The following information is included in the Module Outline, available at https://www.dur.ac.uk/faculty.handbook/module_description/?year=2015&module_code=ECOS3032
⦁ Prerequisites and corequisites (where appropriate)
⦁ Module Aims
⦁ The dissertation should be a substantial piece of work that provides a detailed and critical examination of a particular topic. Empirical research is encouraged where appropriate to the topic and programme of study, but is not compulsory.
⦁ Learning Outcomes, including subject-specific knowledge, subject-specific skills and key skills.
2. Summary of Teaching Methods
Lectures
There are five lectures that deal with choosing a dissertation topic, planning and writing the dissertation. They will also cover how to make best use of theoretical and empirical literature, and there will be a discussion of some relevant information resources.
The first lectures take place in the Easter Term of your second year as part of Dissertation Induction which all students are expected to attend. These will focus on what writing a dissertation involves and offer advice about how to choose a topic.
The remaining lectures will take place at the start of the Michaelmas term during your final year. Parts of this series will focus on how to manage the research process and develop a dissertation plan and how to write up your dissertation. These lectures are placed early in the academic year so that you make progress with the dissertation at an early stage. One of the sessions will include outline information on using data sources (e.g. Datastream) for research purposes. Students are strongly advised to attend this as specific assistance on data availability and access will be very limited after this session.
Supervision Meetings
There will be six supervision meetings, three in the Michaelmas term and three in the Epiphany term. More details are given below.
3. Summary of Assessment
Summative Assessment
Summative assessment comprises a 12,000 word dissertation.
Formative Assessment
⦁ Submission and approval of the dissertation title during second year.
⦁ The completion of the outline, progress reports, diary and all requirements therein. You should submit your completed diary by the same deadline as the dissertation.
⦁ The draft chapter is also regarded as a formative assessment.
The Dissertation Diary and Formative Work
As well as your own notes, you should maintain a ‘Dissertation Diary’ throughout the whole of the period you spend working on your dissertation. The diary will form an important documentary record of your progress and of meetings between you and your tutor. Students will be provided with a paper copy of a Dissertation Diary. It is your responsibility to complete the Diary prior to supervision meetings, bring it to each meeting and keep it safe prior to submission. If you forget to bring the Diary to meetings, supervisors cannot be expected to complete it retrospectively and there may therefore be no record that you have attended a meeting. Normally, missed meetings will be classed as missed academic commitments. The deadlines for completing its various sections may be found below in the section ‘Dissertation Timetable’, and this includes a date for the submission of the Diary to the Undergraduate Office.
Consultations
It is anticipated that all consultations, which are part of the formal programme, will take between 15 and 20 minutes. Supervisors will arrange suitable times for these meetings. It is very much in your interests to prepare fully for these meetings.
Whilst the formal meetings should be the main forum for discussion of your dissertation, you are free to consult your supervisor on minor procedural matters (e.g. points of clarification and Inter-Library Loans) during their Consultation Hours (and via e-mail, if appropriate) throughout the year.
Students who have failed to attend without good reason, or not prepared for, their supervision meetings should not subsequently expect their supervisor to carry out remote supervision via e-mail.
4. Basic Information and Requirements
All students must complete a Dissertation. It is a double module constituting one third of your final year studies.
The dissertation should be clear, well written and structured. References to sources of information and the works of other authors should ensure ease of identification and a list of references, usually arranged alphabetically by author surname, must be included. The subject should be dealt with in a competent and scholarly manner. You are expected to display critical discrimination and a sense of proportion in evaluating evidence and the opinions of others. The following guidelines provide you with full information about matters relating to the format and procedures for the production of dissertations.
