Department Of Sociology
Final Year Dissertation Guidelines
2011-2012
Sociology; Sociology, Culture and Media; Media
Studies; Criminology and Sociology; Applied
Psychology and Sociology.
1
Room
Tel.
email
Dissertation Coordinator:
Kate Burningham
06 AD 03
6688
k.burningham@surrey.ac.uk
Undergraduate Secretaries:
Liz Chang
26 AD 03
9454
e.chang@surrey.ac.uk
Course Director CrimSoc:
Sue Jones
Karen Bullock
10 AD 03
9450
6979
s.b.jones@surrey.ac.uk
k.bullock@surrey.ac.uk
Course Director SCM &
Media Studies:
Cornel Sandvoss
09AD03
9672
c.sandvoss@surrey.ac.uk
Course Director Sociology:
Daniel McCarthy
37 AD 03
6972
d.mccarthy@surrey.ac.uk
Course Director APS:
Katharine Tyler
30 AD 03
6964
k.tyler@surrey.ac.uk
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Table of Contents:
Overview: the eight most commonly asked questions about the dissertation
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6.
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14.
Introduction
The dissertation coordinator
What is the final year dissertation?
Stages to completing the dissertation
Choosing a topic
Allocation of supervisors
Your supervisor
Interim module assignments
Doing the research
Ethical and safety considerations
Plagiarism
Writing up the dissertation
Submitting the dissertation
The marking process
Appendix A: Title Page
Appendix B: Style and Referencing
Appendix C: Staff Research Interests
Appendix D: Some Useful References
Appendix E: Details of interim module assignments
Appendix F: Dissertation Grade Descriptors
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Overview: the eight most commonly asked questions about
the dissertation
Q. How long does the final dissertation report have to be?
A. 8,000 - 12,000 words. You are required to note the word count in your
submitted copy - see section 12.
Q. Does it matter if my dissertation report is longer than the word limit?
A. Yes. You may not exceed the word limit. If you do, the dissertation will be
returned unmarked to you. A word count must be included. See section 12
Q. What are the deadlines in the dissertation process?
A. There are four key deadlines:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Yr 2 Week 10 semester 2: one page topic statement due
Yr 3 Week 3 semester one:1000-1500 word proposal due
Yr 3 week 7 semester one: Literature review assignment due
Yr 3 Easter 1 (3rd April): Dissertation due
Q. Does the report have to be presented in a particular format?
A. Yes - see section 12.
Q. How much does the dissertation mark count for?
A. Overall the dissertation module is worth 45 credits, one-third of the overall
mark for the final year. The final dissertation report accounts for 80% of the
marks for the module, the proposal for 10% and the initial literature review for
10%.
Q . How often should I see my supervisor?
Dissertation supervisors are available for a maximum of 7 hours of contact
time across the year and students should normally aim to see them
approximately every 3 weeks. The total number of meetings will not normally
exceed 10.
A. Q. Are there any simple shortcuts to getting a good mark for the
dissertation?
A. No. Planning ahead, completing your data collection and analysis as early
as possible, keeping in touch with your supervisor, participating in dissertation
workshops and hard work are the keys to success.
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1. Introduction
These notes have been prepared to give you the information that you will
need in order to complete your final year dissertation successfully. They set
out the basic rules and the "dos and don'ts" of the process, as well as giving
some more general advice on how to undertake your dissertation.
2. The Dissertation Coordinator
The dissertation coordinator is Kate Burningham K.Burningham@surrey.ac.uk
06AD03 01483 686688 and she has overall administrative responsibility for
the dissertation process. In your final year, you should normally direct queries
about your dissertation to your supervisor, but you can talk to the dissertation
coordinator if you have general questions or concerns about the process. If
you are in your second year or placement year, you should contact the
dissertation coordinator in the first instance to discuss any matters relating to
the dissertation.
3. What is the Final Year Dissertation?
The dissertation module comprises a series of workshops, two interim
assignments (each worth 10% of the module mark) and the dissertation itself.
The dissertation provides you with the opportunity to put together the various
skills that you have learned in the course of your degree, and to demonstrate
your competence as a researcher. It allows you to demonstrate your acquired
skills in studying a substantive topic, using appropriate concepts and theories,
producing original research through the application of an appropriate research
method, undertaking data analysis, and presenting your results in writing.
