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Dissertation
Dissertation word length 
students should submit a dissertation of 12,000-15,000 words (plus or minus 10%) in length.
The word count includes chapter footnotes and endnotes.
The word count does not include references, interview transcripts and abstracts; however no
more than five pages of appendices are permitted.
Ideally you should aim for 15,000 words plus or minus 10%. Your supervisor will guide you and
ensure you are clear on word length requirements and potential implications.
Further Reading 
There is an extensive range of reading material associated with dissertation preparation and research methods, and specific reading may be distributed by programme directors as appropriate. Some generic texts include: 
Guidance on Postgraduate Dissertation-Type Research 
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2016) Research Methods for Business Students, 7th Edition , Pearson, Harlow.
Collis, J. & Hussey, R. (2014) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, 4th Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, London
Walliman, N. (2011) Your Research Project: A Step-by-Step Guide for the First Time Researcher, 3rd Edition, Sage, London
Allan, G. & Skinner, C. (2007) Handbook for Research Students in the Social Sciences, The Falmer Press, London
Bell, J. (2005) Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education, Health and Social Science. Open University Press, Maidenhead
Developing/Transitional Country-Based Research 
Lunn, J. (2014) Fieldwork in the Global South, Routledge, London
Barrett, C. & Cason, J. (2010) Overseas Research: A Practical Guide, Routledge, London
Sumner, A. and Tribe, M. (2008) International Development Studies: Theories and Methods in
Research and Practice, Sage, London
Scheyvens, R. & Storey, D. (eds) (2003) Development Fieldwork: A Practical Guide, Sage, London
Choosing a Dissertation Topic 
It is important that you begin the process of choosing a topic as soon as possible. There are, of course, no hard-and-fast rules on how to choose a dissertation topic. However, a sensible approach is to identify a broad area of study – for example, related to one of your lecture courses – but then to narrow this down to a set of more focused research questions or hypotheses. It is important that you avoid vague and over- generalised topics. Proposals for studies like ‘something on sustainability’ or ‘something on East Africa’ are insufficiently well-focused. Try to avoid something as vague as ‘mining in Latin America’, and instead choose something tighter and more focused, like ‘leading organisational change in public sector institutions in Oman’. 
You must select a topic which interests you and will retain your enthusiasm for many months, but also one which is practicable within the available time. This seems an obvious point to make, but one which nevertheless is often overlooked as students select topics which they think will appeal to potential supervisors, but which are of little personal interest. Such an approach is rarely successful since any topic must be of sufficient interest to retain your attention for several months. 
In the initial stages, it is likely that some of you will have difficulty in selecting a topic. For initial ideas, it is often useful to consider: 
Recent academic journal publications to gain an idea of broad fields of contemporary research interest. In addition, trade or practice journals contain stories on areas of current professional interest, some of which may offer potential for more detailed investigation. Likewise, newspaper stories might stimulate initial ideas, though journalistic writing will need to be translated into suitably robust academic questions and hypotheses.
Current problems in a current/past organisation, or topics that relate to current job/career priorities.
Expressions of need by practitioners – e.g. engineers and managers in the field.
Consult authorities in the field, and be aware of the interests of your lecturers by looking at their
on-line research profiles.
Also bear in mind that a topic should have an element of novelty – and does not simply repeat what has been done before. It is also important that the topic should be feasible: matching your capabilities; matching your motivations/interests; data you need should be accessible; and it can be achieved within the time available.
You will not be permitted to conduct primary research in countries or areas deemed too risky
Youwillnotbepermittedtodoprimaryresearchwithminors,thesick,vulnerableorincarcerated or with any other human groups where ethical consent is problematic, because it is not possible to provide formal Ethical Consent, for these groups, within the timeframe of an MA or MSc.
Even where primary research is not being conducted with the aforementioned groups, some procedures of research will also not be permitted for ethical reasons. This would include, although this is not exhaustive, investigative procedures involving subterfuge; undisclosed participant observation; and interviewing in non-public spaces.