Maximum Length: 12,000 words (see below for details on word count)
Date for submission: Final day of the Epiphany Term (see below for more details as you are required to submit paper and electronic copies)
5. Basic Information and Requirements
Performance is judged against the Assessment Criteria for UG and PG dissertations/business projects. Details can be found in the Programme Handbook, and all students should study this, but the short version of the criteria is reproduced here for your convenience:
⦁ Relevance to topic and clear research questions
⦁ Organisation, structure and presentation
⦁ Depth of understanding and approach
⦁ Interpretation and analysis of findings
⦁ Use of sources and referencing
⦁ Overall conclusions
6. Choosing a Topic
Requirements
Students are required to register their provisional dissertation title no later than Friday 19 June 2015. This is a mandatory academic commitment and non-submission of a topic area will be noted on your student record and may delay the allocation of a supervisor for your dissertation.
Overall Subject Area
Your choice of topic should be appropriate and relevant to your specific degree. This means that, for example, if you on the Business programme it is considered inappropriate for you to undertake an empirical finance dissertation. Similarly, if you are on the Business Finance or Accounting and Finance programmes, it would generally be considered inappropriate for you to undertake a pure business topic.
Please consult academic staff for advice. Any dispute about the acceptability of a topic should be referred to the Module Leader.
You should start thinking about a suitable dissertation topic towards the end of the Epiphany term of your second year. The lectures in your second year will provide guidance and help you begin the process of identifying a topic area.
Further Guidance
The only constraints on the choice of topic are that your chosen topic is within a recognised field of Business Finance/Accounting/Business/Marketing and that there is a member of staff who can act as supervisor. Selecting a ‘mainstream’ or ‘adventurous’ topic choice is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage.
It is essential that you speak with your lecturers and tutors about your likely subject area so that you can be given appropriate advice and possibly some preliminary reading. You should then be able to establish a broad dissertation topic. For the purposes of registering, it is anticipated that you will have narrowed your dissertation topic to a well-defined question so that all research is focussed towards a clear topic. Lecturers and tutors will provide advice on the suitability of the topic chosen and provide guidance about the provisional title, which you will record on your dissertation form. This form must be signed by a member of staff to indicate that the topic and title is approved. You will be allocated a supervisor by the Module Leader, no later than the beginning of your final year. It is not, however, possible to guarantee your choice of supervisor.
You are encouraged to select a topic of your own choice and interest. However, if you encounter difficulties in making this choice, you can discuss various topics of interest with a member of staff. S/he will advise on the potential, the feasibility and potential problems of your choice; however, the precise choice of topic and title is your responsibility. If you wish to consult with a member of staff you should not leave this to the last minute. Academic staff are unlikely to be able to meet at short notice, especially in the busy period around examinations.
Examples of past dissertation titles have been posted on the General Information site on duo. It is important not to make the subject too wide, and especially important to have a specific question in mind. The dissertation is, in effect, a set of essays on a given topic forming a coherent piece of work. It is therefore important to choose a subject that can be adequately treated within this compass. Dissertations can easily get out of hand within the length and time available. The lectures and discussion with staff members should help you make an appropriate choice of dissertation topic.
The work may be a critical essay, drawing solely (but critically) upon the work of others in secondary sources (texts, journal articles, web etc.) or it might contain some original empirical work.
Whatever approach is chosen it is vital that the work is planned and managed in a sensible fashion. You should always remember that your dissertation constitutes one third of your final year studies and so you should begin working on your dissertation planning, reading, writing, and perhaps gathering data from the end of your second year. You will then need to set aside sufficient time to write the first draft of the chapters and leave enough time to prepare and proof-read the final version. All these tasks need their own time and space, and part of this exercise is a test of time-management. In order to help in this task, there is a series of meetings with your supervisor in your final year.
7. Research Ethics Requirements
In all research it is important that ethical issues are considered and appropriate action taken to eliminate or handle appropriately any ethical issues that may arise. You should have been instructed about research ethics issues and the procedures that Durham University Business School has put in place to handle these during either the Research Methods or equivalent module or, for undergraduate students, in lectures that were given to prepare you for the dissertation. There should be a Powerpoint file that covers these issues available on the DUO site associated with that module or the preparatory lectures, but a (staff) version of this is also available on the intranet site (see below). It would be advisable to review this material before continuing.
