Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: a handbook for Supervisors

part
* Move 3c, titled Thesis Outline, is found in full in 1.4 of this thesis chapter.
Source: Amy 2000: 1–2

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94
Writing the Introduction
Application
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Discuss the typical Introduction framework in terms of the three
moves and introduce the notion of sub-moves. Wherever possible,
illustrate the extent to which the framework can be used to
analyse authentic thesis introductory chapters. Our students
respond well to chapters that we download from sites such as the
Australian digital thesis site http://adt.caul.edu.au/ and then dis-
cuss with them.
●
Show students the extract from a thesis, explicitly entitled
‘Overview’, presented in Box 6.2, in which moves from the frame-
work have been identified and labelled. It is important to bear in
mind that not all sub-moves will necessarily be used and that
moves (and sub-moves) may be recycled several times.
●
Ask students to bring along theses from your field to analyse or
provide examples of chapters for them to analyse and annotate
themselves. Ask them to use the framework in Table 6.1 for their
analysis. If some of the moves in Table 6.1 are not present, ask them
to reflect on why they may not be there.
●
Many students, not only non-native speakers of English, experi-
ence difficulty with verb tenses when reviewing the literature in a
field. It may be useful to raise their awareness of typical tense
usage through focusing on examples in your specific discipline.
Similarly, an increased awareness of other language features can be
of benefit to students. Alerting students to the range of ways in
which ‘gap statements’ can be expressed provides second-language
speakers of English with a useful resource. We have found that stu-
dents find the concept of metadiscourse a particularly useful one.
Exposing students to the range of verbs and nouns available to talk
about one’s research and the research process can extend students’
linguistic resources. Ask students to examine the use of verb tenses
in the Introduction to a thesis in your discipline. Ask them to
explain why the tenses have been used the way they have (ask stu-
dents to refer to the extracts on p.87 for suggestions for how to
explain this).
●
Ask students to use the framework in Table 6.1 to make a list in
note or bullet point form showing what they will place in each sec-
tion of their Introduction when they come to write it. Ask them to
add to and revise this list as they work on their thesis, and then use
these notes as a framework for writing their Introduction, when
they get to this stage in their writing.

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Writing the Introduction
95
●
In Box 6.3, a more extended extract is provided in which several of
the moves are recycled and the organizational structure is more
complex. Ask students to reflect on why this is. Ask students to
identify moves from thesis introductions that you provide or which
they have found.
●
In Box 6.3, the initial paragraph is labelled as an ‘advance organizer’.
This term refers to sentences or sometimes paragraphs which pre-
view what will be discussed later in the chapter. In theses they have
an important role to play in helping the writer to organize the large
amounts of information the thesis contains and they help the reader
to relate the different parts of the thesis to each other. This type of
organization is worth pointing out to students as it helps both
writer and reader. Ask students to go through the introduction to a
thesis in their area of study and identify whether the writers have
used advance organizers. Relate this to the notion of ‘reader-friendly
theses’ discussed in Chapter 3.
●
Similarly, the use of sub-headings, often in combination with a
numbering system, is becoming a common organizational feature of
theses and, when combined with the advantages of the formatting
features in word-processing packages, can provide a useful scaffold-
ing tool for writers as their text develops (see also Chapter 9).
Box 6.3 Extract from Introduction of a PhD thesis in history