UNIT

1.10
Introductions
and Conclusions

An effective introduction explains the purpose and scope of the paper to the reader.
The conclusion should provide a clear answer to any question asked in the title, as
well as summarising the main points. In coursework, both introductions and
conclusions are normally written after the main body.

1 Introduction contents

Introductions are usually no more than about 10% of the total length of the assignment.
Therefore, in a 2,000-word essay, the introduction would be about 200 words.

䊏 (a) What is normally found in an essay introduction? Choose from the list below.

Components Yes/No

(i) A definition of any unfamiliar terms in the title

(ii) The conclusions you reached on the topic

(iii) Mention of some sources you have read on the topic

(iv) A provocative idea or question to interest the reader

(v) Your aim or purpose in writing

(vi) The method you adopt to answer the question (or an outline)

(vii) Some background to the topic

(viii) Any limitations you set yourself

 1.10: Introductions and Conclusions 71

䊏 (b) Read the extracts below from introductions to articles and decide which of the
components listed opposite they illustrate.

(i) The goal of the present study is to complement the existing body of knowledge on
HR practices with a large scale empirical study, and at the same time contribute to
the discussion on why some firms are more innovative than others.

(ii) We consider three dimensions of customer satisfaction: service, quality and price.
We argue that employees most directly influence customer satisfaction with
service. We test this proposition empirically, and then examine the links between
customer satisfaction and sales.

(iii) Corporate governance is a set of mechanisms, both institutional and market-

based, designed to mitigate agency problems that arise from the separation of
ownership and control in a company, protect the interests of all stakeholders,
improve from performance and ensure that investors get an adequate return on
their investment.

(iv) This study will focus on mergers in the media business between 1990 and 2009,
since with more recent examples an accurate assessment of the consequences
cannot yet be made.

(v) The rest of the paper is organised as follows. The second section explains why
corporate governance is important for economic prosperity. The third section
presents the model specification and describes the data and variables used in our
empirical analysis. The fourth section reports and discusses the empirical results.
The fifth section concludes.

(vi) The use of incentive compensation, such as bonus and stock options, is an
important means of motivating and compensating executives of private companies,
especially executives of technology-orientated companies.

(vii) There is no clear empirical evidence sustaining a ‘managerial myopia’ argument.

Pugh et al. (1992) find evidence that supports such theory, but Meulbrook et al.
(1990), Mahoney et al. (1997), Garvey and Hanka (1999) and a study by the Office
of the Chief Economist of the Securities and Exchange Commission (1985) find no
evidence.

2 Introduction structure

Not every introduction will include all the elements listed above.

䊏 Decide which are essential and which are optional.

There is no standard pattern for an introduction, since much depends on the

type of research you are conducting and the length of your work, but a common
framework is:
72 Part 1: The Writing Process

(a) Definition of key terms, if needed

(b) Relevant background information

(c) Review of work by other writers on the topic

(d) Purpose or aim of the paper

(e) Your methods

(f) Any limitations you imposed

(g) The organisation of your work

(a) Certain words or phrases in the title may need clarifying because they are not widely
understood.
For the purpose of this paper, I define serendipity as search leading to unintended discovery.

䉴 See Unit 2.6 Definitions

(b) It is useful to remind the reader of the wider context of your work. This may also show
the importance and value of the study you have carried out.
A major strength of this study is the theoretically informed context-embedded selection of HR
practices in explaining why some firms are more innovative than others.
(c) While a longer article may have a separate literature review, in a shorter essay it is still
important to show familiarity with researchers who have studied this topic previously.
The last few years have, indeed, witnessed many notable interventions and seminal
articulations of the pros and cons of globalisation for perceived disadvantaged groups,
including workers (Haq, 2003; Horgan, 2001; Klein, 2000; Rai, 2001).
(d) The aim of your research must be clearly stated so the reader is clear what you are trying
to do.
The key question addressed in this study is a simple one: Is innovativeness a link between pay
and performance in the technology sector?
(e) The method demonstrates the process that you undertook to achieve the aim given
previously.
Using a sample of 988 Dutch firms, the relationship between a set of six HR practices
and the fraction of radically and incrementally changed products in a firm’s total sales
is explored.
 1.10: Introductions and Conclusions 73