Here, the aim is to cover only the procedural issues that you need to follow in carrying out your dissertation, since the substantive issues concerning research ethics should already have been covered.
Forms
All forms, together with the various items of guidance on how to take account of ethical issues in research, can be accessed as follows:
http://dbs-internal.dur.ac.uk/ethics
Username: dubs\ethicsvisitors
Password: durham
On this web-site there is a section entitled “Forms”, but the two key forms are also available on the DUO site for this module together with the University Policy “Ensuring Sound Conduct in Research”. You must complete the “Process Flow Chart for Staff and Students Undertaking Research”. This should be completed once the methods to be used have been decided and should be discussed with your supervisor and then signed by your supervisor. Sign-off by your supervisor can be via an e-mail.
Where the answer to all questions on this form is “No” that completes the process (though see below for submission of forms). There is no need to comment further on research ethics issues in the body of the dissertation itself.
Where any of the answers to the questions on the “Process Flow Chart” is “Yes” you will need to complete a further form. This is most likely because you are doing research involving human participants (e.g. by using questionnaires, interviews, focus groups or observation), but could be because other significant ethical issues arise. In either case you will need to complete the “Research Ethics Review Checklist” also available from the web-site or DUO site. Again, this should be completed only once the methods to be used have been decided. Where the answer to all questions in Section IV of this form is “No” you should again discuss this with your supervisor and both of you should ‘sign’ the form (students sign by entering their anonymous number; supervisors sign or an e-mail is again appropriate). You should then include a discussion of the ethical issues that arose during the research both in the design stage that the forms summarise, but also including any ethical issues that arose during the data collection or writing up stages, as a section within the Research Methods chapter of your dissertation.
Where any of the answers to the questions on the “Research Ethics Review Checklist” is “Yes”, or you are planning to undertake research in the National Health Service (NHS), then you will need to complete a further form. This would be either the NHS forms (see the web-site for links to these) or the internal “Research Ethics Application Form” (REAF). Please be aware that in both cases these are lengthy forms and require a formal approval process. In the case of the NHS this may take a considerable period of time and make it difficult if not impossible to complete the dissertation within the timescales required. Hence, you may wish to consider adapting your project or deciding on an alternative. In the case of the “Research Ethics Application Form” the internal approval procedures from the Durham University Business School Sub-Committee for Ethics are much quicker and it should be possible to complete these within the dissertation timescales. Again, however, you may wish to consider revising the proposed research methods to avoid the need to complete the “Research Ethics Application Form”. You would then need to revise the “Research Ethics Review Checklist” to reflect the revised research methods and obtain your supervisor’s signature.
If you have any questions about these procedures you should talk first to your supervisor about them. If you and your supervisor are still unsure about a particular issue, further advice can be obtained from the general research ethics e-mail address dbs.ethics@durham.ac.uk
Submission
The form or forms or, in the case of approval from the Durham University Business School Sub-Committee for Ethics, the approval from the Sub-Committee, must be submitted separately from the dissertation using the “Research Ethics Submission” form. On this form you will be required to sign the following declaration:
Research ethics issues have been considered and handled appropriately within the Durham University Business School guidelines and procedures.
The deadline for submission of the forms is the same as the deadline for submission of the dissertation. Research ethics forms are included in the Dissertation Diary.
Note
Durham University Business School reserves the right not to mark or to withhold the mark of any dissertation which is submitted without the accompanying research ethics forms.
Requirements for Meeting 1
You will be required to discuss research ethics with your supervisor at the first meeting, having completed the flowchart included in the Dissertation Diary.
If you have any questions about these procedures you should talk first to your supervisor about them. If you and your supervisor are still unsure about a particular issue, further advice can be obtained from the general research ethics e-mail address dbs.ethics@durham.ac.uk.
