Revised-MA-Disseration-Handbook-2010-11-January-2011

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD DEPARTMENT OF POLITICS MA PROGRAMMES DISSERTATION HANDBOOK 2010/2011 MA COURSES THE DISSERTATION Introduction These notes spell out the rules for the dissertation and give guidance on its lay-out and presentation Detailed guidance on the research for the dissertation will be given by your supervisor Rules for the Dissertation Credit weighting The dissertation counts for 60 out of the 180 credits required to complete the MA programme successfully To graduate with a Masters degree from the Department of Politics, you must pass the dissertation Word length The dissertation should be between 12,000 and 15,000 words in length The Department reserves the right to penalise candidates if they submit a dissertation which is shorter than 12,000 Students must include a word-count on the first page of the final dissertation The bibliography should not be included in the word count, nor should footnotes which only provide references/notes Substantive notes will, however, count towards the word limit Submission Two hard-copies of the dissertation have to be submitted no later than 2.00 pm on Thursday, 15 September 2011 to the MA Office An ELECTRONIC VERSION of your dissertation must also be submitted via My Online Learning Environment (MOLE) prior to this deadline If you fail to submit an electronic version of your dissertation by the specified deadline, it will be deemed late/non-submitted and penalised accordingly In exceptional cases, the Deputy MA Director may grant an extension beyond this deadline where a student, for some serious reason, is unable to complete the work, for instance due to ill health You should note that the Department will not grant extensions for reasons such as poor time management on the part of students or printer problems Any application for an extension must be made well before the deadline of 15 September to Professor John Hobson, Ext 21669, email – j.m.hobson@sheffield.ac.uk The Nature of the Dissertation The dissertation is a written report on a piece of research conducted by the student into a particular topic using relevant analytical and theoretical literature, and usually involving the consideration of empirical and historical material The primary responsibility for the research rests with the student The dissertation should build on the taught modules of your MA – especially the core module of your degree The dissertation should be clearly organised around a recognisable thesis, or argument, and should demonstrate analytical, not just descriptive skills We expect more of postgraduate students than simply the presentation of a body of factual information You should show in your argument that you have a good grasp of the issues and debates in the literature which you have read on the subject of study, and that you are capable of marshalling an independent line of argument for yourself Research Ethics All students should carefully read the Department's ethics policy, which is available at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/politics/research/ethics Students should discuss this policy with their supervisors during their first meeting The Role of the Supervisor You will be allocated one supervisor who will guide you through the preparation of the dissertation The dissertation supervisor is there to help you complete the dissertation You need to work with them (a) to develop a clear dissertation proposal (b) to develop the topic, and (c) to give feedback on work during the development of the dissertation The Supervision Arrangements A You will have one meeting with the Deputy MA Director who will allocate you to a supervisor This will be done at the Dissertation Workshop B There will be at least three meetings between you and your supervisor You may arrange additional meetings with your supervisor if the need arises  The first meeting will involve discussion of a provisional outline of the dissertation that you should take with you to the meeting The supervisor will provide you with bibliographical advice and will discuss with you how you should proceed with your research At the first meeting, your supervisor will establish a schedule of dates for subsequent meetings and any alternative contacts details should you or your supervisor not be in University for a period of time  The second meeting will involve discussion of your progress and any problems you are encountering The focus may well be on the methodological aspects of the dissertation You should bring with you to this meeting a plan of the dissertation which you can discuss with your supervisor You will then agree a programme for the remainder of your research  The third meeting will involve either the discussion of a draft of your dissertation, or part of it, which the supervisor might have read, or if you have not written a draft, a final discussion of the progress of the dissertation, identifying problems and clarifying your argument Please note that supervisors are under no obligation to read full drafts (although they may offer to so at their own discretion) and, in fairness to all students, the submission of draft material is not permitted after the end of August You should hold your first meeting by mid May at the very latest Your second meeting should take place about six weeks later, and the final meeting should take place several weeks before you submit