Module Identifier | IP37720 | ||
Module Title | DISSERTATION (SEMESTER ONE) | ||
Academic Year | 2002/2003 | ||
Co-ordinator | Dr Jonathan M Joseph | ||
Semester | Semester 1 | ||
Pre-Requisite | IP36820 | ||
Mutually Exclusive | IP36720 | ||
Assessment | Semester Assessment | Dissertation: The Dissertation is 8,000 to 10,000 words in length including footnotes/endnotes and excluding bibliography | 100% |
Supplementary Exam | Students may, subject to Faculty approval, have the opportunity to resit this module, normally during the supplementary examination period. For further clarification please contact the Teaching Programme Administrator in the Department of International Politics. |
However, for those students who are unable to take the dissertation in the final semester (due to students on exchange programmes, starting Part Two in the second semester or for other reasons) the dissertation module is available during semester one of the final year. Students must get special agreement from the Department to take their dissertation during the first semester of their final year.
The dissertation is an important element of the Department's undergraduate programme. It provides the opportunity for final year students to study a specific topic related to their degree scheme in some detail. It is also designed to allow students to demonstrate their initiative, their ability to work independently and their ability to construct a coherent argument over some length.
- the setting of achievable goals with respect to the choice of subject
- research skills in collecting secondary literature and, in some cases, primary sources, in relation to the particular subject chosen
- IT skills in the use of information technology during the process of research (esp. internet-based research) and the use of word-processing in the course of writing of the dissertation,
- time-management skills in the establishment of a research and writing plan and in the subsequent competition of the dissertation by a fixed deadline.
- Analytical skills in the construction of the argument and the development of an analytical framework
- Academic writing skills in the writing of the dissertation, including the compliance with regard to formal aspects of academic writing such as footnoting, referencing, and the compilation of a bibliography