Unit information: Dissertation in 2022/23

Unit name	Dissertation
Unit code	SOCIM1000
Credit points	60
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Dr. Okyere
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
School/department	School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

The dissertation is an extended piece of written work that provides an opportunity to identify and investigate a particular question and explore it systematically.

Aims:

A dissertation aims to develop independent critical thought on a research topic. The broad educational purpose of the dissertation is to encourage students to utilise a wide range of methodological options, to research the literature on a specialism within a discipline, and to develop, with the help of a Dissertation Supervisor, an original angle on a topic of social scientific interest which he or she has elected to pursue.

Your learning on this unit

• identified a clear, central research question,

• adopted an appropriate organizational structure and research methods to address this question

• engaged at a theoretical level with relevant approaches within your study

• shown how your work fits with the existing literature for your research area.

• identified relevant outcomes by way of summary, discussion and conclusion

• convey your research to an academic readership, in a clear, well-written grammatically-correct style, and conforming to the conventions of academic presentation.

• shown evidence of independent critical thinking

How you will learn

Lecture, online resources and personal tuition

How you will be assessed

15% - dissertation proposal (1500 words) in the style of a research proposal outlining the purpose and direction of the dissertation, why is it important and how is the research to be carried out (ILOs 1,2 and 4)

85% - 10,000 - 15,000 word dissertation (all ILOs)

Support will be provided for both submissions as part of the supervision process, with guidelines provided by the supervisor.

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. SOCIM1000).

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 Faculty 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. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.