Dissertation (PO40006)
Module Convenor: TBC
Credit Rating: 30 SCQF credits
Level: Level 4 module [compulsory for all Single Honours Students]
Note: This module is a full-year module.
Dissertation students are allocated a supervisor depending on their chosen 'special area 'of interest.
For staff special areas see the most recent Dissertation Handbook [pdf].
Module Content
The dissertation option involves the presentation of a paper of 10,000-12,000 words prepared under supervision over the two semesters of the academic year. The topic is chosen after consultation from a range of 'special' areas offered by the department from year to year.
Module Aims
The aim of the dissertation is to give students, in the last phase of their honours degree, the opportunity to exercise and develop a range of skills they have acquired in the earlier levels of their programme in an extended piece of written work.
Dissertation topics are selected by students from a range of 'special subject' areas indicated by individual members of staff (and which reflect staff research interests - see the Dissertation Handbook). Where more than one student signs up for a dissertation in the subject area seminars may be arranged for the 'group'. Here initial plans as well as issues of source materials and methodology can be discussed collectively. The undertaking is phased - from initial idea to plan to draft to final submission.
Intended Learning Outcomes
On completion of the dissertation students will have developed abilities to:
- Identify a 'research question' in a given area of political studies
- Plan in detail the pursuit of the necessary lines of investigation towards the solving of that question
- Determine appropriate methodologies
- Locate, evaluate and assimilate relevant source materials
- Construct a sustained piece of concise and lucid analysis in the form of an extended paper
Teaching
Initial discussion takes place in the third semester of your third year. Once you have been accepted by a supervisor a series of meetings will be arranged for on-going evaluation of your progress during the final year of your degree.
Assessment
The final mark is entirely based on the submitted dissertation paper.
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