the thesis unless you arrange otherwise A record of each meeting will be kept by the supervisor on a form which will be held by the Department as a record of your progress through the dissertation Both you and your supervisor must sign this form after each meeting C If you encounter serious problems in the course of your research, you should contact your supervisor, failing that, the Deputy MA Director It is vital that you maintain contact with these people: there will always be someone available to offer help should you need it Guidelines for Students and Supervisors for the MA Dissertation A typical feature of high-quality MA dissertations is that they possess a clear analytical focus, define their topic in precise terms and not seek to cover too much ground A good dissertation will develop an independent and informed argument and may possess elements of originality, in terms of the deployment of theoretical perspectives and/or the gathering and deployment of empirical material Dissertations that are too ambitious or narrow in scope, try to tackle too many topics, or lack a clearly defined, central focus tend to gain lower marks [PLEASE NOTE – students on the Research Methods Programme should pay careful attention to the instructions in Appendix 2, at the end of this document] The following elements of ‘good practice’, arising from dissertations written in recent years, are stressed by the Department:  students and supervisors are encouraged to utilise their meetings in part to agree on a particular question (or questions) or a central hypothesis that will provide the centre-piece of the dissertation  students are advised to avoid tackling a topic that is too broad in scope - either theoretically or empirically - to be handled in a dissertation of 15,000 words, maximum  students and supervisors are advised to consider which are the most appropriate theoretical literatures that might be deployed in relation to a particular problem It is hard to achieve a high mark if the student produces a purely descriptive piece that does not either develop an answer to a particular question and/or consider the insights offered by relevant theoretical writing  whatever the topic that is chosen, students are encouraged to locate their discussion in relation to the existing literature, and to provide a brief justification of the subject that they have chosen  some students choose to undertake the study of a theoretical question in the dissertation Whilst this is considered a legitimate focus by the Department, students are advised that a theoretical dissertation needs to be particularly clear, well organised and analytically rigorous in its usage of concepts and ideas in theoretical literatures to gain a good mark Students producing such a dissertation need to make sure that they produce more than an extended literature review  for students who have taken the MA in Research Methods, must consider or offer reflection upon one/some of the methodologies that have been studied Students registered on this degree will be marked with a 35% component for methodology and 65% for content Please see the separate guidelines produced for 1+3 students (Appendix 2) The Marking of the Dissertation Your dissertation will be marked anonymously by an allocated member of staff who takes responsibility for being the first marker and your supervisor will act as the second marker The external examiner adjudicates in cases where the internal markers are unable to reach agreement, and also marks a random sample of the dissertations to confirm general marking standards, and to ensure that the markers are awarding grades in a way that conforms with the Department’s stated criteria for examination marking To achieve a distinction in the Master’s degree, you must:  achieve a weighted mean grade of not less than 69.5 in the Examination as a whole and a grade of not less than 70 in units to the value of not less than 90 credits may be recommended for the award of the Degree with Distinction To achieve a merit in the Master’s degree, you must:  achieve a weighted mean grade of not less than 59.5 in the Examination as a whole and a grade of not less than 60 in units to the value of not less than 90 credits may be recommended for the award of the Degree with Merit Please visit the following website for more information: http://calendar.dept.shef.ac.uk/calendar/06e_gen_regs_for_higher_degrees.pdf Notwithstanding the above, the Examiners may in their discretion recommend the award which, having regard to all the evidence before them, best reflects the overall performance of the candidate In general terms, you should note the following: To pass the dissertation (i.e to achieve a mark of 50% or over), the candidate is required to produce an independently written project which: shows a substantial degree of analytical skill; shows a clear knowledge and understanding of the relevant literature; shows evidence of reading beyond the core literature; is written according to the rules of standard English; and develops a clear, well-structured and logical treatment of the central hypothesis Past copies of dissertations can be borrowed should you wish to examine the work of previously successful MA candidates Please enquire with the MA Office PENALTIES Late submission of dissertations will result in a deduction of 5% of the total mark awarded for each working day after the submission date Please note that working days