MASTERS

DISSERTATION
GUIDANCE
DOCUMENT
1 INTRODUCTION FROM THE MODULE LEADER
This module provides the student with an opportunity to engage in research or advanced scholarship
in a subject area that is appropriate to their award and is of particular interest to them. The student
will carry out an in-depth research project, which will be discussed in a formal dissertation. Typically
this research project will build upon the proposal developed as part of the research development skills
of this module. This module will also involve learning and application in relation to research
methodologies and the research process.

Module Leader: Dr Sam Zulu

2 MODULE AIMS
The main aim of the module is to provide the student with an opportunity to engage in research or
advanced scholarship in a subject area that is appropriate to their award and is of particular interest
to them.

3 MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES

On completion of the module the student should be able to:

On completion of the module the student should be able to:

1. Agree realistic and coherent objectives for a project requiring research and advanced
scholarship in a subject area that is appropriate to the student’s award
2. Systematically and effectively apply appropriate research methods in pursuit of a clear and
coherent set of objectives.
3. Demonstrate a rigorous appreciation of the strengths and limitations of the research methods,
tools and/or techniques employed and provide a substantial account of the academic, ethical
and technical issues encountered in the research.
4. Critically evaluate the evidence collected as part of the research process and reflect upon the
relationship between evidence of different types and/or from different sources.
5. Provide and justify a balanced set of conclusions that draw upon the evidence collected, address
the particular research questions within the student’s chosen field of study and relate them to
existing knowledge or state of the art.
6. Create a finished piece of work that is accessible to an academic audience (and, if relevant, to a
professional audience), which complies with previously defined criteria, and which complies with
the Harvard referencing system.

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 1

4 MODULE LEARNING ACTIVITIES
 This is a web-based distance learning module. A series of pre-recorded lectures will be
provided to cover the main points of this module. These are supplemented by live online
sessions.
 The students will be supported by a member of academic staff who will provide guidance,
as appropriate.
 Students are expected to:
o Be self-motivated and independent learners completing project tasks
independently
o Arrange and attend regular meetings with their supervisors to discuss progress.

5 COMMUNICATION
Module information will be communicated to students via MyBecket. The module team will also
communicate with students by email. Students should note that all emails will be sent to their
official university email address.

6 PROJECT SUPERVISION
Students will be allocated a project supervisor at the start of their project. In order to identify
a suitable supervisor, students will be required to submit a one page synopsis of the proposed
project. The module leader will use this information to identify a suitable supervisor. The
project supervisor will be able to guide the student throughout his/her project. It is therefore
important that students are in regular contact with their supervisors

7 TIMELINE

Date Submission

14 Jul 2020 1-2 page project synopsis

14 Sep 2020 Project Proposal

10 May 2021: Final Dissertation

8 PROJECT PROPOSAL
The information below sets out what is expected in your research proposal submission.

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 2

  Word Limit: Students are expected to submit a research proposal which should be
about 3000words and include the following
 Title: State the working title of your proposed project. The title needs to capture the
essence of the whole work. It is not the same as your aim, research question or
hypothesis.
 Problem Specification: The purpose of this section is to provide an account of the
problem(s) which has given rise to the research. It should give a clear account of the
problem giving rise to the research. You will include appropriate background
information and an explanation of why the selected topic is of interest to you. It
should set out the problem and the reasons for the proposed study. The aim and
objectives of the study should be clearly stated.
 Initial Literature Review: Provide a brief critical review and discussion of the relevant
literature. This should demonstrate that you have a clear idea of the arguments and
the range of opinion found in your research field. You should, in conclusion to this
section, also indicate where your study will stand in relation to this field and then
specify your research question or hypothesis. It is important to note that you are not
being asked to provide a list of relevant books, rather you should identify the most
important half dozen or so texts (books, journal articles, and other research), and
briefly describe what they have to say, how they are related to one another, and why
they are useful (see Analysing/Reviewing an Article). You can then indicate where
other, less important material is to be found. The research questions/hypothesis
should have been seen to have emerged from this brief review of literature. It is
expected that you will use high quality references sources, to support arguments.
Generally, the literature review here should include a dozen or so references, with a
good proportion from refereed academic journals.
 Methodology: Briefly discuss and justify the proposed methodology for your study.
Issues such as the theoretical framework, research philosophy, research approach,
methods of data collection, sampling techniques, method of data analysis, and
reliability & validity issues should be considered. A brief discussion of ethics
consideration should also be included. In addition, you are expected to clearly indicate
the proposed structure of your project.
 Appendices
o Ethics Approval: Students should include in the appendix evidence of ethics
approval. This should be in the form of the approval email from the Ethics
Coordinator.
o Programme: Provide a timeline of the project showing all the key milestones.

9 YOUR DISSERTATION

The maximum word limit for the dissertation is 15000 words. Students who expect to
exceed this limit should discuss and agree with their supervisor a revised word limit prior to
submission of their final project paper. Failure to do so will result in a grade penalty being
imposed. See appendix for guidelines on structure of the paper.

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 3

10 ACADEMIC WRITING

It is expected that your dissertation will be professionally presented. The following will be
considered: Fluently written: concise and accurate. Attention has been paid to grammar and
spelling; No unnecessary use of quotations; Graphical material is well presented and where
possible created for the dissertation. Visually attractive; Accurate use of Harvard System. See
assessment criteria for more details.

