Introductions and Conclusions

Introductions and Conclusions CSCI102 - Systems ITCS905 - Systems MCS9102 - Systems

Introductions • Any report needs some clear guidelines: • Why are you writing the report? (The purpose) • Who will read the report? (The audience) • What will it cover? (The scope) • How will this be conveyed? (Clear language, logical progression of topics, use of figures, tables, equations, appendices, references, etc) • When is it required? (Time management) • Where is it required? (Physical location)

Introductions • Your introduction serves three (3) main functions • To prepare the way ahead for your essay • To demonstrate that you have understood the question, and what that understanding is • To indicate your argument in response

Introductions • There are two stages in an introduction that are essential: • Thesis statement • Summary of main points to be discussed • In addition sometimes the following stages are also required: • Orientation to the topic • Stating the scope of the discussion • Defining your term

Introductions - Components • The thesis statement • The thesis statement of the introduction functions the same as the controlling idea of the paragraph • It states the writer’s basic perspective on the topic of the essay or assignment • Summary of main points to be discussed • The main points that the essay is going to raise can be mentioned either before or after the thesis statement

Introductions - Components • Orientation to the topic • Sometimes the writer needs to provide the reader with brief background information or a context for the writing such as a historical perspective • This stage is not always present in an introduction

Introductions - Components • Stating the scope of the discussion • Sometimes the writer feels that topic of an assignment is too extensive to cover in a limited number of words, so will choose to limit the discussion • You need to provide reasons why you are limiting the scope. • It is not enough to simply declare that you are doing so

Introductions - Components • Defining your terms • Some topics require you to define what you understand by certain terms in the essay question • This is particularly so if the words are highly technical or are ‘common’ words used by the community but have a specialised meaning within your discipline • Definitions also make sure that the reader (marker) understands what you mean by the term

Roles of Introduction - Thesis Statement • Your thesis statement is the claim that you need to prove in the rest of your essay or report • It will set the reader up for reading the rest of your essay and provide them with • Context • Approach • Generally a thesis statement will have two parts • Your topic • Your assertions, analysis or explanation about the topic • IT will be a very specific statement • Only cover exactly what you discuss in your paper • Support your thesis statement with specific evidence

Roles of Introduction - Thesis Statement • There are several approaches to writing thesis statements • Argumentative Thesis Statements • Expository (Explanatory) Thesis Statements • Analytical Thesis Statements • Generally you will be asked to write argumentative papers

Thesis Statements - Argumentative • In an argumentative paper • You are making a claim about a topic and justifying this claim with reasons and evidence • This claim could be • An opinion • A policy proposal • An evaluation • A cause-and-effect statement • An interpretation • This claim must be a statement that people could possibly disagree with, • The goal of your paper is to convince your audience that your claim is true • Based on your presentation of your reasons and evidence • An argumentative thesis statement will tell your audience: • your claim or assertion • the reasons/evidence that support this claim • the order in which you will be presenting your reasons and evidence • Questions that help in writing an argumentative thesis statement: • What is my claim or assertion? • What are the reasons I have to support my claim or assertion? • In what order should I present my reasons?

Thesis Statement - Expository (Explanatory) • In an expository paper • You are explaining something to your audience • An expository thesis statement will tell your audience: • What you are going to explain to them • The categories you are using to organize your explanation • The order in which you will be presenting your categories • Questions that help in writing an expository thesis statement: • What am I trying to explain? • How can I categorize my explanation into different parts? • In what order should I present the different parts of my explanation?

Roles of Introduction - Thesis Statement • Analytical Thesis Statements • In an analytical paper, you are breaking down an issue or an idea into its component parts, evaluating the issue or idea, and presenting this breakdown and evaluation to your audience. • An analytical thesis statement will tell your audience: • what you are analyzing • the parts of your analysis • the order in which you will be presenting your analysis • Questions that help in writing an analytical thesis statement: • What did I analyze? • What did I discover in my analysis? • How can I categorize my discoveries? • In what order should I present my discoveries?

Abstracts, Summaries or Executive Summaries • Abstracts • Typically, an informative abstract answers these questions in about 100-250 words: • Why did you do this study or project? • What did you do, and how? • What did you find? • What do your findings mean?

Abstracts, Summaries or Executive Summaries • Executive summaries • Provide an overview or preview to an audience who may or may not have time to read the whole report carefully • Explain why you wrote the report • Emphasize your conclusions or recommendation • Include only the essential or most significant information to support those conclusions • Accuracy is essential because decisions will be made based on your summary by people who have not read the original

Conclusions and Recommendations • Your report or essay will typically describe some findings which have been derived from • Observation • Experiment • Calculation • Literature review • From these findings, you should draw some conclusions • The insights that you can extract from your basic findings are a key part of your report or essay • You may also be expected to make some recommendations based on your conclusions • The findings are the foundations on which the conclusions rest, while the conclusions, in turn, support the recommendation

Introductions and Conclusions