8. Student Workload
In addition to attending the lectures, supervisory meeting other mandatory requirements of the module, you are expected to undertake independent reading and learning. This double module should receive as much of your time and attention as a third of your work in your final year demands. Obviously, there will be some weeks in which you devote more time to one module and less to others, but on average about one third of your work time should be devoted to this module. As a guide, the University Learning and Teaching Handbook defines a double undergraduate module, as a study unit comprising 400 hours of Student Learning Activity Time (SLAT) per annum. The SLAT hours include all formal contact hours (e.g. lectures, classes, seminars, workshops etc.), the time devoted to background reading, and all preparation and reading time associated both with the formal contact hours and any formative and summative assessments (e.g. essays, other assignments and examinations).
9. Length & Presentation
Word Limit
The main text of the dissertation must not exceed 12,000 words. This word limit is not negotiable.
The word count should:
⦁ Include all the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations, footnotes and any other item not specifically excluded below.
⦁ Exclude diagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations, executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.
Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be clearly over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented their word count, the School may treat this as an offence under Section IV of the General Regulations of the University. Extreme cases may be viewed as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of the General Regulations.
Appendices
Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment – examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body of the text.
Format, Style and Presentation
The following text is an excerpt from the School’s Assessment Criteria for UG and PG dissertations/business projects (see the Programme Handbook for more details); this excerpt is reproduced here for your convenience. All students should review the Assessment Criteria in full via the Programme Handbook.
Your writing should have a consistent and clear style, using standard grammatical and linguistic conventions. You should proofread and edit your work.
Your dissertation/business project should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easy-to-read 12-point font. You should use double-sided printing, and ensure that the dissertation/business project is securely bound.
The dissertation/business project should be clearly structured and divided into chapters. It should be accompanied by a detailed table of content, abstract and declaration.
Dissertations/business projects with empirical work should normally be presented as introduction, literature review, data, methodology, results and conclusion. For organisational case studies, data, methodology and result sections should be replaced by more appropriate sections that are relevant to the work involved. For critical review types of dissertation, your literature review should be divided into different chapters. The content of the dissertation/business project within and across chapters/sections should flow together in a coherent manner.
For dissertations/business projects with quantitative work, the results should be presented in a tabular format of your own design, rather than simply reproducing the software output.
This criterion also covers the appropriate use of tables and figures. You should explain any tables and figures, properly citing the sources.
⦁ While tables and figures should make sense on their own, you should use them as aids to explanation or evidence to support your arguments. They should be accompanied by analysis or discussion.
⦁ Tables should not be used as a way of circumventing the word count limitations.
⦁ Tables should consist of columns and rows.
⦁ You should number tables and figures sequentially and include appropriate titles representing the contents.
⦁ Tables and figures should be placed as close to the relevant text as possible
⦁ Tables and figures should be explicitly referred to in the relevant part of the content.
⦁ You should clearly reference figures and tables that come from another source.
⦁ For figures you have created yourself, the source(s) of the information used to create the figures should be clearly described.
⦁ If tables are large enough to distract the reader, they can be placed in the following pages or appendices. Please note that appendices do not form a part of assessments.
Badly presented dissertations will be penalised. If you are not clear on any of the above you must consult your supervisor.
Other Points Relating to Style and Arrangement
⦁ Footnotes: details, which may interrupt the flow of the text, can be placed in footnotes, which should be flagged at the appropriate point in the text by a superscript. Number the footnotes consecutively through each chapter and place at the bottom of the appropriate page. Do not use end notes.
⦁ Logic, clarity and precision in the written text are important. It is wise to avoid personal pronouns, exclamation marks, clichés, excessive use of capitals and note form. Care should be taken with grammar, spelling and punctuation. See, for example:
Fowler, H.W. and F.G. Fowler (1984) Dictionary of Modern English Usage. London: Omega.
Gower, E. (1986) The Complete Plain Words. 3rd edition. London: HMSO.
Turabian, K.L. (1987) A Manual for Writers of Research Papers Theses and Dissertations.London: Heinemann.
Turk, C. and Kirkman, C. J. (1989) Effective Writing: Improving Scientific, Technical and Business Communication. London: E. and E and F. N.
