Assignment Brief
- Purpose of the Assessment
The purpose of this assignment is to examine the student’s ability to produce an extended piece of work on a selected topic within the broad business and management field and develop the necessary skills in this subject area. Students need to ensure that the topic area for their dissertation is in line with the degree programme they are doing, e.g.
- Assessment Task
The assessment for this module consists of two elements:
– A research proposal weighting 10% of the mark
– Written dissertation weighting 90% of the mark.
2.2 Dissertation (AS2), weighting 90% of the mark (LO1 – LO5)
You are requested to write a dissertation (up to 10 000 words), weighting 90% of the mark. You can choose the topic of your dissertation; however, you should discuss it with your supervisor as your supervisor needs to approve your dissertation topic.
You need to complete a cover sheet for the dissertation which contains a declaration of originality. The cover sheet is available to download on the module page on Moodle.
The dissertation must be prefaced by an abstract. This is not an introduction but a summary which outlines the plan and argument of the dissertation. It should include brief details of the methodology employed. The abstract should not be longer than 300 words. It should be included immediately after the title page and it will be examined as part of the dissertation.
A list of contents, such as the glossary, chapters, and appendices – with page references – should be included at the front of the dissertation.Diagrams, figures, tables, and illustrations should be incorporated into the text at the appropriate place, unless there is a series of them or they are continually referred to throughout the text. In this case they should be placed in appendices at the end of the work
The work of other authorities must be acknowledged. When quotations or general references are made they must be suitably referenced by using the Harvard system.
Appendices should not contain material which is not used or referred to in the text. Similarly, illustrative material should not be included unless it is relevant, informative, and referred to in the text.
Characteristics of your dissertation
You will have gained some idea of what is required in a postgraduate dissertation from the learning outcomes of the module and the assessment criteria, however, in general terms we expect an emphasis on the critical literature review and an in-depth understanding of theory and methodology. Specifically,
Problem formulation – you will be expected to be precise and rigorous about the problem formulation and the setting of objectives. Relevance and originality in the choice of topic is also important (1000 words)
Literature review you will be expected to critically review and analyse the work by leading authors relevant to your own research issue. In short, it must be critical and not overly descriptive. You also need to say how your own research fits in to the gap of current literature (3000 words)
Research Methodology – you will be expected to critically review the theoretical, empirical, and methodology literature. The theory should be comprehensively discussed and understood, and paradigms of inquiry and different methodologies should be explored. You should show awareness of the soundness of the methodology you use and its rationale. (1500 words)
Data Analysis – your dissertation should clearly meet stated objectives and indicate the extent that arguments are based on valid and reliable evidence and identified and worked within a critically analysed theoretical framework. Analysis of your results showing the contribution to knowledge you have made and acknowledgement of any weaknesses/limitations in your work (3000 words)
Conclusions/Recommendations – the evaluation of the implications in the dissertation, based upon the analysis undertaken and upon any data collected, should be of high quality and aim for originality. A description of the main lessons to be learned from the study and what future research could be carried out (1500 words)
Presentation – your dissertation should be well-structured in terms of both paragraphs and chapters. There should be attention to detail, expression should be clear, the title appropriate, and arguments coherent. Any appendices (and you are encouraged to keep these to a minimum) should be used. The same applies to references and the bibliography. Tables and diagrams should be of a high standard and make use of appropriate software
Presentation of your dissertation
Your Dissertation should be presented as follows; ALL dissertations should include the following (but they may include more):
Disclaimer Page
Abstract
Set out on a page of its own immediately after the title page. The abstract is likely to be the last section to be written. It is a short (300 words maximum.) summary of the project (not an introduction) and should indicate the nature and scope of the work, outlining the research problem, key issues, findings and your conclusion/recommendations.
Table of Contents
An outline of the whole project in list form, setting out the order of the sections, with page numbers. It is conventional to number the preliminary pages (abstract, table of contents) with lower case Roman numerals (i.e. (i), (ii), (iii) etc.) and the main text pages (starting with the first chapter) in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) as shown below.
Contents Page
List of Tables i
List of Figures ii
List of Abbreviations iii
Acknowledgements iv
List of tables and figures
You can present a list at the beginning of your dissertation/ project of the tables and figures you have included.
A table is a presentation of data in tabular form; a figure is a diagrammatic representation of data or other material. Tables and figures should be clearly and consistently numbered, either above or below the table or figure. Each table and figure should have a separate heading (caption). The reader should be able to understand what the table or figure is about from this heading / caption without referring to the text for explanations. The numbers of the tables and the figures you use in the text and in the lists at the beginning should correspond exactly
Main body of document, appropriately structured (this structure may vary depending on the nature of your dissertation.)