Many dissertations do not involve primary research or data collection, and finished work is not penalised for not including these. Similarly, the vast majority of dissertations do not include original or novel ‘discoveries’. In other words, you should feel reassured that some of our best dissertations are those which correctly review current literature and secondary data, and reinterpret these in a professional and insightful way.
Some students will want to do primary research, and they are welcome to do so subject to their supervisor and Programme Director’s approval of their title, methods and ethical statement . Getting the approvals from the requisite committees takes time and organisation and will have to begin as early as possible. Also be warned that the concerns of a current or previous job or your longstanding commitment to a project or community are not necessarily the best topics for a dissertation. There can be hidden hazards in doing research ‘close to home’, which may involve your relatives, friends, or people to whom you otherwise have a responsibility, involving what ethics committees term ‘coercion’ – people may feel obliged to answer your questions; let alone bias – people may tell you what they think you want to hear based on their prior knowledge of you.
Structure for dissertations 
Your dissertation is likely to be structured along the following lines. It is helpful to have brief introductory and concluding paragraphs for each chapter to introduce its content and draw findings together and link to the next chapter. 
▪  introduction to the study, outlining: (a) background to the topic, in terms of key policy and/or research questions, issues and debates; (b) the shape and scope of the dissertation, outlining for the reader the broad purpose of the study; (c) an outline of the structure of the dissertation. (This should broadly follow the lines of any Dissertation Proposal you may have submitted.)
▪  a literature review. This should provide an overview of a range of literature relevant to the topic chosen, including relevant policy documents and technical reports as well as other academic work detailing research findings in your chosen field of study. The purpose is to identify gaps in the overall body of research and to outline the (modest) ways in which your research can fill those gaps and expand the larger body of knowledge. It is not simply a summary of everything written on a particular topic; rather, it is an attempt to locate your research within the broader array of knowledge on a particular subject. This, in turn, will provide a detailed justification for, and explanation of, the research questions or hypotheses around which your work will be structured.
▪  the methodology you have employed to attempt to address the research questions or test the hypothesis, outlining both the broad research design and justifying the particular methods and techniques selected. You may also incorporate either here or in the previous chapter details of the conceptual framework that shapes your work.
▪  aresultschapter,outliningthefindingsofresearchundertaken(e.g.reviewofpolicyandtechnical documents, interviews with key actors, questionnaire-based surveys, or analysis of data collected from secondary sources).
▪  an analysis and evaluation chapter, exploring the significance of the results, relating them to the ‘bigger picture’ issues outlined in your literature review and highlighting the implications in light of the research questions or hypotheses.
▪  a concluding chapter, relating findings presented in the previous chapters to the research questions/hypotheses, and highlighting the implications of your work for policies, practices, theories or techniques, and setting out the ways in which your research has advanced or reinforced knowledge of your chosen subject area.
▪  a full bibliography, covering all works cited in the main text.
▪  any other relevant reference materials, which may be presented in the appendices.
The following example does not give an exact blueprint for your dissertation: you will decide the structure in discussion with your supervisor dependent on topic and methods. But it offers an illustration plus some tips on the typical scope and content of chapters and sections.
Chapter 1: Introduction 
Background
The dissertation should begin by outlining the background to your topic. This could include the broad policy, sectoral or organisational context (where relevant), and details of other research studies which have looked at the area of study. 
You must remember that this section should act as a general introduction to the study, and should therefore be short and snappy, avoiding too much detail. A common problem with dissertations is too much contextual, background material, and insufficient analytical detail or synthesis of source documents and interviews. You should merely introduce the topic, and flesh out some of these ideas later on in the work, particularly in the literature review, which will involve a much more detailed exploration of key research issues and questions, based on current findings.
Shape and scope of the study
The second section of chapter 1 should build on the background context you have outlined, and explain in brief the purpose of the study and the broad questions and issues you will be addressing. You would also include here some mention of your research methods, though these will be explained in greater detail in your methods chapter. You may also – in that later chapter and on the basis of the earlier literature review, state the formal aims and objectives of the study and outline specific research questions to be addressed or hypotheses to be tested. 
