Think of the foreword as a first-person testimonial regarding the author’s credibility as an academic and expert, written by a peer who is qualified to speak to these.
An author never writes his or her own foreword. Instead, this piece of front matter is usually written either by someone who knows the author well in a professional capacity, or an eminent individual in the author’s field. Forewords are usually based on one of the following:
- the relationship or an interaction between the author and the person who is writing the foreword;
- the connection between the person writing the foreword and the content of the book.
The Introduction
Written for the students who will use the book, the introduction gives them the information needed to use the book effectively as part of their overall learning experience.
In the introduction, the author discusses the subject matter or content of the book. The introduction is the perfect place to explain how the book is organized, how each chapter is organized. and what pedagogical features will be found in the chapters. The author can also give readers some guidance about how to approach reading the book in order to maximize its effectiveness as tool for learning.
To develop the content for the introduction to your book, reflect on and respond to the questions below.
- Who is the audience for the book?
- What is the purpose of the book?
- What does it teach the audience that they didn’t know before?
- What does it prepare them to do that they could not/did not do before?
- How is the book organized? (This addresses unit, chapters, etc.)
- What, generally, does each unit and/or chapter cover?
- How is each chapter organized?
- What features appear consistently in each chapter?
- What is the purpose of each feature? How does each feature help readers/students?
- What is a positive and affirming message you would like to leave for readers at the end of the introduction?