The dissertation is a major piece of work which all final year students on the
Sociology, APS, CrimSoc, SCM and Media Studies degrees undertake (NB,
APS students who registered from 2003 onwards will be required to submit a
psychology dissertation if they wish for BPS accreditation). To reflect its
importance, the dissertation is worth 45 credits. Therefore, you should devote
a commensurate amount of time to it.
There are four main differences between the dissertation and the essays that
you are accustomed to writing for your other courses:
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It is focused upon a topic that you have chosen
It is based upon your own original research
It reflects your own academic thinking, based on your study of the
appropriate sociological, criminological or media studies literature and
any data you collect
It allows you time to develop your ideas and, in the final report, space
to present them.
4. Stages to Completing the Dissertation
The notes below set out the kinds of things that you might expect to be doing
in relation to your dissertation at different points during the degree course:
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Second Year
The dissertation coordinator will give a lecture in the Spring Semester of the
second year about the dissertation process. This is a good spur to start
thinking seriously about what you might want to do and how you will do it.
If you do not plan to take a placement year, it is important that you start
thinking about your dissertation project in the second year. You must declare
your topic by week 10 of the second semester of the second year (see
Section 6). During the summer before you go into the final year you should
continue to think about your dissertation and begin a preliminary review of
relevant literature
Placement Year
It is often during the placement year that your ideas for a topic really
crystallise. Spend some time reading around topics that interest you, with an
eye toward choosing a dissertation question. You may speak to your
placement tutor about dissertation ideas or concerns. The dissertation cocoordinator will give a talk on the dissertation during the placement return day
in March and you will have an opportunity on that day to talk to her and to
possible supervisors.
By April of the placement year you should have a fairly clear idea of your
topic, as you must declare a topic by May in order to be assigned a supervisor
(see Section 6). During the spring and summer, you should continue to think
about your dissertation and begin a preliminary review of relevant literature.
Some students might have collected data before starting back for their final
year, but this is not normally expected. If you wish to collect data while on a
placement, discuss this with the dissertation co-ordinator or supervisor.
Some students do a dissertation which is based upon or relates to the work
that they did during their placement year. This can make sense because you
will already be well grounded in the relevant material and will often be able to
gain access to data that would not be easy to obtain otherwise. Bear in mind
three points, however:
1. Your placement employer must know about and approve the work that
you propose to do.
2. The work must be an original piece of research undertaken by you
alone for the sole purpose of the dissertation. You may not reproduce
work that you undertook during your employment in your placement
year. (An example of an acceptable project might be undertaking a new
analysis on a specific topic using data from a more general survey that
you were involved in collecting or analysing as part of your placement).
3. There may be ethical considerations which will need to be dealt with by
the Faculty Ethics Committee before you can collect data (see Section
10).
FinalYear
During the final year the dissertation process is supported by a series of
workshops and two practical assignments. The Workshops will integrate
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elements of lecture style content with practical, student-centred exercises
designed to assist in: developing a research question: reviewing literature;
designing a research project; ethical issues; data analysis and drawing
conclusions.
You will need to devote enough time in the final year to refine your thoughts
on your topic, collect and analyse the data, and write it all up in your
dissertation report. You should have regular meetings with your supervisor in
your final year (see Section 7). The deadline for submission of the
dissertation is the first week of the Easter vacation (3rd April) . Details of the
format for the dissertation report are in section 12 and the grade descriptors
used in marking are in Appendix F. The dissertation report is worth 80% of the
marks for the module.
5. Choosing a Topic
This is often the hardest part of the dissertation. You must choose your own
topic, although your supervisor and the dissertation workshops will help you
refine your ideas into a manageable project.
There are no hard and fast rules about the topic for your dissertation, but the
following guidelines may help.
Think about the areas of your course that you are most interested in or a topic
that you yourself are particularly interested in to which a sociological,
criminological or media studies angle can be discerned. Also consider which
theories and concepts have interested you the most.
Along these lines, consider the courses you've taken so far. Which lectures or
courses most captured your imagination? You can go back and look at your
notes and textbooks to jog your memory. Perhaps choose a topic in these
areas.
Are there aspects of your placement year that are amenable to research,
perhaps areas you might have studied while working that you can study
independently in more depth, or aspects of the organisation in which you
worked? These may provide avenues of inquiry for a dissertation topic.
