Modern Foreign Languages

Writing a Dissertation

Dissertation
What is a dissertation?
Selecting a topic
Formulating your title & writing the
research proposal
The supervisor
Literature reviews
Referencing
Time management

So, what is a dissertation?

independent academic
work
detailed knowledge and
understanding
original work & research set
within existing knowledge
shows critical, analytical
thinking
organisation and planning
high standard of
communication &
presentation

Why do we ask students to do a

dissertation ?
Want to see evidence of the skills of
analysis, synthesis and evaluation, with
underpinnings of knowledge
Research skills
Communication skills
Academic English

Graduateness
The ability to formulate an argument
based on evidence
To demonstrate mastery of:

Blooms Taxonomy
Comprehension
Knowledge
Evaluation
Synthesis
Analysis

Application

evaluation
synthesis
analysis
application
comprehension
knowledge

What do you need to do?

Select a topic to investigate
Carry out a literature search - READ!
Synthesise & critically evaluate
current knowledge
Identify research methods
Collect & analyse data
Draw appropriate conclusions

Select a topic which is

Original & useful

Interesting (especially to you)
Well-defined & narrow
Based on:
a question
a hypothesis
a problem

What do you do with an idea

for a topic?

Write it down immediately

Think about it and talk about it
Read about the topic & make notes
Narrow the topic down (it will grow as
you work on it)
Get advice from tutors

Write a research proposal

Formulate a working title which explains
exactly what you want to find out through
your research
Complete your proposal and discuss with
your supervisor
Enables you to get approval to proceed
Formulate your final title later in the
process

The
Supervisor
What is the
supervisor's role?
What is your
responsibility?
How can you
best make use of
the supervisor?

A typical dissertation
structure

Abstract
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Methods
Chapter 4: Results (Data)
Chapter 5: Discussion of
Results
Conclusion
Recommendations (optional)
Bibliography
Appendices

Or
headings
related to
your
research
topic

Literature Reviews
What is a literature review?
Where do I start?
Reading & Synthesis
Planning & Structure
Reflections on a literature review
Referencing

What is a Literature
Review?
According to Bell (1999, p90):
Any investigation, whatever the
scale, will involve reading what
other people have written about
your area of interest, gathering
information to support or refute
your arguments.

The literature review

chapter
It is a compulsory part of a
dissertation
Why is it important?
It will teach you more about the subject
It is the foundation for your own
research
It will help you refine your ideas
It will help you develop your subjectrelated vocabulary

What should I be writing

about?
What has already been written on the topic
What has not been written on that topic
to show how your research addresses the
'gap', or weakness in the existing
knowledge base
Reviewing the literature is not simply
reproducing/summarising, but showing how
the literature relates to the research project.

Useful questions to
guide you

What is already known in the area?

Where are the inconsistencies or

shortcomings in present knowledge?

Why study (further) the research

problem?

What contribution can the present

study be expected to make?

Planning the Literature

Review
When you have mapped out the contents,
you
need to decide the order in which you are
going
to write about them:

general to specific?
chronologically?
according to different schools of thought?
argument and counterargument?

Tips on Structure
Group authors who worked on similar
themes & link ideas
Make clear links between ideas inside
the literature review and your own
research
Dont put any of your data in the
literature review or discuss your findings
Dont keep making the same points

Referencing

The usual rules apply!

Know what system you are using
Be consistent
Find out the rules for referencing
non-English sources

Quotes
If you quote in text, then you
must list the source in your
reference list
Use around direct quotes
Give the page number of direct
quotes
Indent long quotes, & put the
reference at the end of the quote
Dont use too many quotes!

Web references & Online

Journals
Try to find an author & use their
name rather than the web address
No author? Put (www.blah.co.uk,
2014)
Dont put the URL in the text put
it in the references section
State when you accessed the page

THE OPTIMIST

Time
Management

IDEA

Library / WWW

Assemble material
Read / analyse

Write up

HAND IN

IDEA
Library

LIBRARY

READ
WRITE

Another Idea

Write some more

Analyse

Check Facts
Check Library Sources
Lots of tweaking

HAND IN (phew!)

THINK

First of
many drafts
Add missing info

Almost final
version

Finally .
Dissertations are a big challenge
Start NOW and work steadily
Start writing as soon as you can;
writing is a thinking process
Ask if you have any questions
Dont put off the work until later
later may be too late!

Set appropriate and realistic goals

AND
Avoid procrastination

Action Plan
What should I be doing now?
Plan for key milestone dates (finish initial
reading, write 1st draft, handin etc)
& then
Plan for that 1st meeting with my
supervisor?
Clarify what help they can give
Find out about their availability

 WISER
Harris 113 for personalised support up
to 3 times during the academic year
Workshops Monday & Wednesday 1pm
3 pm Harris 113
Opening times and all details on
website: www.uclan.ac.uk/wiser
wiseraccess@uclan.ac.uk