Dissertation Writing (Science & Technology)
A Dissertation is a long research report (it can be up to 20,000 words). This course is designed for Final Year Undergraduates and Masters´ students. Masters´ students may find it useful to take this course in Semester 2 because that is when many Masters´ students usually have to start thinking about their dissertation.
The purpose of this course is to enable you to produce an effective dissertation/final project report, in accordance with British academic conventions. As well as learning about different parts of a dissertation/project report, this course provides an opportunity for you to consider different writing styles, and the importance of developing your own study skills. This course does NOT explain different research methodologies.
The syllabus is fixed; however, at his/her discretion, a teacher may add other topics if requested by a sufficient number of students in the class.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this course, you should be better able to:
- Find and identify useful sources
- Write a research proposal
- Write a Literature Review
- Produce a clear Abstract and Introduction
- Describe your research methods
- Present your research results
- Produce a written discussion of your research results
- Write an effective conclusion
You should also have an increased awareness of:
- Different types of research
- Different organisational patterns of theses and dissertations
- The importance of using effective reading strategies and note-taking techniques
- The problem of plagiarism