Structure
The third section in the chapter 1 is normally an outline of the structure of the dissertation. The progression of chapters must be logical, with each building upon material covered in the preceding chapter. This will help focus your mind on the material required for the final report, and in planning your time. The precise structure adopted will be dependent on the particular topic chosen, and should be devised in consultation with your supervisor. 
Chapter 2: Literature review 
The second chapter might be a literature review, although again the structure will vary according to the precise topic selected and should be discussed at length with your supervisor. 
The literature review is something which confuses many students. In essence, the aims of a literature review are two-fold. First, it should bring the reader up to date on previous research findings in the field, with particular reference to your chosen topic. This can point towards areas of general agreement (or disagreement) among researchers, highlighting what different studies say about your chosen topic. To use the example of outsourcing once more, it may be the case that previous research has yielded important
findings on success and failure of outsourcing initiatives (even if some studies disagree), but there have been recent changes in the market and regulatory environment within a particular sector (say, the banking sector) which raise new and unanswered sets of questions which your research will proceed to explore. The central aim is to pull out the key ideas and findings from past research and ‘locate’ your study within that broader body of knowledge. 
Secondly, where your chosen topic is related to particular policies or strategies, your literature review should consider relevant policy/strategy and/or technical documents, in addition to the more ‘academic’ literature. For instance, in the case of the outsourcing topic, the literature review might also assess the ways in which different types of organisations (both public and private) have attempted to develop strategies that seek to use outsourcing to achieve rapid organisational transformation and explore the extent to which they have met with any success in doing so. In other words, some dissertations may have a ‘policy/strategy review’ as well as a ‘research review’ as part of the overall literature review. 
In summary, then, a literature review should synthesise others’ work, highlighting the key themes toemerge from other studies and applying these to your own research. You should not treat the literature review as simply a summary or précis of policy documents, journal articles and books: it should not be, for example, ‘everything I know about organisational change’, or ‘everything I know about development policy’. Instead, the literature review must be related to the tightly defined research questions or hypotheses which your study is intended to address. In other words, it requires your own assessment of the key findings of earlier work which relates to your topic. A literature review has to be comprehensive, covering policy debates as well as theoretical and conceptual issues (i.e. academic literature). It is also important that you concentrate on literature which is of direct relevance to your work; ignoring related material of only marginal relevance.
You might well select (or create via synthesis of multiple sources) a conceptual model or framework that you will apply to your research. If not in this chapter, then it would likely appear in the next.
It is also vital that you avoid plagiarism, whether unintentional or deliberate. If you lift ideas, or quote a short passage from others’ work – which is, of course, perfectly acceptable – you have to acknowledge the source by full and proper referencing.
A useful starting point for literature reviews is to read a small number of core texts, and then trace back the more detailed articles cited. For example, if your dissertation is on ‘The role of public-private partnerships in healthcare in Nigeria’, you might begin your literature review by looking at broad texts on healthcare, before focusing-in upon more detailed (and directly relevant) work cited in these texts (e.g. other research on public-private partnerships). You should also try to make use of a full range of sources for literature review material. In particular, learn to use the library search facilities. In particular, make use of the bibliographic databases and other sources that offer pointers to journal papers that you can readily access online. You may also find Google Scholar useful for the same purposes.
Chapter 3: Methodology
The dissertation should attempt to build upon the material covered in the literature review through a programme of further desk-based analysis, or possibly the collection of data in the field. This might take the form, for example, of:
• a short programme of structured, semi-structured or unstructured interviews (e.g. face-to-face, or by
email);
• the collation of data from published sources such as via published case studies or other government
or industry surveys.
• the collation of relevant policy documents, both published and unpublished (e.g. consultants reports, donor reports, – again the list is endless);
• a structured questionnaire survey (again, face-to-face, by telephone or by email). You can structure this into Chapter 3 in the following way:
Research questions and/or hypotheses
Building on the key areas of interest you have identified in the literature review, the first part of Chapter 3 would normally contain a question or set of questions to be addressed by your dissertation, a particular issue to be explored, or a set of hypotheses to be tested. It is vital that you set out in detail the research questions, hypotheses, issues or problems your study addresses. This could take the form of either of the following:
• research questions, e.g. in what ways are organisations in developing countries formulating strategies
for outsourcing information systems, what form do these strategies take in different types of
organisations, and to what extent do strategies differ according to sector and country location?