The television and news media often spark interests in topics, though if you
choose one through this route, be sure that you find an aspect to it which
relates to the academic themes and approaches of your course.
Find out what other researchers have written about this topic. Go to the library
and find some books and journal articles which are broadly relevant to your
topic.
You may also be influenced by the type of methods you wish to use or learn
more about, e.g. whether you wish to interview people, analyse video data or
newspaper reports, or conduct a secondary analysis of existing large scale
survey data.
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You can also consult past student dissertations. These are held in the
dissertation library 42 AD 03. A list of recent dissertations which achieved a
2:1 or first class mark is available on ULEARN. If you would like to consult
one of these, speak to Sue Jones or Liz Chang in the departmental office who
will let you into the library. Dissertations may not be removed from the library
so make sure that you are equipped with whatever you need to make notes
while you are there.
Try to turn your general area of interest into a research question(s) and think
about what kind of data would answer the question(s) you propose. The data
used may be collected by interviewing, self-completion questionnaires or
observation. Alternatively you may choose to conduct a documentary analysis
of written or visual artistic, literary or mass media texts or productions.
Students are also encouraged to consider the secondary analysis of largescale data sets. If you are considering a more theoretically orientated
dissertation this should involve an analysis of primary texts and must be
informed by a clear research question rather than comprising an extended
literature review.
Do not try to be too ambitious about what you can achieve given your time
and resource constraints. The best dissertations are analyses of modest
scope done well rather than broad ones done poorly.
Think about the kind of research that you will actually do, and make sure that
it is something that you yourself can feasibly do in the time available.
A general word of advice is to choose a topic that is interesting to you. You
will spend a great deal of time working on a relatively narrow issue, so choose
one you will enjoy! Members of staff may be able to help you refine your
thoughts, but the ideas and the motivation have to come from you.
6. Allocation of Supervisors
The dissertation coordinator will allocate you to a supervisor in mid July
before you enter the final year.
In order to allocate students to supervisors you are required to submit a Topic
Statement to the dissertation coordinator at the end of Week 10 of Semester 2
in either your placement year, or your second year if you are going straight
through to the final year.
The topic statement will consist of a page, with: (1) your name and contact
details (address, phone number, email address and degree course), (2) a
paragraph or two on your research topic, and if you have formulated them,
your research questions, and (3) your proposed method of enquiry. You must
submit a topic statement regardless of how well you have specified a topic.
The topic statement should be electronically attached, not in the body of the
message, in an e-mail and sent to K.Burningham@surrey.ac.uk The attached file
should be formatted thus: ‘surname topic statement year’ eg ‘Smith topic
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statement 2011.doc’. You will be notified of your supervision allocation by
email.
NB: If you do not have a research topic when you are asked to declare one,
do not use this as an excuse to delay. You must return a topic statement, and
continue to think about your dissertation. It is your responsibility to choose a
topic and to inform the dissertation coordinator.
Dissertation supervisors will be allocated, to the best of our ability, on the
basis of the topic and methodology you propose in your topic statement.
Though it may seem ideal to be allocated to a supervisor with expertise in
your particular topic and method, this will not always be possible.
Any member of staff should have the general expertise to supervise any
undergraduate dissertation in the sociology department, so do not worry too
much about the match between your supervisor's interests and your own. It is
always possible to discuss specific issues beyond your supervisor's area of
expertise with another member of staff. A list of members of staff and their
areas of research expertise is given in Appendix C.
Once you have received notification of who your supervisor is it is your
responsibility to make contact with them. Your supervisor will be prepared
to see you once (or have an email or telephone conversation with you) at this
time of the year in order to get you started on reading and refining your ideas
over the summer and then will commence full supervision when you return for
the final year.
7. Your Supervisor
Your supervisor is a member of staff to whom you are allocated who will help
guide you through the various stages of your dissertation in the final year. She
or he should be your first point of contact for all matters relating to your
dissertation in the final year. Maintain regular contact with your supervisor;
they can help you refine your ideas and give suggestions for things to read or
how to overcome problems. You should arrange to meet with them regularly
in the first and second semesters. Meetings offer the chance to discuss a
variety of different aspects of the project and your progress, including the
research process, your use of literature and broader critical and intellectual
questions.
