MODULE II – WRITING CHAPTER 1

UNIT 3: INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Writing your introduction

Being the first part of the in-text of your thesis, this portion provides the overview of and
rationale of the study. Thus, introduces the readers and researchers on the background
information of the study. Birion et al (2018:27) characterized the introduction as:
“…would focus attention on the importance and validity of the problem under
investigation. It is a general orientation to the problem area. Describe you topic
at the start. A rationale to justify the problem must be provided. The opening
statement should capture the interest of the reader.”
Writing the introduction entails a lot of reading and research works. Thorough investigation must
be done so as to effectively convince your readers on the relevance and significance of the study
being conducted. Aside from critical reading, it is very vital that researchers listen to professional
lectures, seminars/webinars intently. Proper citation and avoiding plagiarism starts here, that is
why, it is practical to compile your own resource materials systematically. As Chandrasekhar
(2008) stated, keep meticulous and write up rough drafts of your work as you go along.
Writing clearly and convincingly must start with your introduction. Write with a punch and hold
the interest of your readers and future researchers in your thesis. As you introduce your readers
to your topic, consider the following: define major topics, describe prevailing issues and present
conditions or phenomena, and statistics that would support and give emphasis on the importance
of your study. Exercises and techniques would definitely help researchers formulate the
introduction and eventually, throughout writing the thesis.
Discovering ideas and Focusing on your Topic’s Issues
1. Freewriting. The exercise that we just had (freewriting) is one of the techniques that
would help researchers thoroughly investigate the study.
2. Keywords. Always keep a list of keywords that you encounter during your research
works. It is suggested that these keywords in a rough outline. This will help you in
ascertain if your topic has substance. It is suggested however that the writer has
recognized at this point the hierarchy of the major and minor issues.
3. Concept and mind mapping. Another is through mind and concept mapping which we did
with our previous unit.
4. Clustering. This adds to the list of writing techniques. Clustering helps in discovering
“hierarchy of the primary topics and sub-topics around a central subject” and can
generate a host of interconnected ideas. (Lester & Lester, 2015:34)
5. Narrowing by Comparison. This techniques helps you limit to particular differences of
concepts.
 6. Asking questions. Empirical studies entails a process of asking questions. Exploring your
imagination through asking questions helps you develop a clear theme. Lester & Lester
(2015: 35-36) classified questions that would help the researcher’s investigation:
a. General questions examine terminology, issues, causes, and so on
b. Rhetorical questions use the modes of writing as a basis
c. Academic disciplines across the curriculum provide questions, as framed by one
student on the topic of sports gambling
d. Journalism questions explore the basic elements of a subject (5 Ws and 1 H)
e. Kenneth Burke’s pentad questions five aspects of a topic: act, agent, scene,
agency, purpose
i. What happened (the act)?
ii. Who did it (agent)?
iii. Where and when (scene)?
iv. How did it occur (the agency)?
v. What is a possible motive for this event (purpose)?

The Variables
In writing your introduction, take note on the variables in your thesis title. What are variables by
the way? According to libguides.usc.edu, “ variables should be outlined in the introduction
of your paper and explained in more detail in the methods section . There are no rules
about the structure and style for writing about independent or dependent variables but, as
with any academic writing, clarity and being succinct is most important ”. Duncan &
Howitt (2004) defined variable as an object, event, idea, feeling, time, period, or any other
type of category that is measured. They further defined dependent and independent
variables as stated:
“Dependent Variable depends on other factors that are measured. These
variables are expected to change as a result of an experimental
manipulation of the independent variable or variables. It is the presumed
effect. Meanwhile, the Independent Variable is stable and unaffected by the
other variables you are trying to measure. It refers to the condition of an
experiment that is systematically manipulated by the investigator. It is the
presumed cause.”

These will however discussed further as we tackle on the methods of research.

The Statement of the Problem
The statement of the problem should be aligned with your title and is considered to be the most
difficult part in writing a thesis as this will define the structure and flow of your research
instrument and apparently of your research. Most importantly, the statement of the problems
helps the researcher identify the statistical treatment of your thesis.
Here are ways of presenting your statement of the problem: (Birion et al (2018:33)
 1. Statement of Research Objective. Stay focused. Be precise in stating your goal. Start with
a major objective (major statement) followed by the minor statements of questions.
Ensure that the introductory statement gives the purpose of the study.
2. Statement of hypothesis to be answered or tested by the researcher . State your hypothesis
in your statement of the problem if the goal is specifically to test a given hypothesis. (to
be discussed further in the next unit of this module)
3. Statement of research questions to be answered by the research . Investigative questions
are the specific questions to be resolved in the study which aids in addressing your
objectives of testing your hypothesis.

Statements of the problem are either stated in a declarative statement or in a question

form. The research problem is the gist and important part of the research. This is where the
whole title and whole thesis evolves. Again, the statement should be SMART or specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. The topic is analysed as to its variables
(dependent, independent, and alternative variable), which guides the writer in constructing
his/her statement of the problem. The independent variable is the effect, the independent variable
is the cause and the alternative variable is the intervention. There should be a general statement
of the whole problem followed by the specific questions or sub problems into which the general
problem is broken up. These are already formulated at the beginning of the study and so they
should only be copied in this section.