• hypotheses to be tested, e.g. ‘Cash transfers have led to greater expenditure by men than women within low-income households’. The veracity of this hypothesis would be tested, possibly by using appropriate quantitative methods, or through qualitative interviews with relevant sources. However,you should bear in mind that it is not always possible to develop such research hypotheses for certain topics; and it may not be possible to collect the type of primary data that is required to test them effectively. A detailed description of the research question(s) may be more appropriate. In addition, it is vital that you devise hypotheses which are not over-ambitious: remember that your study is limited in both time and in the length of the final dissertation.
Aims and objectives
The second part of chapter 3 could show the aims and objectives for your study:
• Aims: these set out the overall purpose of the study. They are broad statements which explain what
you are trying to achieve to a non-expert reader who may not be familiar with your topic area.
• Objectives: these are the specific operational targets which will assist in meeting the broad aims of the study. Since these objectives are clearly set out, they will be used to judge what you have been able
to achieve at the end of your dissertation. It is thus unwise to be over-ambitious by setting objectives which are not realistically achievable. At the same time, devising clear objectives at the outset of your research will ensure that the work is sufficiently focused, and avoid the work being too generalised. Throughout your programme of research, you should constantly refer back to your objectives to ensure that what you are doing or writing is relevant, and to ensure that it will help to meet those objectives.
For both aims and objectives, these should be stated as succinctly as possible, and should be revised, if necessary, as work progresses. Therefore it is quite possible that your questions, aims and objectives will all be covered in quite a short amount of text.
Note, in outlining aims and objectives, you need to build on the conclusions of your literature review, the purpose of which in essence is to explain and justify the focus of your research.
Research design
Thirdly, having generated relevant research questions and/or hypotheses, you have to explain clearly how you will go about answering or testing these. In other words, you must give details of the research methods to be used, outlining the overall research design – including any conceptual framework or model that you are using, and (in relevant cases) specifying methods of data collection (e.g. sources of published data that have been used, semi-structured interviews which have been conducted). You must attempt to justify the choice of your particular methodology, in light of the chosen research topic: you have to try to demonstrate why the methods selected are appropriate to answering a particular question, or investigating a given hypothesis. Why, for example, is a programme of interviews useful in investigating your topic? Why are particular data sources useful? Why have you chosen to collate a series of policy
documents? Why have you selected particular case study areas? And how have you gone about investigating a particular case study?
Example One: the use of a case study approach. You should explain briefly:
• why a case study approach is the most appropriate method to tackle the research questions;
• why you have used one case study rather than two or more, or vice versa;
• why you have used a particular case study or studies (e.g. previous research might have ignored certain
places; a problem or issue might be especially apparent in that area; or the area may be representative
of the general pattern);
• the ways in which you have collected information for these case studies, whether it be interviews,
collation of policy documents, or use of published data for that area (it is not sufficient simply to say that you will ‘do’ a case study, without specifying the means by which this will be conducted).
Example Two: the use of interviews. You should explain briefly:
• why you have chosen to use interviews to address the research problem;• who you have interviewed, and why;
• what questions were asked and why;
• the means by which you conducted interviews (e.g. were they unstructured discussions, structured
face-to-face questionnaires, or email questionnaires?);
• how you have used the information collected (e.g. quotes from interviewees etc.).
Chapters 4 and 5: Fieldwork/results and analysis/evaluation/discussion
You must also take care to avoid a purely descriptive study which is then dutifully described without interpretation, commentary or evaluation. You must try to develop themes and arguments on the basis of interviews, data assembled or documents collected. Your work must go beyond mere description, to provide an analysis of information collected, and to highlight the implications of your findings. Where you are undertaking a case study, for example, you should ensure that you constantly refer to the bigger
picture: what, if anything, does the experience of a case study area or subject say about the broader question you are exploring through your research?
