Dissertation Advice-write dissertation|master dissertation|dissertation翻譯|dissertation格式|dissertation title|dissertation outline-Dissertation寫作時間安排

Dissertation Advice Part 3: One Month To Go

You’re now entering the final month of the dissertation, and whilst previously I’ve merely suggested where you should be at certain stages, now you really need to have made some progress.  If you haven’t got to these stages yet you don’t have to panic, but you should start to put some serious effort into getting to this stage so you have as much time as possible to do the final things needed for a polished dissertation.

4 Weeks from Submission-

By this stage you should have ALL (or almost all) of your primary data gathered, and working drafts of AT LEAST your literature review and methodology chapters.

If you’ve working on drafts, but have not finished gathering data yet, the data is the most important thing, otherwise your dissertation will be half empty.

If you’re waiting on some data, or are struggling to produce data with one of your methods, it’s time to start thinking about your contingency plans- how will the dissertation look without that method, or with less than your intended amount of data?  You have to start planning how you will write your dissertation in that context.
 
If you’ve got your data, but haven’t really written anything yet, you’ve got to start writing as soon as possible.  It’s not like an essay where you can write it at the last minute- it’s 15,000 words of several chapters, each requiring a different type of content.  The more you draft in advance, the more chance of getting something together that’s fluent, coherent and effective.

3 Weeks from Submission-

You need to give yourself a fair amount of time to collate/code your primary data, and to work on your findings/discussion chapters.  If you are using quantitative data, you need to spend some time on thinking about how to present that data- look up some references on presenting data, as it’s a key feature to get right. (I’ve seen very good students do less well in their dissertations due to poor data presentation, so take some time on it.)

Here’s also where you will work out just how much space you’ll need to properly present and discuss your findings (and why I’ve previously suggested leaving writing a full draft of the introduction to near the end, as it’s the main section that can be cut down in length if needed). In the first instance, write what you think you need to write to present and discuss your findings as fully as possible.  The findings/discussion are not sections to skimp on- they need to be substantial.#p#分頁標題#e#

Dissertation Advice-write dissertation|master dissertation|dissertation翻譯|dissertation格式|dissertation title|dissertation outline-Dissertation寫作時間安排2 Weeks from Submission-

Ideally, you should now have a full working draft of the dissertation.  You need to be doing two things at this stage.
i) Checking that the overall draft is within the word limit, and that it all flows together nicely.  If you’re a long way over in terms of word count, it’s in the introduction and conclusions where you can afford to be more succinct, and maybe lose a few words.  If you have a lot of data, but not all of it is that significant, some can go in an appendix BUT be sure that it’s not important to your overall discussion.  Chapters should flow from one to the next- the easiest way is to end each chapter with a brief sentence saying what the next one will do.

ii) Collating all the additional information you’ll need to include in appendices:
a) for Quantitative Content Analyses these are: a copy of the coding frame; a sample coding sheet, and if possible a sample item included in the analysis (obviously can’t be done with any broadcast material analysed)
b) for Qualitative Content Analysis this is: an example item used
c) for Quantitative Audience Analysis (i.e. surveys/questionnaires) these are: a copy of the survey/questionnaire; a copy of the information sheet, a copy of the consent form (if separate from the questionnaire)
d) for Qualitative Audience Analysis (i.e. focus groups) these are: a full transcript of ONE of the focus groups; a copy of the information sheet; a copy of the consent form
e) for Qualitative Interviews (whether for audiences or professionals) these are: a full transcript of ONE of the interviews; a copy of the contact letter/information sheet; a copy of the consent form

Appendices appear AFTER the bibliography in a dissertation, and should be labelled differently to the main body (so if you’ve numbered your chapters, you can use Appendix A, B, C etc.; if not, you can use numbers for the Appendices).  Each piece of information should be included in a separate appendix (e.g. coding frame in one, coding sheet in another etc.).

Appendices are important parts of a student dissertation, so DON’T leave them out.

This is the last time period in which a tutor can reasonably give any detailed feedback and advice, so if you still want feedback or detailed advice by this stage, get it to your tutor within this week.

1 Week from Submission-

The most important thing in the last week is to ensure you have enough time to get 2 copies of your dissertation bound, and submitted on time.  Particularly if you’re not in Leicester, you should not leave this to the deadline day (or even the day before).  If it’s late without extenuating circumstances, it gets penalised, so get it in on time!#p#分頁標題#e#

Before that, in the last week, you should be doing the final checks:

- It MUST have an Abstract (250 words or less that summarise the whole dissertation- what it’s about, what was done, what was found- look at journal articles for ideas on how to do this)
- It MUST have a Contents Page
- A Tables/Figures Page is needed if you have tables or figures, you should have a separate contents, listing the page numbers where tables/figures occur
- Make sure page numbers are clear and consistent throughout (including through any appendices)
- Make sure tables/figures are clearly numbered and labelled
- Make sure EVERY reference is included correctly, and the corresponding source is in the bibliography
- Make sure the bibliography is complete and correct
- Make sure you proof read the dissertation all the way through- several times.  Correct any and all spelling mistakes (look out for author names especially, spell-checkers don’t pick these up), and try and ensure your syntax and grammar are as clear and correct as possible.

Dissertation Advice-write dissertation|master dissertation|dissertation翻譯|dissertation格式|dissertation title|dissertation outline-Dissertation寫作時間安排In this last week, there just isn’t time fur tutors to offer detailed/advice, and for you to act on it, so questions to tutors should be about minor details of presentation at most.  (Specifics about binding and submission are dealt with by the Department Office directly, so it may be best to go to them in the first instance with questions about this.)