance; none, to
my knowledge, has investigated
the effects of immigration, home
language, and school mobility on
academic performance at more
than one point in time. This study
seeks to fill that gap.
• Points to the Gap Right Away

11. Elegant second paragraphs
Digital photography is a recent, novel
information technology that has been
widely and rapidly adopted across a
variety of domains. To understand the
role of digital photography as a
technology used in scientific work, this
study will examine marine mammal
researchers who use photo-identification
as a tool for gathering, organizing and
analyzing data about whales, dolphins,
otters, seals, manatees, and other marine
animals. Many marine mammal
researchers have recently switched from
film to digital photography, and we will
see that this seemingly minor change has
contributed to a number of fundamental
alterations to the ways in which they do
their scientific work.
•Gets the reader involved with the
topic, creates intrigue

12. Engages the Reader
Since the beginning of the industrial
revolution in the later 18th century, the
cause of many serious accidents has shifted
from natural causes to human and
technology-related causes. While natural
disasters still account for a significant
amount of human and material losses, man-
made disasters are responsible for an
increasingly large portion of the toll.
Natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina
that was responsible for over 1400 human
casualties and over 75 billion dollars of
damage in the New Orleans area in 2005
cannot be entirely prevented. However, the
man made systems created to mitigate their
effect may exacerbate the problem by
provided a false sense of security. During
hurricane Katrina, the levees protecting the
city of New Orleans arguable hindered
evacuation procedures because citizens and
authorities believed they had ample time on
their hands before the surge caused that
levees to topple off (Davis, 2006). When the
poorly designed and implemented levees
breached, the water level increase so rapidly
that emergency response became
overwhelmed and ineffective.
• Creates link from what they know
to the topic

13. Illustrates the
methodological set up
•Makes the complex accessible

14. Sets up Your
Golden Thread
•Ropes us in, gets us interested
and lets us know where we will be
going as we travel with you
through your work.
Time to chat:
What is YOUR golden thread?

15. Upcoming
News/Events
Upcoming Conferences: every other week
August 25th – the golden thread
September 8th – what makes good academic writing
good?
September 27th
October 6th
October 20th
New
Book,
New Site,
New
Bundles,
New
Prices,