Dissertation supervisors are available for a maximum of 7 hours of contact
time across the year and students should normally aim to see them
approximately every 3 weeks. The total number of meetings will not normally
exceed 10. In general, it is best to come to a supervision session with some
specific issues to discuss. If you want comments on a draft chapter you
should make sure that you give it to your supervisor with enough time before
you meet for her or him to read it.
Students may also contact their supervisor by email and, should they do so,
can normally expect to receive a reply within two days unless the supervisor’s
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out of office reply indicates they are away – as per the department’s general
email policy. However, students are asked to bear in mind the extensive
commitments of staff and to ensure they have checked for answers to
questions in the dissertation handbook before emailing staff with generic
questions and also to ensure they make the most of face to face supervision
meetings in order to minimise unnecessary email contact.
PLEASE NOTE THAT SUPERVISORS WILL PROVIDE WRITTEN
FEEDBACK ON NO MORE THAN ONE DRAFT OF EACH CHAPTER IN
THE DISSERTATION (either chapter by chapter OR on a draft of the
complete dissertation). Students may have the opportunity to have a verbal
discussion on the complete draft if this is submitted in time. Students should
discuss an appropriate timetable for this with their supervisor.
IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CONTACT YOUR SUPERVISOR TO
SET UP MEETINGS AND TO DISCUSS YOUR PROGRESS. YOUR
SUPERVISOR IS NOT EXPECTED TO CONTACT YOU. ALSO, PLEASE
PLAN AHEAD. YOUR SUPERVISOR HAS OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES
AND IS NOT EXPECTED TO DROP EVERYTHING TO MEET YOU, TO
READ YOUR WORK, OR TO GIVE FEEDBACK. SET UP MEETINGS AND
ARRANGE FOR FEEDBACK IN ADVANCE.
If, for any reason, you are unhappy with your supervisor you should discuss
this with him/her first, and if you are still unhappy you should see the
dissertation coordinator or the course director.
8. Dissertation module assignments
Two interim assignments are due during the first semester of the final year.
Work on these assignments will help you improve aspects of your
dissertation.
The first assignment involves preparing a detailed research proposal for your
dissertation. This is due in week 3 of semester one. The second assignment
involves preparing an outline of your literature review chapter and a draft of
one section of the chapter. This is due in week 7 of semester one. Both
assignments will be marked by your supervisor and marks moderated by Kate
Burningham, Katharine Tyler and Jane Fielding. The mark for each
assignment is worth 10% of the final mark for the dissertation module.
Full details of both assignments are given in Appendix E.
9. Doing the Research
Unlike most other pieces of work you do in the course of your degree, the
dissertation involves your own empirical research. Above all, you need to
devise a research strategy which is feasible and appropriate for the research
questions that you wish to answer, and also one that you feel comfortable with
doing.
The main kind of research strategies which are adopted are as follows:
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In-depth unstructured or semi-structured face-to-face interviews with
individuals, usually from one or more specific sub-groups of the
population relevant to your topic. Usually, these will be tape-recorded
and transcribed.
Structured written questionnaires administered to one or more specific
sub-groups of the population relevant to your topic.
Focus groups incorporating one or more specific sub-groups of the
population relevant to your topic. Usually, these will be tape-recorded
and transcribed.
Observational/ethnographic research in a 'natural' setting, possibly
supplemented with interview data.
Discourse analysis of relevant texts.
Analysis of primary documents; for example, government reports,
newspaper articles or advertisements.
Analysis of television programmes, films or other cultural products.
Secondary analysis of existing (usually government-produced) social
surveys. It makes most sense to analyse surveys that are already held
on computer files in the department. These include: the British Social
Attitudes Survey; the General Household Survey; the British Household
Panel Survey; the World Values Survey.
Theoretically orientated analysis of primary academic texts
You will be familiar from your course with the kinds of issues that arise in
conducting each type of research. Different methods employ different types of
skills and will require different kinds of analysis
Your methodology must be appropriate for your chosen research question.
Most students are more comfortable with some methods than others. Think
about how to formulate your research question in such a way that your
preferred methodology will allow you to answer it well.
It may make sense to employ more than one method in order to address
different aspects of your topic. This can add strength to the dissertation, but
take care not to overburden yourself with too much data collection or analysis
that you cannot feasibly complete. The mark for the dissertation is based
upon the quality of the final report (how you write it, the connections you draw
between existing theory and your research, the depth of analysis, the quality
of your conclusions, and the like), and not upon the amount of data that you
collect or number of analytic methods employed.