10. Style & Arrangement
You are requested to pay particular attention to the following points concerning the arrangement of the dissertation.
⦁ Divide the material into Chapters, which may be sub-divided into a number of sections. Chapter 1 should be a brief introduction to the issues examined in the dissertation, and the final chapter should provide a Conclusion.
⦁ All Tables and Figures should be numbered, and placed in the appropriate position in the text. For example, Table 3.1 would refer to Table 1 of Chapter 3. Give all Tables and Figures a title and refer to them in the text: remember that data never speak for themselves. It is often easier to place this kind of material on a separate page. The source of the data in any table or graph should also be included at the foot of the table or graph.
11. References to Other Authors and Plagiarism
When referring to publications, give the date of publication in parentheses after the name, and the further details in a separate list of references (see below). For example, ‘… Samuelson (1968) has shown that . . .’ Students may also give a page number after the date, if appropriate. Always give the precise sources of all quotations.
You should clearly identify direct quotations of material from a source by enclosing them in quotation marks or by some other consistent approach, such as indentation. For such a direct quotation you should always provide a page number, after the date, where it appears in the original source. Be particularly careful with secondary sources, that is, those that are cited by a source you are using. Unless you have gone to the original to read these, you should reference them in your final list of references as ‘cited by <source>’ or ‘Smith, 1971 in Jones, 1998’.
Referencing should clearly identify information, ideas or facts adopted from another author. Therefore, as well as referencing when you use the author’s own words (i.e. a direct quote) you should also identify when you paraphrase, summarise or synthesise other people’s words or ideas. You must also reference tables, figures and diagrams that you include and/or when your own figures adopt elements of those presented by other authors.
Plagiarism, that is the presenting of other persons’ thoughts, writings or workings as one’s own, is unacceptable and will jeopardise attainment of a degree. Students should note that in registering for the module, they are agreeing that their work may be referred for electronic analysis to an appropriate body.
If you are in any doubt about how to reference properly you should seek advice as soon as possible. Citing lack of attention/knowledge about referencing is in no way an excuse for plagiarism.
Note that the penalties for plagiarism are severe; the General Regulations of the University include the following:
‘In formal examinations and all assessed work prescribed in degree, diploma and certificate regulations, candidates should take care to acknowledge the work and opinions of others and avoid any appearance of representing them as their own. Unacknowledged quotation or close paraphrasing of other people’s writing, amounting to the presentation of other persons’ thoughts or writings as one’s own, is plagiarism and will be penalised. In extreme cases, plagiarism may be classed as a dishonest practice under Section IV, 2.(viii) of the General Regulations and can lead to expulsion’.
Students must also note that collusion is considered an assessment irregularity; again, the penalties are severe. The University defines collusion as ‘working with one or more other students to produce work which is then presented as one’s own in a situation in which this is inappropriate or not permitted and/or without acknowledging the collaboration.’ The dissertation is intended to be an individual piece of work and therefore it is important that the dissertation you submit is a result of your own work.
Bibliography
You should provide a list of references, arranged in alphabetical order, by surname of (first) author. These should be written in the following style.
For articles in journals:
NAME, Initial(s). (Year of Publication) ‘Title of Article’, Journal,. volume(number), pp.
La Porta, R., Lopez-De-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (1999) ‘Corporate Ownership Around the World’, Journal of Finance, 54(2), pp. 471-517.
For books or pamphlets:
NAME, Initial(s). (Year of Publication) Title of Book. edition (if not 1st). place of publication: publisher.
Dicken Peter (2003) Global Shift: Reshaping the Global Economic Map in the 21st Century. 4th edition. London: Sage Publications.
A more detailed document, giving guidance and examples, has been prepared by Dr Stratling and is available on duo. Another excellent guide, which all students are recommended to refer to, is:
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2010) Cite Them Right. 8th edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
This text is also available in electronic format via DUO. See the library catalogue at http://library.dur.ac.uk/record=b2643050~S1.
