Writing Your Masters Dissertation
Dr Jasmine Kilburn-Small
Lecture 1
About your dissertation:
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Purpose
Structure
Requirements
Components
What is a Dissertation?
An original piece of work …
Your chance to tell a story....
The start of a research journey....
Developing a specialist area....
An opportunity to learn new skills....
‘What is the big picture?’
Communication your research ‘story’ to your reader is essential
– engage your audience as well as provide them with
information.
Be careful not to "miss the wood for the trees." If you present
too much detail, the reader may not be able to follow the
central line of the results. Often extensive analysis details are
relegated to appendices, keep only the most critical analysis
summaries for the body of the dissertation itself.
Try to view your research
from your audience's perspective.
Department Requirements
Length: Maximum 8000 words
(Excluding tables, charts/diagrams
bibliography, appendices)
Note: you can be penalised for going over
the word count
What do academics want from M-level students?
‘Using high quality information to show in depth
knowledge and understanding’
‘Examining issues in depth’
‘Always looking at things from different
perspectives’
‘High level critical discussion’
‘Ability to deconstruct problems’
‘Problem solving using evidence’
Learning objectives
i.
i.
ii.
iii.
i.
Define a feasible project allowing for time
and resource constraints
Develop an adequate methodology
Make optimal use of library resources
Access databases, understand their uses
and limitations, and extract relevant data
Work without the need for continuous
supervision
MSC Economics Handbook Dissertation Guidelines
Your dissertation must have...
 A focused question/proposition
 A clear structure
It needs to:
 Establish, sustain, and develop an
argument or train of thought
 Demonstrate the ability to carry out
independent study
 Show originality through a critical approach
What does a dissertation look
like?
The “dog” principle: many shapes and colours,
but many common features
BUT:
Without the common features,
it’s no dog!
Word count example
Abstract – (short) 200 words
Introduction – 1000 words
Literature review – 1500 words
Methods – 1000 words
Results/Discussion – 2500 words
Conclusion – 800 words
Note: There are no set rules – these figures are guidance only.
Word count distribution will depend on the needs of your project.
Choosing your structure
 Look at examples:
 http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/current/modules/ec959/details/d
issertations
 Create a preliminary structure
 Plan your word count in advance and try to
stick to it – word availability is often a
problem
The tripartite approach
1. Setting the scene:
Abstract/Introduction/Literature Review
2. Methods
Procedures/Data/Models/Theories, etc.
3. Reporting
Results/Discussion/Conclusions
Plus
Bibliography/Appendices
An Exemplar Contents Page
 Tripartite approach clearly visible
 Good use of subheadings to give a
structural overview
 Easy to use? Enough detail but not too crowded
Note: The marker will read the Contents page
before the rest of your dissertation. First
impressions count.
Towards A European Banking Union: Modelling
Pitfalls In EU Bank Supervision (submitted 2013)
Setting the Scene
Methods
Reporting
End Pieces
Abstract, Introduction, Literature
Review
You have to give “... a critical survey of some
area of the subject. This should be written in
such a way as to take the non-specialist
reader from the beginnings of the topic up to
the frontiers”
MSc Economics Handbook Dissertation
Guidelines
The Abstract
 Very brief summary of purpose, methods,
findings of your project
 A sign post
 The first thing the marker will read to gain
an overview of your project
Have I got enough information
in my abstract?
If your abstract was the only part of
the paper you could access, would
you be happy with the amount of
information presented there? Does it
tell the whole story about your
study?
Do:
• Write your abstract using concise, but complete, sentences.
• Use the past tense because you are reporting on research that has
been completed.
• Write your abstract last - it will summarise the contents of your
entire paper.
Do not:
• Include lengthy background information.
• Use ellipses (…) or incomplete sentences.
• Use abbreviations, jargon etc.
• Include images, illustration, figure, tables.
The introduction
Sets the scene:
 Key themes
 Purpose/importance of the project
 Background information/context required by
the reader
 Key hypotheses
 Reasons (if relevant) that the topic was
chosen
 Helps the reader understand the issues
Structure
Think of the structure of the introduction as an inverted triangle of
information.
Organise the information so as to present the more general aspects of
the topic early in the introduction, then narrow your analysis to more
specific topical information that provides context, finally arriving at
your research problem and the rationale for studying it and, whenever
possible, a description of the potential outcomes your study can
reveal.
Towards A European Banking Union: Modelling Pitfalls In EU Bank Supervision,
(submitted 2013)
Introduction
Background/context
Clear objectives
Importance of a Good Introduction
Think of the introduction as a mental road map that must answer for the reader
these four questions:
1.What was I studying?
2.Why was this topic important to investigate?
3.What did we know about this topic before I did this study?
4.How will this study advance new knowledge or new ways of understanding?
The opening paragraphs of your dissertation will provide your readers with their
initial impressions about the logic of your argument, your writing style, the
overall quality of your research, and, ultimately, the validity of your findings and
conclusions.
A concise, engaging, and well-written introduction will lead your readers to
think highly of your analytical skills, your writing style, and your research
approach.
• Do be concise and selective.
• Don’t turn your introduction into an essay.
• Don’t spell out all the details of a piece of research unless it is
one you are replicating.
• Do include any relevant critical comment on research, but take
care that your aims remain consistent with the literature review.
If your hypothesis is unlikely, why are you testing it?
• Don’t include material more appropriate to the discussion or
you won’t have anything left for that section.
Is this an abstract or an introduction?