10. Ethical and Safety Considerations
Your research should be conducted in accordance with ethical principles.
Research with certain subjects, on certain topics and using certain
methodologies raise ethical issues and may require a decision from the
faculty ethics committee.
The research proposal submitted in week 3 will include consideration of any
ethical issues raised by the project and will allow your supervisor to evaluate
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whether your project needs to be considered by the Faculty ethics committee.
If this is the case, the work done for the proposal will make completion of the
faculty ethics form relatively straightforward. Comprehensive advice is
available at http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/fahs/staffandstudents/ethicalprocedures/
You, along with your supervisor, have a responsibility to:
 Ensure the quality and integrity of your research
 Protect anyone who participates in your research. You should identify
and eliminate, mitigate or reduce any potential harm anyone may
experience as a consequence of their involvement in your research
 Ensure that you, as the researcher, are protected from possible harm
 Obtain and record informed consent from all participants (or
appropriate other)
 Preserve the confidentiality and anonymity of all those who participate
in your research
 Ensure that all those who participate in your research do so voluntarily
 Protect the reputation of this academic institution
Ethical opinion for research will be required where:
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There is any risk to a volunteer’s health or well being
Participants are considered vulnerable (children, the mentally ill,
patients, prisoners)
You have items within a survey/questionnaire or interview schedule
that may be considered offensive, distressing or personal to a
particular target group
Payment or benefits in kind are given to participants
Participants are associated with your profession or place of work
It is less likely that ethical approval will be required where:
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The sample does not include vulnerable respondents
You have a non-sensitive subject matter
Deception is not part of the research design
There are no confidentiality issues
Should you and your supervisor decide that ethical approval is required the
forms that you need to fill in along with instructions about the information that
you need to provide are available at:
http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/fahs/staffandstudents/ethicalprocedures/ . Please
ensure that you provide all documentation that you are asked to. Failure to do
so will result in a delay to your application. Note that the process of gaining
ethical approval from the committee can take up to four working weeks. The
ethics committee will contact you within that time and either give a favourable
opinion; require some adjustments; or, pass your proposal onto the University
of Surrey ethics committee if necessary.
Please note that there are certain circumstances where additional ethical
approval and clearance is required:
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National Health Service (NHS) based research: Research with current
patients and users of the National Health Service along with their relatives or
carers requires ethical approval from NHS research ethics committees. This is
required before you submit to the faculty ethics committee. Acquiring NHS
approval is lengthy and is very rarely possible in the time frame
available for an undergraduate dissertation. If you are thinking of
conducting research in this area refer
to:http://www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk/applications/booking-and-submitting-yourapplication/how-to-book/
http://www.corec.org.uk/
Research with children and vulnerable adults: If you are planning to carry out
research on children and/or vulnerable adults you are likely to need to
complete a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. If you think that this might
apply to your research, inform your supervisor as early as possible and
contact Rob Meadows (r.meadows@surrey.ac.uk) for further details. CRB
application forms can be obtained from the Faculty HR office 02AD04
(Rebecca Varcoe or Leonie Burton)
It is important that you consider your own safety when carrying out research.,
If you intend to carry out research which may pose risks to personal safety, it
is imperative that you discuss the matter in advance with your dissertation
supervisor. This is to allow you and your supervisor to discuss how you may
anticipate, avoid or deal with any possible risks in the proposed research or
method of data collection. She or he will keep a written record of the
discussion. You may be reassured to know, however, that there have been no
incidents relating to the personal safety of students undertaking
undergraduate dissertations.
11. Plagiarism
If it appears that you have presented the work of others as your own, this
constitutes plagiarism and is therefore a form of academic misconduct.
Further information about what constitutes plagiarism are available
athttp://www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/currentstudents/undergraduates/.
Details of the departmental procedure for dealing with cases of plagiarism
can also be found at
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/currentstudents/undergraduates/
There are very strict penalties for those students found to have plagiarized.
12. Writing up the Dissertation
The dissertation report must describe fully the work that was undertaken,
associated methodological issues and the overall significance of your
research. It should be between 8,000 and 12,000 words long. The upper
word limit is strict -- you may not exceed 12,000 words. The word count
includes tables, quotes and citations, but does NOT include title page,
acknowledgments, contents and abstract, the bibliography and appendices.
