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Unit information: Dissertation in 2024/25

Please note: Programme and unit information may change as the relevant academic field develops. We may also make changes to the structure of programmes and assessments to improve the student experience.

Unit name Dissertation
Unit code AFAC30002
Credit points 40
Level of study H/6
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director Dr. Cleo Hanaway-Oakley
Open unit status Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)

None

Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)

None

Units you may not take alongside this one

None

School/department Arts Faculty Office
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

Why is this unit important?

The Dissertation is an exercise in extended independent research. Students are required to identify their own research topic, formulate the particular research questions to be addressed, identify the main primary sources to be used, set the research questions in the context of the issues arising from the secondary literature, and execute a scholarly and analytical text to high scholarly standards consistent with this level of study.

How does this unit fit into your programme of study?

While the dissertation should have academic foundation in your specialist pathway discipline, it should additionally in its choice of topic and/or execution of its research draw imaginatively upon a range of units taken in the Liberal Arts course, giving evidence of an interdisciplinary and/or engaged approach to learning.

Your learning on this unit

By the successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

  1. Articulate a deep understanding of a chosen subject
  2. Demonstrate enhanced research skills through the production of an extended piece of independent research in accordance high scholarly standards
  3. Form research questions
  4. Apply advanced skills of argumentation and communication
  5. Employ interdisciplinary approaches to the topic of the dissertation
  6. Compile their own bibliography
  7. Use both secondary and primary resources to draw reasoned and considered conclusions from them

How you will learn

Teaching will involve a combination of briefing seminars, peer review activities, library support, and three hours of one-to-one supervision.  There will be opportunities for supervisor and peer feedback.

How you will be assessed

10,000 word project (100%) [ILOs 1-7]

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. AFAC30002).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.

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