Writing Introductions
There is no one way to write introductions. However, there are common conventions that are often followed. Within all disciplines of Academic Writing, a similar structure, consisting of similar features, is followed. This question of what goes into an introduction and in what order is set out below.
Model for Academic Introductions
A highly influential model for academic writing - termed Creating A Research Space (C.A.R.S.) - was first developed by John Swales. It came out of his attempts to explain the organisational patterns found in Social Science introductions, but was soon seen to be applicable to all forms and disciplines of academic writing. The model proposes separate sections (Swales called them “moves”) that reflect the traditional patterns found in an introduction.
The C.A.R.S model suggests that students typically follow a general organisational pattern when writing academic introductions. The pattern is in response to two types of challenges: 1) the challenge to create a research space and, 2) the challenge to attract readers into that space.
Analysis:
The table below outlines the broad moves, and specific steps, that are common to academic introductions. The three moves tend to always be present in long introductions (dissertations & theses) whereas only Moves 1 & 3 tend to feature in short introductions (e.g. for term essays or journal publications). The number of steps that a writer includes in each move depends on the length of the introduction. The video below discusses how the full three-step introduction model would be represented within a dissertation or thesis.
Examples
Please follow the links below to disciplinary examples of how the above model is applied in texts written by Oxford students:
Undergraduate
- e.g. Economics Undergraduate Thesis Example
Post Graduate
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