Dissertation
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This course provides students with an opportunity to develop their research skills and to present a substantial piece of original work based on academic approaches applied within the chosen field of the student’s programme. Students will work with a fellow to develop their topic, proposal, and ethics form, and during their research and writing of the dissertation. This course is not subject-specific, but students are required to write their dissertation on a topic relevant to an area of study of their degree.
The aim of this course is to:
- Guide you in becoming an independent researcher, equipping you with skills to formulate a research question, conduct literature reviews, make methodological choices, and analyse data.
- Develop a research proposal on a topic from your studies, receive support from a supervisor and produce a final dissertation.
- Demonstrate proficiency in research ethics, data analysis and the ability to present wellreasoned conclusions at an academic level.
Knowledge
Students completing this module are expected to have knowledge and understanding of some of the key concepts and principles of their area of research. On completion of this module, you should be able to:
- Identify a research topic and write a feasible research proposal.
- Understand the ethical underpinnings of your research, respecting academic integrity and required protocols for data collection.
- Articulate and justify the research methods methodology used in your study.
- Demonstrate technical proficiency in the techniques of data acquisition and analysis.
- Develop and elaborate on your own arguments.
Skills
On completion of this module, you should be able to:
- Plan and manage your own learning.
- Identify and employ a broad range of sources relevant to your research.
- Critically engage with the relevant literature.
- Develop analytical skills while conducting quantitative and/or qualitative analyses such as an ability to interpret data, recognise patterns, test hypotheses, and derive meaningful insights from datasets containing numerical and/or non-numerical data.
- Construct conclusions in a clear, logically structured, analytical, and independently argued piece of work.
- Present your findings in an effective way.
- Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.
London: Sage Publications. - Greetham, B. (2019). How to write your undergraduate dissertation. London: Red Globe Press.
- Levin, P. (2005). Excellent dissertations. New York: Open University Press.
- Phipps, A. (2016). Getting started on your dissertation. Resources for researchers. Retrieved 15 August
2024, from https://phipps.space/resources-for-researchers/
