Writing an introduction to a research paper – 109
matters, constraints or assumptions, then there is no point in
raising them. Even so, it might be worth exploring whether
there is something worth mentioning here, in order to set
the boundaries within which your conclusions need to be
interpreted – a matter to which many papers return as part
of the Conclusion to the whole study (see chapter 6).
The amount of space devoted to the introduction as a whole and
the various moves within it will in large part be determined by the
overall length of the paper (a lengthy paper can afford to have a longer
introduction) and the importance for the subject matter of each of the
moves. For a short paper, all of this might be achieved in two or
three paragraphs; for a longer paper you might need two or three
paragraphs to deal with just one of these moves, depending upon its
importance and complexity within the scope of the paper as a whole.
Here is an example of an introduction to what would be a
shortish paper, in which the first three moves are given a paragraph
each and the fourth and fifth combined into one.
The Concept of Patriarchy: a Historical Approach
Modern feminist theory, for better or worse, revolves around many
disputes over ideologies, theories and terms. It would appear on the
surface that there is little or no agreement on how to tackle these
problems. Almost every theorist of feminism has a quite idiosyncratic
view of the reasons behind women’s oppression and the ways to put an
end to that oppression. Moreover, each tends to begin her analysis by
criticising all other feminist theories, emphasising their differences and
giving scant attention to finding common ground. The longstanding
debate concerning the concept of patriarchy is no different.
While it is true that the German sociologist Max Weber had
introduced the idea of patriarchy in the early twentieth century (Walby
1989: 214), and, according to Veronica Beechy (1979: 66), the term had
been used occasionally in the ‘first wave’ of feminist thinking, it was only
with the revival of the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s that
patriarchy began to be debated seriously as a theoretical construct. But
this was to be relatively short-lived. By the mid to late 1980s, doubts
matters, constraints or assumptions, then there is no point in
raising them. Even so, it might be worth exploring whether
there is something worth mentioning here, in order to set
the boundaries within which your conclusions need to be
interpreted – a matter to which many papers return as part
of the Conclusion to the whole study (see chapter 6).
The amount of space devoted to the introduction as a whole and
the various moves within it will in large part be determined by the
overall length of the paper (a lengthy paper can afford to have a longer
introduction) and the importance for the subject matter of each of the
moves. For a short paper, all of this might be achieved in two or
three paragraphs; for a longer paper you might need two or three
paragraphs to deal with just one of these moves, depending upon its
importance and complexity within the scope of the paper as a whole.
Here is an example of an introduction to what would be a
shortish paper, in which the first three moves are given a paragraph
each and the fourth and fifth combined into one.
The Concept of Patriarchy: a Historical Approach
Modern feminist theory, for better or worse, revolves around many
disputes over ideologies, theories and terms. It would appear on the
surface that there is little or no agreement on how to tackle these
problems. Almost every theorist of feminism has a quite idiosyncratic
view of the reasons behind women’s oppression and the ways to put an
end to that oppression. Moreover, each tends to begin her analysis by
criticising all other feminist theories, emphasising their differences and
giving scant attention to finding common ground. The longstanding
debate concerning the concept of patriarchy is no different.
While it is true that the German sociologist Max Weber had
introduced the idea of patriarchy in the early twentieth century (Walby
1989: 214), and, according to Veronica Beechy (1979: 66), the term had
been used occasionally in the ‘first wave’ of feminist thinking, it was only
with the revival of the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s that
patriarchy began to be debated seriously as a theoretical construct. But
this was to be relatively short-lived. By the mid to late 1980s, doubts