In writing a suitably analytical and interpretative piece of work, it is important that you refer back continuously to your initial objectives and avoid being side-tracked on irrelevant detail, or bogged-down by the superfluous minutiae which surround any topic. At the same time, you must also take care to ensure that the information collected is not simply ‘analysed’ for its own sake, without identifying the implications for the study: this is one distinction between a dissertation and project work. Throughout this stage of the work, you should constantly ask yourself what is the implication of a given finding for your research question or hypothesis. For example, if an interviewee makes a particular comment, or if you note an interesting quote in a committee report, what are the implications of this for your dissertation topic? It is important to avoid writing in an over-generalised way, neglecting to concentrate on tightly defined objectives for the research. For example, on too many occasions, student dissertations read like ‘everything I know about e-business/outsourcing/export-led strategy in Bangalore’, rather than a study which focuses on a clear and well-defined research question and which is of interest beyond a particular case study area.
In some cases, you might opt to have two chapters devoted to ‘results’: a first one describing your main findings and outlining the results of any fieldwork; and a second discussing the broader implications. Whether you have one or two chapters is likely to depend upon the topic in question. Again, you will need to discuss this with your supervisor.
Chapter 6: Conclusions
The concluding chapter should not merely summarise material already covered in previous chapters. Instead, you must attempt to draw together the various messages to emerge from your review of the literature, and from your ‘analysis’ chapter(s). Again, it is important not to be descriptive, and to
concentrate on the research questions posed at the outset of your study. In particular, you should try to highlight the implications of your study for both (a) research and knowledge of a particular topic area, and (where relevant) (b) policy and practice.
Ethical Applications, confirmation of title and risk assessment 
All students are required to complete an online Confirmation of Dissertation Title, Ethical and Risk Assessment form. It is essential that you complete this form in order that we have an indication of your agreed dissertation title. 
3.3 Style and Language 
The aim should be to use simple prose, but with variety in the construction of sentences and an expansive approach to the vocabulary employed. Sentences are best kept short (maximum of around three lines), but their length should be varied to avoid monotony. Paragraphs should be of reasonable length (normally 3-6 sentences in length) and help to build up argument sensibly, allowing the reader time to digest one idea or theme before introducing another. Convention requires the use of an impersonal style in the narrative past tense, but other tenses may be necessary when, for instance, the writer states an existing or future condition; and it is acceptable to use “I..” when referring to yourself – e.g. if your research relates to a project you have worked on. It is important to adopt a mode of writing which keeps the reader interested, and this can be achieved more easily if the active voice is used e.g. ‘examination of the site revealed…’. Try to adopt this mode of writing right from the start since altering a whole draft can be lengthy and tiring. It is also important to use language which is neutral when matters of race and gender are involved. Terminology is often used as verbal shorthand to convey complex ideas (e.g. ‘multiplier effect’, ‘regime approach’) and terms employed must be used accurately in the sense by which they are understood among those familiar with the subject. 
The most frequently used abbreviations are – i.e. (that is), e.g. (for example), etc. (et cetera, other things of the same class), viz. (namely), cf. (compare with), no. (number), ibid. (the same place), idem. (the same), sic (sic passim, thus, typically used to denote an error in a quote), et al (and others) – be sparing in the use of these in the main text. Where title abbreviations are used it is common practice to use the full term followed in brackets by the abbreviation on the first occasion of use in the text, and thereafter use the abbreviation only e.g. environmental impact assessment (EIA), information-and-communications technologies for development (ICT4D). The punctuation between the initial letters of well-known organisations should be omitted in the text e.g. EU, UN. Do not abbreviate units of measurement unless they are preceded by an exact number e.g. 17ft; do not add an s to the plural of an abbreviation e.g. 40cm, 18lb. Where you use a local currency, always provide an international currency equivalent – typically US$ but GB£ or euros are acceptable. 