(f) Clearly, you cannot deal with every aspect of the topic in an essay, so you must make clear
the boundaries of your study.
The focus will be on corporate governance in South Asian companies.
(g) Understanding the structure of your work will help the reader to follow your argument.
The paper deals with these points as follows. The first section describes the concept of serendipity
and offers a framework that integrates serendipity within the entrepreneurship literature.
The following section discusses . . .

3 Opening sentences

It can be difficult to start writing an essay, but especially in exams, hesitation will waste valuable
time. The first few sentences should be general but not vague, to help the reader focus on the
topic. They often have the following pattern:

Time phrase Topic Development

Currently, marketing theory is being reassessed.

have become a serious commercial

Since 2008, electric vehicles
proposition.

It is important to avoid opening sentences that are overly general. Compare:

Nowadays, there is a lot of competition among different providers of

7
news.
Newspapers are currently facing strong competition from rival news
3
providers such as the internet and television.

䊏 Write introductory sentences for three of the following titles.

(a) How important is it for companies to have women as senior managers?

(b) What are the ‘pull’ factors in international tourism?
(c) What is the relationship between inflation and unemployment?
(d) ‘Monopolies are inefficient in using resources’ – discuss.

䉴 See Unit 2.8 Generalisations

74 Part 1: The Writing Process

4 Practice A

You have to write an essay titled ‘State control of industry: does it have any benefits?’.

䊏 Using the notes below and your own ideas, write a short introduction for the essay
(it is not necessary to refer to sources in this exercise).

Definition – state control = public ownership, especially of ‘natural monopoly’ industries

(e.g. electricity, water supply)

Background – worldwide trend to privatise industries but subject to controversy (e.g.

postal service, railways)

Aim – to establish what advantages may come from public ownership of these
industries

Method – compare advantages (security of supply, benefits of large-scale operation)

and disadvantages (lack of competition, corruption, political control) in UK and
France, in two industries: railways and electricity

Limitation – 1995–2010

5 Conclusions

Conclusions tend to be shorter and more varied in format than introductions. Some articles
may have a ‘summary’ or ‘concluding remarks’. But student papers should generally have a
final section that summarises the arguments and makes it clear to the reader that the original
question has been answered.

䊏 Which of the following are generally acceptable in conclusions?

(a) A statement showing how your aim has been achieved.

(b) A discussion of the implications of your research.

(c) Some new information on the topic not mentioned before.

(d) A short review of the main points of your study.

(e) Some suggestions for further research.

(f) Mention of the limitations of your study.

(g) Comparison with the results of similar studies.

(h) A quotation that appears to sum up your work.

 1.10: Introductions and Conclusions 75

䊏 Match the extracts from conclusions below with the acceptable components opposite
(example: a = vi).

(i) As always, this investigation has a number of limitations to be considered in

evaluating its findings.

(ii) Obviously, business expatriates could benefit from being informed that problem-
focused coping strategies are more effective than symptom-focused ones.

(iii) Another line of research worth pursuing further is to study the importance of
language for expatriate assignments.

(iv) Our review of 13 studies of strikes in public transport demonstrates that the effect
of a strike on public transport ridership varies and may either be temporary or
permanent.

(v) These results of the Colombia study reported here are consistent with other similar
studies conducted in other countries (Baron and Norman, 1992).

(vi) This study has clearly illustrated the drawbacks to family ownership of retail
businesses.

6 Practice B

䊏 Look at Unit 1.9 Organising Paragraphs, sections 2, 3 and 4. Study the first three
paragraphs of the essay (Should home ownership be encouraged?), then write a
concluding paragraph of about 100 words that summarises the main points and
answers the question in the title.