include working days within standard vacation times For example, if a submission date falls on the last day before the start of a vacation, penalties would start to be applied from the following working day and not from the first day following the vacation This is a University wide policy Day late Mark reduced by 5% Mark Awarded When Reduced by 5%* Multiply by Original 60 Original 50 0.95 57 47.5 0.90 54 45 0.85 51 42.5 0.80 48 40 0.75 45 37.5 * standard mathematical rounding rules should be applied and marks should be rounded up The working day deadline for late submission is absolute and any work submitted after the working day period without a special dispensation will receive a mark of zero If you are encountering difficulties that may affect the submission of your dissertation, your Personal Tutor is available for consultation and help If a delay in submitting a dissertation is caused by a computing or printing problem students are required to submit within the deadline either a disk containing the full text of the dissertation, even if the disk appears to have been corrupted, or a handwritten copy of the dissertation identical to the delayed printed version Illness or other unavoidable disruption to a student’s work during the period of an agreed extension may only be considered grounds for late submission without penalty on presentation of medical (not self-certificated) or equivalent written evidence covering the period of the extension How to Present the Dissertation Length The dissertation should be between 12,000 and 15,000 words in length You must indicate the length of your dissertation accurately on the title-page of your dissertation Bibliography All dissertations must include a separate bibliography listing author's surnames in alphabetical order This applies whichever referencing system you use Cover page The dissertation should have a cover page containing the following information: a) Your registration number b) The title of your dissertation c) The following statement A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in [your programme title] in the Department of Politics, University of Sheffield [date] A sample cover page is given at the end of these notes (Appendix 1) Pages one and two of the dissertation  The first page of the dissertation (after the cover page) should contain the following information: Your name Your registration number The title of the dissertation The following signed declaration I declare that this dissertation is my own work It is based on research that I carried out myself, and is written in my own words With the exception of acknowledged quotations, no part of the text of the dissertation has been copied from any other source, or written by any other person Signed ……………… Date An accurate word-count of the length of the dissertation, excluding the cover page, pages one and two and the bibliography Please make sure that page is NOT BOUND INTO THE BODY OF THE DISSERTATION Your dissertation will be marked anonymously to avoid unacknowledged bias by the markers  The second page of the dissertation must include a list of the contents of the dissertation, including numbers and titles of each chapter Binding The University’s Printing Resources Department provides a binding service for dissertations at a cost of approximately £10.00 per copy Alternatively, a stationer of your choice can be used Referencing please refer to the MA Handbook for advice on referencing and bibliography PLAGIARISM Put simply, plagiarism is to pass off as your own someone else's words or thoughts Word-forword copying of a few words or sentences from a book or article is plagiarism unless it is an acknowledged quotation Using the ideas and arguments of other people is an accepted part of all serious scholarship; it is quite legitimate for you to make use of other people's work - that is, after all, the reason you are given reading lists! The trick is to use other people's work in such a way as to lend strength to your own argument and always to acknowledge where the ideas and arguments are taken from If used in this way, you should be proud to have referred to the texts in question By the same token, try not to over-reference: your work can become obscured if buried under an enormous number of references If, for example, one or two consecutive paragraphs in your essay rely heavily on one author, it is quite legitimate to use one reference to cover both paragraphs A more serious form of plagiarism occurs when great chunks of text are simply copied from a book or article, or from the internet, and passed off as your own work This is totally unacceptable and you will be severely punished for it You may fail the MA People who commit this offence not seem to realise that their tutors will be very familiar with the major texts in their field of study They will almost certainly recognise any incidence of plagiarism straight away The Department possesses anti-plagiarism software and may request you to submit an electronic copy of your dissertation The point is that plagiarism is simply not worth it: you will be better served by correctly referencing your work If you are in any doubt about the seriousness of plagiarism, you should consider the following memo distributed by the University very recently: “The University Discipline Committee met recently to consider the case of a masters student who was found to have plagiarised nearly 100% of his dissertation