- Does the dissertation course have any prerequisite
courses, e.g. research methods?
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- Have you met any of these prerequisites?
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- Is dissertation an option or a necessary core
unit on your degree route?
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- What key dates are there for dissertation?
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- If you have a dissertation proposal, when
is it due in?
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- When is the completed dissertation due in?
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- How long should the dissertation be?
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- Is there a maximum length?
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- Is there a minimum length?
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- Do you know what gets counted into dissertation
length?
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- Is numerical data counted as words (word counters
usually include numbers)?
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- Are appendices included in a word count?
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- Bibliography?
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- Tables?
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- Contents pages?
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- What style guidance notes exist?
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- Must you always write in the third person, or
can you use first person?
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- Are you required to pose and test hypotheses?
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- Is original empirical investigation required?
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- Are you allowed (or required) to work only
with secondary data?
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- Are the contents of the dissertation prescribed
in a specimen contents page?
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- Must you have a literature review chapter?
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- Must you have a methodology/methods
chapter?
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- Are you required to separate data from analysis?
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- Do you know how marks are awarded for dissertation?
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- Do you know if marks are given for the research
process, or only for the written report?
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- Are marks awarded for a research proposal?
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- Are marks lost if any format for the given
for the proposal are not adhered to?
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- What (if any) is the penalty for poor grammar
and spelling?
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- How are inaccurate data penalised?
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- What is the penalty for over/under length
work?
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- How is plagiarism penalised?
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- Are there special requirements are there for
the physical presentation of dissertations?
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- Is the print style prescribed (e.g. Arial
10 point)?
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- Are margin sizes defined?
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- Is binding method prescribed?
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- What rules are there for including video's/tapes/maps
& other media as exhibits?
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- What rules are there covering referencing?
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- If, say, Harvard is required, is the exact
detail specified in published examples?
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- Did you know that Harvard referencing can
take several forms?
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- Do other rules take precedence?
For example, some university-wide regulations may allow for
a 10% over-run on word limit, although a course' regulations
may not.
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- Do dissertations normally contain recommendations?
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- Do dissertations normally contain an acknowledgement
to the supervisor?
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If you can't find
answers to any of these questions, look at the What
if... page. |