The dissertation is a key element of your Masters work and an important preparation for any subsequent research you may do. It is essential to start thinking about a possible topic relatively early in the academic year, although you will concentrate on the work from the end of the Spring term.
There will usually be about four workshops to guide students in preparing their dissertations.
The aim of these two-hour workshops is to ensure that all students have a basic shared understanding of departmental expectations of their writing at Masters level, and how these differ from expectations of undergraduate writing. We hope that international students from different academic backgrounds will also benefit from the opportunity to check out cultural norms associated with writing in this context. The workshops will introduce the Department Style Guide, and provide an opportunity to look at a range of good assignments and academic writing styles.
An MA Dissertation Day is held in week 21, where students have the opportunity to share and present their research proposals.
Supervision:
Most supervision will be over the Summer term – maybe around two or three face-to-face sessions.
There may be some supervision over the Summer vacation but this will mostly be by email.
Students cannot expect a full reading of a final draft.
Students can expect comments on an outline structure of the dissertation and an indication of the contents of each chapter.
- Module Supervisor: Michael Bailey