12. Backing Up & Archiving Work
Students maintain responsibility for appropriately saving and backing up work done on computer. The School does not regard computer problems as a reason for granting an extension to the submission deadline even if, through computer problems, you ‘lose’ part of your work close to submission. Computer equipment, hard drives, memory sticks etc. should not be regarded as 100% reliable and therefore students should anticipate the possibility of equipment failure.
You are therefore strongly advised to implement an appropriate backup strategy at the start of the year. You may wish to seek advice from CIS regarding backing up, or make use of the University’s J: drive storage, which includes regular ‘snapshot’ backups.
You also need to submit supporting material on CD/DVD/USB and may be requested to provide additional material at a later stage. You should therefore keep an archive of your work after submission. Computer problems or a lack of backup is not a valid reason for failing to do this.
13. Supervision
The Module Leader will allocate a supervisor to each student. The name of supervisors will be notified to you at or prior to the beginning of the third year. Students and supervisors will make contact with each other about supervision arrangements.
Important: if you do not know who your supervisor is then it is your responsibility to contact the module leader or the undergraduate office immediately.
Styles of supervision vary between members of staff. There is no single model that defines the supervisor/student relationship. Your supervisor is there to assist you to get started with your dissertation and help to deal with any queries that may arise in the course of your work. However, the dissertation remains a largely independent piece of work for which you take responsibility. You will be allocated a supervisor with expertise relating to the general subject area of your dissertation where possible, but this does not mean that your supervisor will be a research specialist in a particular topic area. However, all supervisors will provide appropriate guidance through monitoring progress, ensuring deadlines are met and discussing ideas.
Students can reasonably expect their supervisor to:
⦁ Help them define the project, clarify the objectives, and define a synopsis.
⦁ Discuss introductory reading and possible sources.
⦁ Discuss progress.
⦁ Help resolve specific difficulties.
⦁ Comment on the work plan and the list of contents.
⦁ Provide feedback on a draft chapter.
⦁ Advise on questions of content and presentation.
It is NOT reasonable for students to expect their supervisor to:
⦁ Spend a large amount of time helping them find sources and data.
⦁ Provide a reading list.
⦁ Plan the dissertation for them.
⦁ Resolve computing problems.
⦁ Conduct empirical work/estimation/design questionnaires.
⦁ Read through a complete draft and make detailed comments.
⦁ Proof read the dissertation, or any part of it.
Changes of Supervisor
It is not normally possible to change supervisory allocations. On very rare occasions, however, changes may take place. This might be, for example, because of administrative issues, staff changes (including research leave) or illness. Once the supervisory allocation is made, it is not feasible for changes to take place based on student preference.
Problems in the Supervision Process
If students experience difficulty in working with their assigned supervisor then they should first attempt to discuss this with their supervisor, attempting to resolve any problems, for example through agreeing a work plan. If this is not possible then students should contact the Module Leader. Students are expected to raise significant problems and issues at the time with the Module Leader. In particular, it is not considered reasonable to wait until immediately prior to (or even after) submitting work to raise problems.
Consulting Other Members of Staff
Your supervisor is always your initial and main point of contact when seeking advice about your dissertation. As above, all supervisors are able to provide professional guidance and advice on progress and structural issues. Students are also free to occasionally, and briefly, consult other members of staff, for example if a particular member of staff is working on research that is of interest to the student in the context of their dissertation. If students wish to consult other members of staff it is expected that they do so only in their office hours. Any advice or consultation given is entirely at the discretion of the member of staff, and under no circumstances will they take over all or part of dissertation supervision. It is also not acceptable to contact multiple members of staff with the same query, particularly if this involves independent work that should be undertaken by the student, such as literature searching or data collection.
Your Responsibilities
You assume full responsibility for the progress and completion of your dissertation within the stipulated time limit. The final version of the dissertation is your own work, and it is NOT the responsibility of the supervisor to approve it.
Do not leave the required meetings until the last minute. Academic staff have many commitments and it is unlikely that your supervisor will be able to see you at short notice.