The aim of this micro research project is to investigate how teachers
understand and integrate mathematical problem solving content in
lessons at secondary school level. The importance of problem solving
in the teaching and learning of mathematics is emphasised in the
Department for Education (DfE) programme of study for secondary
mathematics curriculum. The national curriculum for mathematics
aims to ensure that all pupils can solve problems by applying their
mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with
increasing sophistication, including breaking down into a series of
simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions (DfE, 2013:3).
An abstract is a brief overview of a piece of research. Yours was an
introduction rather than an abstract.
The Literature Review
 Empowers you to set the major themes
 Draw out the major debates in the area
 Critical engagement: compare, contrast, evaluate,
highlight main voices
 Categorise your sources, interrogate them,
and enter into the academic conversation
(See examples from previous MSc Economics dissertations available
online)
What is Literature?
 You must include: recent journal articles
 You should include: Recent books,
landmark/influential older books and/or
journal articles
 You could include: Newspaper/magazine
articles, websites, conference papers, etc.
But check sources carefully!
How much literature do I need?
 Enough to cover the main debates
and commentators
 Enough to show that you can
collect ‘a body of literature’
But
 If you have too many you will not be able to
demonstrate a critical approach
How much literature do I need?
The handbook states: “...however lengthy the
bibliography is, a dissertation which shows
no deep grasp of the motivation, content and
structure of the literature will fail.”
Being critical and evaluative is more important than
quantity
Use the literature, not just list the literature.
Synthesising your sources in the
Literature Review
Economists generally associate an individual's absolute poverty ... to the individual's
expected benefits of legal and of illegal activity; therefore, absolute poverty may
create the perception that one's skills are relatively more productive in criminal
activity. In addition, Lott (1990) postulates that the poor are more likely to engage in
criminal activity due to their relatively limited access to capital markets; therefore,
property crime is the poor person's method of borrowing against future human
capital. Deutsch, Spiegel and Templeman (1992), however, link absolute poverty to
the return to crime by hypothesizing that the poor are more likely to engage in crime
because the cost of judicial sanctions is less for a low income individual than for the
high income individual who has more accumulated wealth to lose. Sociological
theories state that absolute poverty, by straining the social structure of the lower
class, by lowering guardianship and social control, and by generating opportunities
to learn criminal behavior, leads to increased criminal activity (Hughes and Carter,
1981; Cohen, Kluegel and Land, 1981).
(Allen, R.C. 1996. Socioeconomic conditions and property crime: A comprehensive review and test of the professional literature. American Journal of
Economics and Sociology, 55(3): 293-308.)
Main section: Methods (Empirical)
 Describe your econometric specification
 Present, define and evaluate your data
 Detail findings/results
Extend this section by:
 Evaluating the robustness of your findings
 Considering/comparing/contrasting finding with alternative
econometric specifications and/or datasets
Main section: Methods (Theoretical)
 Define/explain/evaluate your model
 Present your results/findings
Extend this by asking:
 Will changes in assumptions affect your model?
 Can your model be extended/moderated?
Results and Discussion
What is your Discussion?
The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe the
significance of your findings in light of what was already known
about the research problem being investigated, and to explain any
new understanding or fresh insights about the problem after
you've taken the findings into consideration.
The discussion will always connect to the introduction by way of
the research questions or hypotheses you posed and the
literature you reviewed, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange
the introduction; the discussion should always explain how your
study has moved the reader's understanding of the research
problem forward from where you left them at the end of the
introduction.
Results and discussion
Your results should:
 State clearly what you have found out
 Follow the themes of your literature review
Your discussion should:
 Compare and contrast your results with the
literature review and introduction
 Discuss implications for policy/practice
Should I put my results and
discussion together?
 Consider word count
 Make sure the results and discussion
functions are present
 Think of them as separate tasks – consider
merging them at the write-up stage
Conclusion
 Summary of main points
 Evaluation: Have you answered your
research questions and found out what you
wanted to find out?
 Recommendations for policy and
practice/implications
 Limitations and scope for further research?
Towards A European Banking Union: Modelling Pitfalls
In EU Bank Supervision, submitted 2013
Conclusion
Reflections
Wider
implications
When writing the conclusion to your
paper, follow these general rules
•State your conclusions in clear, simple language.
•Do not simply reiterate your results or the discussion.
•Indicate opportunities for future research, as long as you
haven't already done so in the discussion section of your
paper.
•It should not contradict the introduction and thesis
statement.
•It should be congruent with the evidence provided.
Further Resources
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/skills/awp/
www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm
http://www.open.ac.uk/study-strategies/english/pages/academic_index.asp
http://www.ceu.hu/caw/resources
University of Warwick departmental and Library Websites
Craswell, G. (2004) Writing for Academic Success
Fisher, C. (2010) Researching and Writing a Dissertation for Business
Students
Gillett, A. (2009) Inside Track to Successful Academic Writing
Hart, C. (2005) Doing Your Masters Dissertation
Northey, M. (2002) Making Sense (Social Science focus)
Oshima, A. & A. Hogue (2005) Writing Academic English
Swales, J. & C. Feak (2004) Academic Writing for Graduate Students
Some useful resources for essential information on all aspects of academic writing
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/skills/awp/
The Writing E-Line: Academic writing advice via a dedicated email service!
Submit a specific question, with an optional 250 words example of your work and
receive feedback and suggestions within a week.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/skills/awp/advice/eline
The Writing Mentors: Peer-to-peer Support Programme (drop-in)
Three Mentors, currently doctoral level researchers in disciplines directly related to Academic
Writing, will help you with your undergraduate assignment writing, weekly - See:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/scs/skills/awp/advice/writing_mentors/