Starting your Dissertation this calendar year; this means Year 2 students and many Post Graduate students ©The Learning Quality Support Unit, 2013

What does this mean for you? Most dissertations are individual in nature, which means that you will often work on your own over quite a long period of time 2

The Dissertation itself! What is it? 3

The Dissertation Some academic book writers on this topic describe ‘dissertations’ as very long essays with a specific in depth focus. The word allowance can vary within different disciplines; they tend to range from 5000 to words; but it’s not as frightening as you think. 4

Planning the research schedule Become an active participant; don't just sit and wait for things to happen, because it wont! Think about the time you can realistically give to the task. Remember the 168 hours in the week; many students have a variety of responsibilities. 5

Some thoughts Consider the area where you wish to undertake your research. Think about and consider what you aim to achieve. What are the practical uses of the research? What background do you possess? How will you collect data and analyse it? Identifying and reviewing key studies. 6

A suggested timetable 7 A rea Month 1Month 2Month 3Month 4Month 5Month 6Month 7 Agree topic with Supervisor Aims & Objectives of Topic The Opening Sections Draft initial outline Literature Reviews Methodology/ Approaches Analysis of exercise/Results Discussion/ Conclusion References/ Acknowledgements Binding Submission 7

Activate the process You must be the initial ‘driver’, but you are not on your own. Help is available; try the Learning Quality Support Unit! 8

The proposal The proposal is often introduced towards the later stages of an undergraduate course. However, ‘top up’ or higher postgraduate timetables may be different. Your tutors will advise you accordingly. 9

Getting started In most cases you are required to submit the ‘Proposal’ outlining your intentions and much of this will be focussed around the ‘what, why, where, when and who’. Most dissertations are individual, but there some that are collaborative and even interdisciplinary. 10

Tips on generating a research question What do you want to establish? Making it researchable. Making it ‘critical’ rather than ‘descriptive’. So: 1.Where are my interests? 2.How will these lead to an investigation? 11