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO DECLARE THE WORD COUNT WHEN YOU
SUBMIT THE DISSERTATION.
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There are few hard-and-fast rules about the structure of the report, which will
depend upon the kind of research undertaken. Normally, however, we would
expect to see something like the following:
Title page in standard format (see Appendix A)
Acknowledgements (optional). It is courteous to thank people for any special
help you have been given. Acknowledgements are usually placed at the
beginning of the dissertation after the title page and before the contents page,
but may be placed at the end.
A table of contents.
A brief abstract of 200-300 words setting out the nature of the project, main
findings and conclusions.
An introduction which sets out the general topic that you researched, the
specific questions that you addressed, and why these are interesting and
important from a sociological, criminological or media studies point of view.
A review of relevant research literature undertaken by other researchers
which informs the theoretical and empirical questions underpinning your own
research. While you should show that you know what others have written on
the topic, do not simply summarise other research or string together a number
of unrelated summaries. Instead, write a critical review of the literature which
explains why the pieces you review are important and how they inform your
own project.
A discussion of methodology (or statement of approach in the case of a
theoretical dissertation) and the methods adopted. Since one of the aims of
the dissertation is to allow you to demonstrate that you are able to apply
research techniques appropriately, this should be a little more in-depth than
you might find in academic research papers. Explain which method or
methods you adopted, why these were appropriate, what the possible
limitations of your methods were, what kind of problems emerged in the
course of the research and how you analysed the data.
A presentation and analysis of the results. The form of these will obviously
depend upon the kind of research you undertook. Whatever method you used,
however, you need to make sure that the assertions you make in your
analysis and discussion can be justified in relation to your research findings.
To do so, you will need to provide the appropriate evidence (tables,
quotations etc.) in the text.
A conclusion in which you draw together the different parts of the dissertation.
Here you should connect your own empirical research back to issues or
concepts you considered at the beginning of the dissertation and to the
literature you reviewed. In some cases, you may discuss literature not
included in the literature review, if this helps you to analyse or discuss your
findings. In the conclusion you may wish to suggest the overall implications of
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your study for sociology, criminology or media studies, to speculate beyond
the findings in your own study, and perhaps to highlight some questions for
further research or areas of uncertainty raised by your project.
A reference list which provides full citations for all of the sources (public
documents, scholarly literature, internet resources etc.) that you have
mentioned in the text. It is vital to make sure that you do this properly (see
Appendix B for advice on referencing). Do not include works that you read but
did not cite in the dissertation.
Where relevant, your dissertation will include appendices. Copies of cover
letters, interview schedules or questionnaires should be presented in an
appendix. You may also include some statistical tables not analysed in the
text. Visual data is often included in an appendix. In general, try to keep these
to a minimum. You should not feel the need to include absolutely every bit of
data you have in the written report; for instance, interview transcripts are
considered raw data and are not customarily included in an appendix. Part of
the skill of doing the report lies in choosing to present the appropriate findings.
You should make sure that any really important pieces of information are in
the main text, and not in appendices.
You must retain the data collected for your dissertation and be able to
produce it if requested. You must retain the data until your mark has been
ratified by the exam board.
13. Submitting the Dissertation
The dissertation is due in on the first week of the Easter vacation (April 3rd) in
your final year. As with all coursework, you should hand it in to the sociology
undergraduate secretary who will log it. It must be presented in a
standardised format, as follows:
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The dissertation must be typed, with a minimum of 1.5 line spacing
(preferably double-spaced), on numbered, single-sided pages with a
one-inch margin all round.
The title page should be set out as in Appendix A.
The dissertation must be bound. It is best to get it ‘soft-backed’/'heatbound'. UnisPrint can do this for you, for a small fee (currently £3.50).
You must submit two copies of the dissertation.
Please note that dissertations are subject to normal late penalties. Any
dissertation submitted after the deadline
will be subject to the
deduction of 10 percentage marks for each part or full weekday that
it is submitted late, for up to 3 working days. Failure to submit by
the 3rd working day after the deadline shall be considered as nonsubmission, resulting in 0%. See course handbook for full details of
the penalties system and mitigating circumstances.
