Final Year Project Guidelines For supervisees of Dr. darina m. slattery School of culture and communication January 2017 Note: The guidelines in this presentation are intended for my FYP supervisees only; other supervisors may have other guidelines for their students. If you cannot hear the audio when you click on the speaker icon (in ‘Slide Show’ mode), you can access a podcast of the audio in ‘Darina’s FYP Site’ on Sulis (in the ‘podcasts’ tool).

FYP Guidelines You will find lots of useful resources on http://www.ul.ie/artsoc/content/fyp, including: FYP timeline Deadlines and submissions Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs), regarding: How to plan research Research ethics (see also slide 5) Writing the FYP Referencing Word count Presentation of an FYP (see also slides 3 and 4) Submission requirements Useful videos

Recommended Structure (For My Supervisees) Slide 1 of 2 Preliminary Pages Include a Title/ Cover Page, Abstract, Table of Contents, List of Tables*, List of Figures*, Acknowledgements, Author’s Declaration, List of Abbreviations*. Chapter 1: Introduction Provide an overview of the general context of your project/ topic, present your research questions and/or hypotheses, and outline what follows in the remaining chapters. Chapter 1 does not include a detailed literature review (see chapter 2). Chapter 2: Literature Review Describe what others have done in this field and relevant related fields. Analyse and evaluate the literature. Chapter 3: Methodology Discuss the methods you adopted and why, explain your ethics application, but do not discuss your results (see chapter 4). *Where applicable.

Recommended Structure (For My Supervisees) Slide 2 of 2 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion Discuss your results, based on the literature and methods you outlined in the previous chapters. Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations Summarise your main findings, outline any limitations of your approach, and propose some recommendations for future research in this area. References Only list items you actually cited in the body of the report (there is no need for a separate bibliography listing items you have not consulted). Use the Harvard referencing system as per the UL Library Cite it Right guide on http://libguides.ul.ie/citeitright Appendices Possible appendix items might include your ethics application, consent forms, information sheets, survey questions, etc.

Ethical Approval You must apply for ethical approval if you are conducting any research with human subjects (including face-to-face/online surveys and interviews). Details about the ethics approval process can be found on http://www.ul.ie/artsoc/ethics FYP students must apply for ethics approval on or before the February ethics meeting (the deadline for ethics application submissions will be confirmed on http://www.ul.ie/artsoc/content/ethics/deadlines) Students must apply by this deadline if they wish to conduct their primary research in February/ early March. I need to review and sign your application by 27th January. Ethics approval is not guaranteed and students may have to reapply the following month (thereby delaying their primary research). Ethics application forms (including sample consent forms and information sheets) are available on http://www.ul.ie/artsoc/content/ethics/forms

Some Additional Points Regarding the Final Stages Your supervisor will not review new work (e.g. chapter drafts) within one month of the FYP submission deadline as this is during the teaching term. Furthermore, your supervisor is under no obligation to give detailed feedback on drafts; however, she will offer general recommendations for improvement. If students fail to keep in regular contact with their supervisor, they cannot expect additional support closer to the deadline. FYP extensions can only be granted by the Course Director, who will consult with the FYP supervisor regarding the student's effort.

FYP Submission Good luck! For details on how, when and where to submit your FYP, see http://www.ul.ie/artsoc/content/ethics/forms If you have any other questions in the meantime, please email me to arrange a meeting (email: Darina.Slattery@ul.ie). Good luck!