Graphical material 
Maps, statistical tables, figures, diagrams, graphs and photographs often provide a useful means of summarising complex information. They can also add to the work in a presentational sense. However, you should take care to use these sparingly in a manner appropriate to the topic. Any graphical figures must be referred to in the main body of text and properly labelled. All illustrations must have a designation, number and title situated immediately above or below, usually with the prefix of Figure or Table in capital letters. Ensure that you can obtain or draw illustrations easily for the final draft. Illustrations may be lifted from other sources, if properly acknowledged. Colour copying is now the normal expectation for any illustrations utilising colour. 
Statistical tables or graphs should normally be no greater than a single A4 size page. All rows and columns should have unambiguous headings, and use ruled lines sparingly. Graphs should only have as many grid lines as are needed for comprehension of trends and relationships (normally 4-5 being the maximum), and with legends and descriptive notes normally standing clear of the grid lines. 
Proof reading 
The final draft of your dissertation should be read, where possible, by another person in order to eliminate errors of syntax and grammar, and any typographical errors which are not picked up by standard word processor spell-checkers and grammar-checkers. Proof reading is time consuming, but extremely important. If you cannot prevail upon a friend to do it, it is critical that you do it yourself. In particular, you should take care to avoid long, rambling sentences, pretentious and jargon-ridden prose, and bad grammar. Learn how to use the apostrophe in the correct manner. Avoid vague, voguish jargon like ‘sustainability’, ‘partnership’ or ‘stake-holder’ unless you are sure of the precise meaning of these. 
Plagiarism 
The University’s regulations covering plagiarism (copying work from others or your own prior work without reference to the source) is fully set out in your Programme Handbook. It is regarded as a serious malpractice, and may lead to severe penalties for the work – including removal from your MSc programme. The most common way in which plagiarism occurs is by the verbatim reproduction of another author’s work without acknowledgement, or the ‘lifting’ of a concept from a specific source without attribution, including work you have previously submitted for a different unit assessment. Full and proper referencing of sources is a vital safeguard against plagiarism. 
Bibliography and referencing 
References must be consistent throughout the dissertation. A complete bibliography of all policy documents and literature consulted should be given and properly referenced using the Harvard System, following the standard guidelines for work in GDI and outlined in Programme Handbook. All work cited in the main text should appear, fully referenced, in the bibliography; all works in the bibliography should appear in the main text. 
Appendices 
Appendices, if necessary and if relevant, can also be included in your dissertation. However, the use of appendices has to be justified and legitimate: they should not just be a repository of disparate information which does not fit anywhere else; nor should they be used to avoid exceeding the word limit. Instead, appendices might usefully contain material such as the list of interviewees canvassed, lists of documents collected, data sources consulted, tables of data, correspondence, questionnaires, extracts from circulars or statutory regulations, and summarised accounts of previous studies. 
Presentation conventions for text and formatting 
There are a number of conventions to which you must adhere when submitting your completed dissertation. These are listed below. 
（Title     ）The title must be short, unambiguous and accurate.
（Title page ）This should provide a statement as follows: 
▪  Title of the dissertation 
（Table of Contents ） . A list of contents, giving all relevant sub-divisions of the dissertation and a page number for each item (in Arabic numerals throughout). The final word count, including footnotes and endnotes, must be inserted at the bottom of the contents page. If illustrative materials are integrated within the text a separate list of illustrations should be prepared.
（List of Illustrations ） . The term ‘illustration’ refers to all tables, maps, plans, graphs, diagrams, photographs. The list of illustrations should provide number, title, and page references. This usually appears on a separate page unless included in the table of contents.
（Abstract ） . All dissertations must include an abstract. This should be undertaken when the dissertation is otherwise complete. The abstract should precede the introduction so that the reader/examiner can quickly see what the text is about prior to more detailed reading. Typically the abstract defines the problems the writer sets out to solve, the main procedures adopted, and the principal results and conclusions; it should occupy a single A4 page, and can be single-spaced.
（Acknowledgements ） . Assistance given to the student in the preparation of their work must be acknowledged, and would usually include the supervisor and any key individuals (other academics, individuals from the agencies under study etc.) who have helped. Acknowledgments should not normally exceed one or two paragraphs.