Members of the Committee took an extremely serious view of the matter and have expelled the student from membership of the University with immediate effect As a result this student will not be able to graduate with a masters degree from this University, which will have serious implications for their career” Plagiarism is the most serious academic offence you can commit Please consult the MA Handbook for more details concerning the issue of plagiarism Avoid plagiarism at all costs APPENDIX 1: Sample cover page of a dissertation Registration number The Political Economy of Truancy: An Analysis of the Social, Political and Economic Consequences of Staying Away from School A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in [enter your particular MA programme] Department of Politics University of Sheffield September 2011 10 APPENDIX 2: General Guidelines on Dissertation Writing/Marking for MA Research Methods Students The MA in Research Methods in Politics and International Relations provides: a generic & subject specific training in political science b The purpose of this is to lay groundwork for doctoral study and/or provide the generic skills to undertake research in the field of Politics and International Relations c The dissertation necessarily forms a central component in this process The Dissertation Requirements It is weighted at 60 credits of your 180 credit course The overall dissertation is marked out of 100% CRUCIALLY, 35% of the mark will be judged on the contribution of the methodological element that forms part of the overall dissertation THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT 35% OF THE WORD COUNT HAS TO BE DEVOTED TO METHODOLOGY, BUT IT MUST FORM A REASONABLE COMPONENT OF THE OVERALL DISSERTATION This means in practice: You must refer to appropriate research methods/methodology literature Use the reading lists you have been given for your generic and subject specific research methods modules to help you You need to show awareness of the pertinence of the methodologies you use to answer the research question driving your MA dissertation Where possible, discuss your research design Discuss the strengths and limitations of any research methods you use at a theoretical level, and as appropriate, use your own research in the dissertation to show theoretical or practical weaknesses/strengths/areas that the methodologies need to be aware of For example, if you use a case study, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the case study approach, and refer to the literature on case studies Make sure that you carefully define any concepts that you use, and refer to relevant theories If you are using any kind of models, explain these carefully Make sure you place your work within the context of the academic literature on your chosen topic Try to place your work within an appropriate theoretical framework Try and be reflective, in the sense that you are aware at a general level of the idea that theory is always ‘for someone’ and ‘for some purpose’, and show that you know that the research tools you use will impact on how you choose to answer the question you are posing Where appropriate, try and navigate the ‘pathway’ through your MA Research Methods by showing how the specific optional module you have taken feeds in to your current research, in pointing you in the direction of your PhD thesis For the MA Research Methods, it is certainly the case that you are classed as ‘research’ students To that end, the department is keen to enable you to 11 a b c undertake your own primary research as part of your dissertation This can take many forms: Using primary material e.g interviews with relevant persons (for which your generic RT modules should help); the use of primary documents e.g government papers, reports by NGOs, speeches by politicians Using empirical materials/cases drawn from your own research to supplement what exists in the literature Address a theoretical topic from a new angle, or pose different/supplementary questions to those in the extant literature Supervision arrangements: MA Research Methods students who intend to continue on to a PhD, should have a member of their potential PhD supervisory team as supervisor where possible Marking Implications a Markers of the MA Research Methods Dissertation will have to be aware of the specific methodological component of this exercise, and in their marking, make appropriate commentary/justification for the marks provided, on the basis of methodological awareness as well as substantive argument/content b MOREOVER: Our regulations state that ‘Assessment of the dissertation is conducted according to two separate criteria, and these are graded independently’ so that we are assessing the dissertation to the level of 21 credits [35%] according to the ‘degree and nature of the methodological insight, awareness and understanding that are shown’, and the other 39 credits [65%] ‘according to its research content’ c To wit, we need, to meet these regulatory requirements, to give two separate marks for the two separate bits of the dissertation (methodology, and research content), and then give an overall grade for the dissertation as the 60 credit component of the course, which itself accounts for a third of the total mark credit value of the programme If you are not sure about any of this, then please contact Professor John Hobson, extension 21669, email j.m.hobson@sheffield.ac.uk 12