How to write a foreword correctly
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What is a foreword?

A foreword can be seen as the first access to the scientific work. However, it is not primarily about details or a specific question that is being addressed. This is more the subject of the introduction.

The foreword is more about personal motivation, why and under what personal circumstances the author wrote the work. This also includes the experience that he personally gained while writing. A thank you to examiners and supervisors, friends or family, for example, is also often part of the foreword. Nevertheless, the character of this section should always be kept professional.

This goes in the foreword

The foreword should therefore contain the personal circumstances that motivated the author. These are essentially the following points:

  1. Private motives and questions that led to the choice of topic
  2. Reasons and further questions that arose during the course of study or during an internship
  3. What help or collaboration was used
  4. For papers written in cooperation: Was there a specific division of labor, who is responsible for which part?
  5. Thanks for the people and institutions that supported the author during the writing process
  6. Date and place

Foreword, introduction and abstract – difference

The table below provides a good and brief overview of the differences between a foreword, abstract and introduction.

Preface Abstract Introduction
Optional Optional Fixed
Page number, but no chapter number Page number, but no chapter number Page number and own
chapter number
Scope:
max. one A4 page		 Scope:
max. one A4 page		 Scope:
l 1 to 3 pages
Preface content:
Personal description of the background and writing process		 Abstract content:
Brief summary of the central theses and results		 Introduction content:
Research questions and hypotheses
are set up, the table of contents is dealt with with its logical argumentation

Example formulations for the preface

Below is one possible formulation for each and serves as a preface example. If the entire thesis is written in English, the foreword should of course also be written in English.

Personal background:

During my studies and internship in the second semester, I repeatedly encountered the difficulties that arise in teamwork, especially in international projects in a company. For this reason, it became clear to me at some point that I wanted to deal with this in more depth in my thesis.

Reasons for choosing the topic:

Even during my studies, I was intensively concerned with the conditions of prisoners. That’s why I had a connection to the topic and it seemed logical to take a closer look at the resocialization of prisoners in Switzerland as a scientific topic.

Division of labor:

Right from the start of the topic selection process, it became clear that a division of labor regarding the survey seemed sensible for us as authors. Due to the scope, the survey should be carried out by an external service provider. That’s why I commissioned the agency XY, which technically implemented the questionnaire I had written and sent it to the people to be surveyed.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank my supervisor for clarifying all of my questions. I would also like to thank my family, who supported me greatly during this time. Without them, the result would not have been possible in this form.

Complete example foreword

Here we have created an example of a foreword for you, where you can see exactly how the individual components can be integrated into the foreword. Of course, you can use this foreword as a model for your own work:

Foreword
This bachelor’s thesis deals with the question “What is the connection between stress, coping strategies and alcohol consumption?”. The research for this bachelor’s thesis was carried out in the form of a quantitative survey.

I wrote this bachelor’s thesis as my final thesis for my psychology studies at the University of Bern. The aim was to investigate the connection between stress, coping and alcohol consumption among young students using a written survey.

I worked intensively on research and writing my bachelor’s thesis from February 2021 to May 2021.

I was already concerned with the topic of stress during my studies. That’s why I had a connection to the topic and it was a natural step to look more closely at the connection between stress and alcohol consumption among young students in Switzerland as a scientific topic.

I would like to thank my supervisor, Ms. Kirsten Weber, who guided me and supported me with great commitment throughout my work. Together we developed the question for this bachelor’s thesis. With her expertise in the field of psychology, she gave me valuable insights into the problem. I would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Timo Keller and Prof. Dr. Jan Huber, who made it possible for me to conduct my survey in their lectures.

I would also like to thank all participants in my survey. I discussed every step of my research with them and found that my results were taken seriously and can be of great importance to students and the university.

I hope you enjoy reading this bachelor thesis.

Max Mustermann
Bern, May 18, 2021

Download example foreword

Checklist: Write foreword

The following checklist should serve as a guide to ensure that nothing is forgotten in the foreword:

  • Is the foreword a maximum of one page long?
  • Have people who have helped significantly been named?
  • Does the order of the acknowledgements correspond to the importance, with the person who was able to provide the most support being named first?
  • Have all the first and last names that I should mention been recorded?
  • Is the foreword written in a personal context but still professionally as a contribution?
  • Does the foreword end with the location and date when the foreword was written?
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