I'm revising my chapter plans and I was just wondering what people put in the introduction. Do you have a separate methodology chapter and a lit review chapter or do you include these in the introduction?

I expect my lit review to be the introduction - but the methodology to be a different chapter. Unless your thesis is a set of seperate pieces with their own lit reviews, in which case you would have a very short overall intro.

me personally this is how i have structured my thesis. my thesis is in science.

chapter 1 : introduction. a literture review , giving the basic information to the reader. for example. what are the different models of x,y.z, what is the current held views, etc

then i briefly, state my aims.

then chapter 2: is methods and materials. description of what i did.

then each individual chapter i.e the results chapters, has its own 'mini introduction'.

i once read that a chapter should be able to stand on its own. you should be able to pick it up, and understand it.

each results chapter has more detailed and specific background information and then the aims of what i am trying to achieve.

Smilodon's advice is very good

because i think my overall introduction might be shorter, because i might want to put more details in my other chapters mini introduction.

i used this website when i got stuck on how to go about writing a thesis:

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/thesis.html

"excepts from above website"

{quote}
Introduction
What is the topic and why is it important? State the problem(s) as simply as you can.

Remember that you have been working on this project for a few years, so you will be very close to it.

Try to step back mentally and take a broader view of the problem.

How does it fit into the broader world of your discipline?

Especially in the introduction, do not overestimate the reader's familiarity with your topic.

You are writing for researchers in the general area, but not all of them need be specialists in your particular topic.
..cont..

...{quote:

"It may help to imagine such a person---think of some researcher whom you might have met at a conference for your subject, but who was working in a different area. S/he is intelligent, has the same general background, but knows little of the literature or tricks that apply to your particular topic.

The introduction should be interesting. If you bore the reader here, then you are unlikely to revive his/her interest in the materials and methods section. For the first paragraph or two, tradition permits prose that is less dry than the scientific norm. If want to wax lyrical about your topic, here is the place to do it.
...

...{quote:
"There is an argument for writing this section---or least making a major revision of it---towards the end of the thesis writing. Your introduction should tell where the thesis is going, and this may become clearer during the writing.

"Literature review
Where did the problem come from? What is already known about this problem?

What other methods have been tried to solve it?

How many papers? How relevant do they have to be before you include them? Well, that is a matter of judgement. On the order of a hundred is reasonable, but it will depend on the field. You are the world expert on the (narrow) topic of your thesis: you must demonstrate this.

A political point: make sure that you do not omit relevant papers by researchers who are like to be your examiners, or by potential employers to whom you might be sending the thesis in the next year or two."
{end quote}

then i did some further reading around on the website and came across these pearls of wisdown i wrote in my notebook: (i did this about a month ago - i need refreshing too! as i am going to work on my introduction aswell).

{quote...
"the literature review:
what is a review of the literature:

it is an account of what has been published on a topic by researchers and scholars. your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic and what their strengths and weaknesses are. it is not just a descriptive list of the material available or a set of summaries.

...cont...

"literature review is not just a summar of other peoples's work! (this i find the hardest to deal with personally)

questions your review should answer:

1. what do we alredy know in the immediate area?
2. what are the characterisitics of the key concepts?
3. what is the relationshio?
4. what are the existing theories?
5. what are the inconsistencies or short comings in our knowledge and understanding?
6. what views need to be further tested?
7. what evidence is lacking? contradictory, or too limited?
8. why study the research problem?
9. what can my results contribute?
10. what research design or methods seem unsatisfactory?"

"Problems: what should you do if you find that your idea has already been published by another writer?
* acknowledge the other writer's work. for example by writing in your reference (see also Smith et al 1993). you must not ignore the other authors work, because readers may think you have taken the idea or information without referencing (plagerism) or that you do not have a good idea of the literature in your field"

use your referencing to give your readers a clear idea of the situation, and to demonstrate your knowledge.

"referencing other peoples work is NOT a sign of weakness, in their own work, in fact the opposite is true.

academic literature review:
- coveres a range of sources but is usually a select number of sources because the emphasis is on the argument.

find models: narrow your topic:
you will not be expected to read everything that's out there on the topic!
use current reviews first!!

find focus:
as you read widely but selectively in your topic area, consider, what theories or issues connect your sources together.

do they present one or different solutions?
is there aspect missing?

is there a trend?
raging debate?"

organisation of the introduction chapter:

{quote}

" 1. cover the basics: - introduction, or background information, general theories.
- body of review containing the discussion of sources
- conclusions - what have you drawn from reviewing literature so far?

*current situation*
- how will you further your reasearch as a result of the review

- use evidence - writers refer to several other sources when making their point. your interpretation of the available sources must be backed up with evidence to show what your saying is valid

- be selective : select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review. type of infor you choose to mention should relate directly to the review's focus.

summarise and synthesise : summarise your sources within each paragraph

keep your own voice {end quote}

source:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature_review.html

It does depend on discipline. I'm humanities and I include literature review and methodology in the introduction, even though each chapter is stand-alone and has their own introduction too. Basically my first chapter is the overview of my research. The individual chapters cover different aspects of it.

sorry i think i got abit carried away there!!

one more piece of advice i found useful from the book by Patrick Dunleavy: "Authoring a phd"

{quote}
"don't write literature review chapters in a perfectionist tone, focusing on smallish deficiencies of previous work, without realising the extent to which similar difficulties are likely to recur in your own research

"examiners will not closely scrutinize your small critical comments and sicussions in your introduction chapter, until you have established your own credentials as an original 'researcher'. -

{quote from Patrick Dunleavy"
"so what mentality" - what has the examiner learned from your thesis
"nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small parts"
"the human mind is only capable of absorbing a few things at a time"
"originality involves encoutering an established idea or viewpoint or method, in one part of your discipline or neighbouring discipline and then taking that idea for a walk and putting it down somewhere else , applying it in a different context or different purpose"
" originality - cumalitive achievement"
"new ideas most often reflect the patient accumulation of layers of small insights and intuitions"...