（Declaration ） . A declaration stating that: ‘No portion of the work referred to in the dissertation has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning’.
（Quotations ）Direct prose quotation exceeding three lines of text should be set out in a separate inset paragraph in single line spacing (indented about 25mm to the right and left of the main text), without inverted commas. Shorter quotations should be enclosed within the main text, in double inverted commas. If there are gaps in the quotation use three dots ‘…’ to indicate where the words are left out. For all quotes, the author and page number must be stated. If it is desired to draw attention to a phrase in a quotation do this by italics, but note in the reference whether any italics are in the original or have been added by you as author (e.g. Smith, 2016, emphasis in original; or Jones, 2016, emphasis added). 
（Footnotes ）These should be used very sparingly, if at all. Where footnotes are deemed absolutely necessary, they should be of direct relevance to the topic. They should be placed at the bottom of the page. They should be numbered consecutively throughout the dissertation as a whole. The font should be 9 point (in Times New Roman or similar). Text should be single spaced. 
（References ）Should be in Harvard style (see information in your handbook for further details). All references must be included in the bibliography, which should be arranged by alphabetical order of author surname. Where there is more than one reference by the same author in the same year each should be differentiated by a, b, c, etc (e.g. Jones 2016a, Jones 2016b) 
Dissertation Checklist 
You need to check your draft for what might be termed continuity errors. Roughly speaking, this means checking that the whole text is consistent with itself from beginning to end. If you have changed some sections, there might be section headings to re-number, for example. To help you eliminate such errors, here is a checklist: 
▪  are the headings and sub-headings in the contents list the same as those in the text?
▪  have you given lists of tables and figures as well as chapters in your contents?
▪  are they all numbered consecutively? Numberings from earlier versions may persist and you may have two chapter 4s or no chapter 6. Using the automated Table of Contents wizard in Word can help enormously in this respect.
▪  are all the cross-references to other sections of the study correct?
▪  do all the references in the text have a corresponding entry in the bibliography, with the same date
as the reference in the text?
▪  where you refer to an article within an edited collection, have you included the full book reference, with editors, as well as the chapter reference?
▪  are all the references complete, i.e. have you included the publication date and place, as well as the publisher’s name?
▪  tables: check that their numbers and titles are correct, and that references to them in the text are correct.
▪  figures:asfortables
▪  have you checked all the calculations in your tables, including correct totals?
▪  isthereenoughlabellinginformationinyourtablesandgraphs?(e.g.ifyourefertopercentages,isit clear exactly what they are percentages of? Do you make it clear whether raw scores or percentages are being referred to?)
▪  have you calculated all the figures to the same number of decimal places?
▪  are you consistent about abbreviations?
Assessment Criteria 
Dissertations are judged against a set of guiding criteria. The order in which the points are set out below implies no particular weighting; all the criteria listed are potentially of equal importance, though some may be more appropriate than others according to the particular topic covered in any one dissertation. 
Content 
Relevance to policy and practice in fields associated with the programme of study 
i)  Is the dissertation relevant to the discipline of the programme and policy/practice within this specified field? Does the student demonstrate an appreciation of the relevance of the work for policy/practice, or to deeper academic understanding of the discipline?
ii)  Does the work deal adequately with relevant theoretical and methodological issues, and where appropriate, highlight the policy/practice implications of the work, within the topic defined? Does it avoid superfluous detail?
Aims, objectives and purpose of study
i) Does the writer spell out the aims and objectives of the study clearly? Do the objectives
substantiate the achievement of the broader aims?
ii) Do the research questions or hypotheses set out clearly the analytical path of the study?
Use and knowledge of literature 
i)  Where appropriate, does the literature review demonstrate a clear appreciation of broad theoretical perspectives relevant to the topic, and the strengths and weaknesses of these perspectives?
ii)  Where appropriate, does the literature review demonstrate a clear understanding of policy/practice relevant to the topic?
iii)  Does the literature review offer an adequate review of related research, and demonstrate an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of other studies? Does it suggest an understanding of the remaining gaps in the research conducted on the chosen topic?
iv)  Has the writer made use of an adequate range of sources? Is sufficient attention paid to academic and theoretical arguments as well as technical reports and case documents? Are there relevant references which have been omitted? Are sources acknowledged?
v)  Are references listed fully, and in the correct way?