11 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Generic assessment Guide

Grade Criteria

Excellent grasp of theoretical/conceptual/practical elements; Most of the

relevant information/skills accurately deployed; shows a very good level
Excellent
70+ of originality and independent thought; A strong evidence of wider
Performance
reading beyond material presented in the module material; well written
and directed; greater depth of critical analysis;
Most of relevant information/skills accurately deployed; Generally, a good
Above Average grasp of theoretical/conceptual/practical elements. Evidence of wider
60-69
Performance reading beyond material presented in the module material; some
originality of thought is evident in the work; well written
Much of the relevant information/skills mostly accurately deployed;
Average Adequate grasp of the theoretical/conceptual/practical elements; little
50-59
Performance evidence of wider reading beyond material presented in the module
material;
No major omissions or inaccuracies in the deployment of
Satisfactory information/skills. Adequate grasp of the theoretical/conceptual/practical
40-49
Performance elements. Little or no evidence of wider reading beyond material
presented in the module material
Unsatisfactory Below Major deficiencies or omissions in the information/theoretical/practical
Performance 40 elements. Poor presentation

Specific Assessment criteria

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 4

12 DISSERTATION SUBMISSION PRESENTATION
Your dissertation should be presented in accordance with the following conventions.

Number of copies
Students must submit an electronic copy of the dissertation through the Turnitin submission link on
mybeckett. No hard copies are required.

Size and margins

The dissertation shall be in A4 format, with typescript of a satisfactory quality. Font size of Arial 11 is
recommended to be used throughout for the text. Footnotes, if used, should be at least Arial 10. The
page margins should be:
 on the left hand side of not less than 40mm; and
 on the right hand side not less than 15mm.
Students should discuss with their supervisors the suitability of alternative font types and sizes

Spacing
The spacing between lines shall be double or one and a half except for indented quotations or
footnotes where single spacing may be used.

Pagination
The pages shall be numbered consecutively through the main text including photographs and
diagrams.

Title Page
The title page shall give the following:
 the full title of the thesis
 the full name of the author
 that the award is made by the University
 the award for which the thesis is submitted in part fulfilment
 the month and year of submission.

See figure 1 for illustration

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 5

Abstract
An abstract of approximately one page long, must be included following the title page on a separate
page.

Contents

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 6

The dissertation must include a table of contents with a list of tables and illustrations and list of
accompanying material or appendices if included.

End Matter, References, Bibliography

End matter may include appendices, glossary and indices. It must include a list of references (where
these are not presented in footnote form) and must include a bibliography of all sources consulted.
These sections are not included in the overall word count for the thesis.

Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be those in common use or recognised in accredited journals. If you use
specialised abbreviations a page must be included describing the precise meaning of the abbreviations
used.

13 TYPICAL DISSERTATION STRUCTURE

Title Page

-----------------------------
Next page

ABSTRACT
The abstract should be no more than 400 words and should provide an overview of the paper
including
 Background: provide a sentence or two providing context for the work
 Aim: indicate the primary purpose of your work
 Methodology: briefly describe the methodology adopted for the study
 Results: Here provide indication of the key findings
 Conclusions: the most important conclusions should be indicated, providing the reader
of the meaning of the key findings
 Limitations:
 Contribution:
 Implications:

Next page

TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Including Page Numbers]

Next page

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 7

LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES

Next page

INTRODUCTION [1 CHAPTER]
The introduction sets the context for the research. It should include. The purpose of this section
is to provide an account of the problem(s) which has given rise to the research. It should give a clear
account of the problem giving rise to the project. You will include appropriate background
information. It should set out the problem and the reasons for the proposed study. It is expected that
you will also briefly discuss relevant literature to support arguments and provide a background
context to your study. The aim, objectives and research question(s) should also be clearly specified.
The chapter can also include a brief overview of the methodology and outline structure of the
dissertation
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE [1-2 CHAPTERS]
The critical literature review should demonstrate awareness of key arguments in literature around the
subject of your research project. It should build a structured argument around these authors that
reflects the introduction. The review should demonstrate a high level of critical analysis of existing
literature. It is expected that the literature review will be seen to inform direction of the research as
it develops. For example, the design of the research instrument/questionnaire should be seen to have
been influenced by the issues identified and conceptual/ theoretical models used in previous studies.

RESEARCH DESIGN/METHODOLOGY [1 CHAPTER]

It is expected that in this section you will identify and justify an appropriate research methodology for
the study. Issues such as the research approach, methods of data collection, description of
measurement techniques or research instrument, sampling techniques, method of data analysis, and
reliability & validity issues will be addressed. A brief discussion of ethics consideration should also be
included.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION [1-2 CHAPTER]

You will present and discuss the results in this section. The structure of the argument is clearly
identified. The argument is coherently and validly sustained. Weaknesses in the argument are
acknowledged through critical evaluation of the evidence. The evidence should be of appropriate
quality and quantity and will be clearly seen as relevant to the argument. Evidence that appropriate
method(s) of analysis of data has been utilised.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS [1 CHAPTER]

The conclusion restates the primary purpose of the research project.. The significance of the evidence
is made clear. Appropriate conclusions will be drawn from the evidence presented. The
recommendations are to be seen to be based on the conclusions.

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 8

REFERENCES
The paper should be appropriately referenced using the Harvard System of Referencing
APPENDICES
Supplementary data/ information should be placed in the appendices

2018/2019 Guide to Writing Dissertation 9