14. Formal Meetings
1. Submission of Provisional Dissertation Topic Form
⦁ Your choice of topic area should be appropriate and relevant to your specific degree.
Please consult academic staff for advice. Any dispute about the acceptability of a topic area should be referred to the Module Leader.
⦁ Students are required to register their provisional dissertation topic area, no later than Friday 19 June 2015.
⦁ Non-submission of topic area will be noted on your student record and may delay allocation of a supervisor.
1. Meeting 1 – Email contact between students and supervisors will take place at the start of term. Following this, you will submit a plan of work and meet your supervisor not later than 23 October 2015. The staff member will sign the dissertation form to indicate that they have discussed the proposed plan with you. You should discuss ethical issues with your supervisor and complete the process flowchart at this stage. If the ethics flowchart reads “Yes” then please complete the Research Ethics Review Checklist and follow on from there.
2. Meeting 2 – Students will update their supervisor and receive advice on their progress by 13 November 2015.
1. Meeting 3 – Students will submit a detailed outline of their dissertation including chapter headings and sub headings to their supervisor not later than 11 December 2015 and indicate how they are tackling the work. The supervisor will sign the dissertation form to indicate that they have discussed the contents of the dissertation and the approach being adopted.
1. Meeting 4 – Consultation within the first two weeks of the second term (to be completed by 29 January 2016) to discuss progress and problems that have arisen.
1. Meeting 5 – Students must submit a Draft Chapter for feedback, by 29 January, and then meet with their supervisor who will give written feedback on their chapter by 19 February 2016.
1. Meeting 6 – The final meeting will then take place by 11 March 2016. At this meeting students must bring a full draft of the dissertation to discuss it with the supervisor. The student will take the supervisor through the dissertation and the supervisor will comment on the draft. The supervisor will not read the draft. It will be made clear to students that the supervisor is not approving or marking the dissertation but rather is providing feedback on the overall structure of the work presented and answering specific questions raised by the student.
Please note:
⦁ Students are required to bring their Dissertation Diary to meetings
⦁ In order to ensure that students do not fall behind in their work on the dissertation, failing to meet two of these commitments will result in an interview with the Module Leader to ascertain the reasons.
15. Submission
The final deadline for submission of TWO paper-based copies and ONE electronic copy is on the final day of the Epiphany Term 2016. Hard copies must be handed in by 3PM and the duo version submitted by midnight. You must also submit a CD/DVD/USB key with your data, should you have undertaken an empirical dissertation (see below).
Where a candidate is unable to submit the dissertation due to illness or other reasonable cause, permission for an extension to this deadline must be requested in writing prior to the submission date. Such a request, accompanied by documentary evidence of mitigation, must be made to the Chair/Deputy Chair of the Board of Examiners. Any request for an extension of the date for submission will be determined in the light of the known circumstances and the documentary evidence presented. A dissertation submitted after the due date, without a prior agreement for late submission, will be awarded a mark of zero. Since the dissertation is a double module, a zero would place the ability to be awarded an Honours degree in serious jeopardy.
TWO paper copies and ONE electronic copy of the dissertation should be submitted, using the appropriate form which you must sign. The electronic copy is in addition to the paper copy that you are required to hand in, and should be submitted to the Duo site. Failure to submit the paper copy AND the electronic copy by the specified deadline will count as late submission and a mark of zero will be awarded.
Please note the following:
⦁ The electronic copy submitted must be identical to the paper copy.
⦁ The electronic copy must be produced in Word format.
⦁ The file name you give to the electronic copy must be as instructed on the DUO module site and must begin with your Z0 code.
⦁ You must submit the assignment as one SINGLE document (please include your references, introduction and main report in this single document).
⦁ Submission must be made using the appropriate form which must be signed by the student. The form contains the following statement:
“I confirm that this DISSERTATION is a result of my own work. Material from the work of others has been acknowledged, and quotations and paraphrases suitably indicated. I have completed the plagiarism quiz and that I understand the definition of plagiarism as defined in the University regulations.”
