A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Sketch a working introduction
Planning a first draft
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

Be ready to write your introduction twice, first a sketchy one for yourself; then a final one for your readers after you've revised your draft and know what you have written. That final introduction will usually have four parts, so you might as well build your working introduction to anticipate them (see chapter 9).

1. Briefly sketch the research you've read that is specifically relevant to your topic. In 5.4.1, we suggested that you write your claim at the bottom of a new first page of your storyboard. Now, at the top, sketch the prior research that you intend to extend, modify, or correct. Do not list all the research remotely relevant to your topic. Many semi-experienced researchers list scores of reports, thinking they'll impress readers with their diligence. But an endless list of irrelevant references is less impressive than it is annoying. If you were working on Alamo stories, for example, you wouldn't cite every historical analysis of the battle, but only the specific research that you intend to extend, modify, or correct.

List your sources in an order useful to your readers. If their historical sequence is important, list them chronologically. If not, group them by some other principle: their quality, significance, point of view. Then order those groups in whatever way best helps your readers understand them (see 6.2.5 for principles of order). Under no circumstances list your sources in the order you happened to read them or now remember them.

2. Rephrase your question as a lack of knowledge or gap in understanding. After you sketch that research, tell readers what part of it you will extend, modify, or correct. Do that by restating your question as something that the research has gotten wrong, explained poorly, or failed to consider.

Why is the Alamo story so important in our national mythology?

Few historians have tried to explain why the Alamo story has become so important in our national mythology.

Writers do this almost always and in many ways, so as you read, note how your sources do it.

3. If you can, sketch an answer to So what if we don't find out? What larger issue will your readers not understand if you don't answer your research question?

If we understood how such stories became national legends, we would better understand our national values, perhaps even what makes us distinct.

At this point, you may find any larger significance hard to imagine. Add it if you can, but don't spend a lot of time on it; we'll return to it (see 10.1.3).

4. Revise and position your claim. You wrote your claim on the first page of your storyboard. Now decide if that's where you want to leave it. You have two choices for where to state it in your report:

at the end of your introduction and again close to the beginning of your conclusion

only in your conclusion, as a kind of climax to your reasoning

If you've done few advanced projects, we urge you to state your claim at the end of your introduction and again near the beginning of your conclusion. When readers see a claim early, at the end of your introduction, they know where you're taking them and so can read what follows faster, understand it better, and remember it longer. When you put your claim first, it also helps keep you on track.

Some new researchers fear that if they reveal their claim in their introduction, readers will be bored and stop reading. Others worry about repeating themselves. Both fears are baseless. If you ask an interesting question, readers will want to see how well you can support its answer.

If you leave your claim at the bottom of your introduction page, restate a version of it at the top of a new conclusion page at the end of your storyboard. If you can, make this concluding claim more specific than the one in the introduction.

In some fields, writers conventionally state their claim only in a final section headed Discussion or Conclusion. In those cases, many readers just skim the introduction, then jump to the conclusion. So for that kind of reader, write your introduction in a way that introduces not only the body of your paper, but your conclusion, as well.

If you decide to announce your claim only in your conclusion, move it to the top of a new conclusion page. But if you do, you'll need another sentence to replace it at the end of your introduction, one that launches your reader into the body of your report. That sentence should include the key terms that you use throughout your report (see 6.2.3).

We suggest that you write that launching sentence when you draft your final introduction (see 10.1.4). So for now, make a place for it at the bottom of the introduction page of your storyboard, either by sketching a rough version of it or making a note to add it later.

Some writers add a “road map” at the end their introduction, laying out the organization of their report:

In part 1, I discuss. . . . Part 2 addresses the issue of. . . . Part 3 examines . . .

Readers differ on this. Road maps are common in the social sciences, but many in the humanities find them clumsy. Even if your readers might object, you can add a road map to your storyboard to guide your drafting, then cut it from your final draft. If you keep it, make it short.