Bibliography / References
Appendices (these should only contain material which is genuinely supportive of the argument in the main body of the dissertation).
Do remember that clear writing makes a good impression. If your grammar is poor, sentence construction clumsy, and spelling bad, then your communication with the reader will also be affected. You will not be penalised for poor English unless it is so bad that the meaning of what you have written cannot be understood.
You are required to use the following format:
- Use A4 size paper only.
- Type 1.5 or doublespaced. (You may want to use single spacing for indented quotes, footnote materials and the bibliography).
- Use one side of paper only.
- Margins should be approximately:
- 3 cms on left hand side of page to allow for binding.
- At least 1 cm on the right hand side
- 3 cms top and
- Pages should be numbered in a single sequence from the contents page onwards.
- Short quotations can run in the text within single quotation marks (double quotation marks reserved for quotations within quotations). Quotations longer than about 30 words should be set in from the side of the page (normally the indent should be more than the paragraph indent).
- Always write in complete sentences. Do not resort to note form.
- Do not use abbreviations in the text unless they are for the organisations documents etc which are commonly initialised or referred to by acronyms eg. BBC
- All abbreviations must be explained when they first appear and included in the front of the document following the contents page and the list of tables and figures.
Dissertation Structure
The final form your dissertation takes will depend on the topic and the approach you take for the presentation of the data. A general structure includes
Chapter 1 – Introduction An explanation as to what the Dissertation is all about and why it is important. The aims and objectives of the research should be clear presented.
Chapter 2 – Literature Review A critical analysis of what other researchers have said and where your topic fits in. The theoretical framework.
Chapter 3 – Research Methodology Why was this methodological approach taken, how data was collected, how it was analysed and how were ethical issues addressed.
Chapter 4 – Data Analysis. Discuss the methods used to analyse your data and present the results of your Discuss and analysis your results showing the contribution to knowledge you have made and acknowledgement of any weaknesses/limitations in your work.
Chapter 5 – Conclusions/Recommendations, the evaluation of the implications in the dissertation, based upon the analysis undertaken and upon any data collected A description of the main lessons to be learned from the study and what future research could be carried out.
Chapter 6 – References and Bibliography References are a detailed list of sources from which information has been obtained and which has been cited in the text. The bibliography is a detailed list of other sources you have used but not cited.
Appendices – Detailed data referred to but not shown elsewhere.
You may wish to elect to write a descriptive type of dissertation that looks for patterns, ideas and hypotheses. If you do the quality of the dissertation will depend on:
- How thoroughly the issues are covered.
- How closely the facts relate to the original research question.
- Whether the data collected provides valuable and new information that is a contribution to knowledge.
- Whether the research could be built upon by future writers.
- The extent to which creativity has been used in building the narrative.
Please note, this approach is not an extended essay, but evidence of critical reflection and analysis.
The two forms of dissertation outlined above are given as an indication of possible formats. It is possible that your dissertation may require a different approach or modification to the above possibilities in presentation and content. Both presentation and content should be discussed with your Dissertation Supervisor at an early stage. Remember, study at level 6 encourages innovative application of research principles to academic work.
Word Limit: The assessment should be limited to 10,000 words (+/- 10%). If you end up with more than 10,100 words or less than 9,900 words you must revise the text judiciously to deliver work within the stated limits.
Style requirements: Except for the Titles and subtitles, you are not allowed to highlight text, which will be in Arial size 11, and without indentations. The main title is highlighted in size 16, and the subtitles are highlighted in size 14. The margins should be justified, not aligned to the left. Additionally, the space between lines should be single and the space between paragraphs should be double. The work will be in Report form and not the Essay form requiring an Introduction, the main body with subtitles and a conclusion.
- Sources
It is expected that the Reference List will contain between twenty to twenty-five sources (minimum). As a MINIMUM the Reference List should include seven refereed academic journals and five academic books.
Responsibilities of the Student
It is your responsibility to prepare and submit your dissertation by the deadline given. Failure to submit by that date will result in the dissertation being assessed as a FAIL. There will be NO EXTENSIONS allowed except in highly exceptional circumstances agreed by the Academic Department. You should also be aware that you are responsible for:
- Submitting an initial synopsis (outline of your topic and title) by the specified date.
- Submitting a proposed timetable of work and research by the specified date.
- c) Building a substantial contingency into your timetable to allow for unforeseen and unexpected problems.
- d) Undertaking the necessary research.
- e) Ensuring that your Supervisor is kept informed of your progress.
f ) Ensuring that all progress reports, drafts etc are submitted to your Supervisor by the specified date.
- g) Arranging for the dissertation to be presented according to the guidelines given in this guide.