The form also requires a word count.
⦁ Research ethics forms in the Dissertation Diary must have been completed. All students will have completed the Research Ethics Submission Form and the Process Flow Chart. The latter should have been signed by the supervisor.
⦁ It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that sufficient time is allowed before the deadline for typing, corrections, printing, any photocopying and binding.
Submission of Empirical Data and Retention of Rough Work
You are required to submit a CD/DVD/USB key with any supporting data and empirical work should you have undertaken an empirical dissertation. For example, if you have performed econometric analysis in PcGive/SPSS/Eviews etc., the input data files and results output should be included. You are also required to retain rough work pertaining to your dissertation, including notes and such things as questionnaire survey materials.
Return of the Dissertation
There are no arrangements for the return of dissertations. If you wish to retain a copy you should make appropriate arrangements for a copy to be made prior to submission. (It is, in any case, the student’s responsibility to retain a copy on disk.)
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16. Change of Topic and/or Title
Attendance at the dissertation lectures, consultation with academic staff and supervisors and early testing of planned research should help to ensure that your proposed dissertation will be achievable to a high standard. However, you may make minor changes to your title and the area of study at any time provided that the supervisor approves the change.
Students who believe that they have undertaken an inappropriate topic may change this topic after consultation with their supervisor, by completing a new Dissertation Form and presenting it for signature, along with a detailed Dissertation Proposal and plan of work, to their supervisor before 30 October 2015. If this takes place, students must submit the signed form to the undergraduate office without delay.
You may make a substantial change to their dissertation topic after 30 October only under extreme circumstances and must obtain the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies – Dr Ian Whitfield – for any such change.
17. The Possible Use of a Viva
Students should note that the Durham University Business School reserves the right to viva a student on any part of their Dissertation. In such circumstances, the student will be given no less than one week’s notice of the date, time and place of the viva.
18. Some Suggested Reading
There are a large number of texts available that give consideration to the process of dissertation preparation. You might consult one or more of the following;
Rudestam K. E. and R. R. Newton. (2007) Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process. 3rd Edition. London: Sage.
Walliman, N. (2004) Your Undergraduate Dissertation: The Essential Guide for Success. London: Sage.
Robson C. (2006) How to do a Research Project: A guide for undergraduate students.Blackwell Publishing.
19. Key Dissertation Deadlines
The following deadlines should be adhered to:
⦁ Dissertation Form to be completed by registration and submitted no later than Friday 19 June 2015.
In all you will have 6 scheduled meetings with your supervisor all of which should take place on/before the dates given below.
⦁ Meeting 1: Dissertation Plan to be completed by Friday 23 October 2015
⦁ Meeting 2: Progress Update by Friday 13 November 2015
⦁ Meeting 3: Dissertation Outline by Friday 11 December 2015
⦁ Meeting 4: Progress Report by Friday 29 January 2016, by which time students
must have submitted a draft chapter of their dissertation to their supervisor
⦁ Meeting 5: Meeting with supervisor to receive feedback on their draft chapter by
Friday 19 February 2016
⦁ Meeting 6: Final meeting with supervisor by Friday 11 March 2016
Final Submission
⦁ Submission of your finished Dissertation together with the Dissertation Diary should be completed by Friday 18 March 2016 (3.00 p.m. for paper copies and midnight for electronic copies). This is also the deadline for submission of this Dissertation Diary and supporting material on CD/DVD/USB.
Important Notes
It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that these eight deadlines are strictly followed. This is mandatory, and failure to meet these deadlines, or failure to submit the Form or the Diary, will be noted on your student record.
Leave yourself plenty of time to meet these deadlines. Do NOT assume that a member of staff can see you at the last minute. Write down the staff member’s consultation hours.
Do not leave all your dissertation work until the second term of your third year. This is a very busy term! The summer vacation is a good time to get the bulk (if not all) of your dissertation preparation out of the way.