Methods
i) 
ii) iii) 
Does the writer set out clearly the adopted research methodologies? Do the research methods used involve original research (e.g. data collection by interviews, surveys or analysis of secondary data). 
Are the methods selected appropriate to the study topic? Do they flow logically from the literature review? 
Are the methods selected used effectively? 
iv) Where case studies are used, is justification offered for selection? Are case studies linked to broader topics? 
Fieldwork (where applicable) 
i)  To what extent are empirical data relevant to the aims/hypotheses and methods selected for
the study? Are there any gaps in data collected?
ii)  Where relevant, is questionnaire design and analysis adequate?
iii)  Where interviews are used, has the student given consideration to structuring of questions, transcription methods and range of interviewees selected?
iv)  Has the writer gone beyond the obvious, showing initiative or imagination in finding relevant data in original places?
v)  Does the writer show an appreciation of data access difficulties?
Quality of argument 
i)  Does the work distinguish between ‘facts’ and ‘values’? Has the writer avoided imposing his or her values upon the work, so far as possible, or is there a reasoned justification for these values?
ii)  Is there an appropriate balance between description and analysis? Is each piece of description supported by an appropriate piece of analysis, demonstrating the meaning, significance, or implications of the events or phenomena which have been described?
iii)  Is the line of argument presented clear and justified, or, conversely, does it tend to be incoherent, unstructured and repetitive?
iv)  Are conclusions drawn adequately supported by empirical evidence, by statistical information, by appropriate quotations or by relevant examples or case studies? Does the work avoid assertion and unsubstantiated inference? Where the available evidence does not enable clear conclusions to be drawn, is there a clear appreciation of this?
v)  Does the work show an appreciation of the implications of arguments presented in one portion of the dissertation, for material covered elsewhere? Do arguments flow in a logical fashion and avoid contradiction?
vi) Do the conclusions offer original interpretations and novel lines of argument, or merely rehash the findings of other studies?
Conclusions 
i)  Are empirical findings used to highlight policy/practice or theoretical implications?
ii)  Are the conclusions reached at the end of the dissertation clearly related to the questions posed at the beginning?
iii)  Does the writer show an awareness of the limitations of the research and provide suggestions for future research?
Structure 
Is the division into sections, parts, or chapters clear and logical? Does it help the reader to understand the method of enquiry or the structure of the argument which the writer has adopted?
Does each chapter contain a clear (but brief) statement of its purpose in relation to the aims for the study as a whole?
Does each chapter end with a summary of the implications of material covered for the study as a whole? Does it lead logically into the next chapter?
Is appropriate use made of appendices, so that material which is vital to the structure of the dissertation is in the main text itself, and only contributory or supplementary material relegated to the appendices?
Is there a clearly explained, logical relationship between the argument presented, and any diagrams, tables, maps, or other illustrations? Are the latter placed in the text at the right points, so that their relationship to the argument is made as clear as possible?
Are paragraphs structured in clear and logical fashion? Are sentences structured concisely to convey points clearly? Are vital points buried in over-long and poorly structured sentences, inappropriately placed in footnotes, or otherwise lost? Is it obvious what the writer thinks is crucial and what he/she thinks is subsidiary?
Presentation 
Is the dissertation written in comprehensible, plain English, unencumbered by pretentious, obscure language, and ill-understood jargon?
Does citation of other work seem to have been done mainly to help, or to impress? Has work been cited to help the reader follow the argument, to understand its intellectual origins, and to check on points which may be of interest?
Does the dissertation look reasonably professional and presentable? Or is it badly laid out or messy?
Have supporting photographs, charts, tables and maps been used in an effective way?
Has the dissertation been carefully proof read, or are errors left, apparently unnoticed?