Found in 1-2% of dissertation chapters. "In this section, the researcher will discuss..." tells your committee what you're about to do instead of doing it.
Remove "In this section" and present the content directly.
A section self-reference is any sentence that describes what the current section does rather than doing it. "In this section, the researcher discusses the theoretical framework." "This chapter examines the relevant literature." "The following paragraphs will address the research questions." These sentences are meta-commentary — writing about writing. They take up space without advancing your argument.
Section self-references are a holdover from academic coursework, where professors wanted students to signal their organizational plan. At the dissertation level, the opposite is expected. Your headings already tell the reader what each section covers. A heading that says "Theoretical Framework" followed by a sentence that says "This section discusses the theoretical framework" is redundant. Your committee would rather you start with the framework itself.
The exception is chapter-level overviews. Most committees want a brief roadmap paragraph at the start of each chapter: "Chapter 2 reviews the literature on X, organized by three themes: A, B, and C." This is acceptable because it helps the reader navigate a long chapter. But within sections, cut straight to the content. Every "in this section" sentence is a sentence that could have been analysis, evidence, or argument instead.
Self-referential phrases add words without meaning; let the content speak for itself.
In this section, I will explore the implications of remote learning.
Remote learning carries implications for both access and engagement.
Delete the meta-commentary and start with the actual content. The heading already tells the reader what the section covers.
In this section, the researcher discusses the impact of professional development on teacher retention.
Professional development directly influences teacher retention rates, with sustained programs (50+ hours) showing the strongest effects (Desimone, 2009).
Don't announce what you're about to do. Just do it. Name the themes and start discussing them.
The following paragraphs will examine three key themes that emerged from the literature.
Three key themes emerged from the literature: instructional leadership, collaborative culture, and accountability structures.
Instead of narrating what you just did and what comes next, use the transition to make a substantive connection.
This section has provided an overview of the existing research on student motivation. The next section will discuss the theoretical framework.
The motivation literature establishes that intrinsic factors consistently outweigh extrinsic rewards (Deci & Ryan, 2000), a finding that informs the theoretical lens applied in the next section.
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