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14. The Marking Process
The dissertation will be first marked independently by a member of the
teaching staff, and second marked by your supervisor. It may also be
moderated by an external examiner. Details of the grade descriptors used in
marking dissertations are available in Appendix F.
When a dissertation :
1. Fails
2. Or, because of serious disagreement between the examiners, a mark
cannot be decided upon
examiners will refer the dissertation to the dissertation co-ordinator.
The dissertation co-ordinator will then take the following action:
1. in cases where a dissertation is marked by both examiners as a fail, a third
examiner will be asked to consider the appropriateness of the mark in light
of the examiners’ report:
2. in cases where the examiners are unable to reach agreement on a mark
the dissertation co-ordinator may consider, in exceptional circumstances,
to ask a third examiner who, in light of comments provided by both
previous examiners, will act as a moderator.
You will not receive your mark until after the exam board in June. A
dissertation report agreed by both markers will be available for collection on
graduation day.
16
Appendix A:
Title Page
The title page of the dissertation should indicate the following information:
TITLE OF REPORT
Report presented by
A N Other
For the Degree of Bachelor of Science
in
Sociology (OR) Sociology, Culture and Media (OR) Criminology and
Sociology (OR) Applied Psychology and Sociology
(OR)
For the Degree of Bachelor of Art
in
Media Studies
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF SURREY
Month, Year
Word count
17
Appendix B
Style and Referencing
The first goal of writing is clarity. Your readers must be able to grasp what you
are trying to say, and you accomplish this through clear writing. If you writing
is muddled, your reader is likely to assume that your thoughts are muddled,
too.
A sloppy manuscript may give the appearance of sloppy work in general and
your mark could suffer as a result. Make sure that it is well written, with good
spelling, grammar and punctuation throughout. PROOF-READ YOUR WORK
AND USE A SPELL CHECKER, not US English. Be mindful that a word may
be correctly spelt, but incorrectly placed: to/too/two or there/their/they’re for
example.
Some basic stylistic conventions are as follows:
Use bias-free and gender-neutral terms.
You may wish to see the British Sociological Association's statements on
bias-free and gender-neutral writing: www.britsoc.co.uk (under equality and
ethics section of their website).
Avoid using jargon and define any specialist terms you use. Do not use big
words just for the sake of it. Shorter words are often just as good, or better.
More important, do not use big words (or any words) incorrectly; if unsure,
check in the dictionary or use a different word.
Choose active voice over passive voice. Do not use contractions (use
"cannot" instead of "can't", "does not" instead of "doesn't" etc.) except where
quoting direct speech.
Do not begin sentences with a numeric, for example Three blind mice, not 3
blind mice.
Indent all quotes from informants as separate paragraphs in the text, and
indicate the informant by name, pseudonym, or interview number.
Tables and figures should be numbered, titled and clearly presented.
Abbreviations and codes used in the tables should be made clear, perhaps in
a key at the bottom of the table. Only include tables that are mentioned and
discussed in the text. If the table is based on data other than your own,
provide the source of the table or the data at the bottom of the table.
The referencing protocol at the University of Surrey is the Harvard
Convention, or Author Date
It is very important that you provide proper citations in the text and a full set of
references at the end of your dissertation. References should be given as a
18
name/date reference in the text - eg Smith (1998) - and then a full reference in
the bibliography. Where there is more than one publication by the same
author in a given year use an alphabetic suffix in the text and references, eg
Smith (1998a), Smith (1998b).
Indent long quotations from published sources as separate paragraphs in the
text (without quotation marks), and give a reference, including page numbers.
Short quotations should be enclosed in quotation marks, and include a
reference with page number.
Full references should take the following form:
Book: Calhoun, C. (1995) Critical Social Theory, Oxford: Blackwell.
Book chapter: Wallman, S. (1986) 'Ethnicity and the boundary process in
context' in Rex, J. & Mason, D. (eds) Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Journal article: Halpern, D. (1993) 'Minorities and mental health', Social
Science and Medicine, Vol.26, No.5, pp. 597-607.
Official report: Office for Population Censuses and Surveys (1981) General
Household Survey 1980 Series GHS no.10, London: HMSO.
Unless very short, quotations from other authors should be indented, singlespaced, in the text. All quotations must have a name/date and page
reference, eg (Smith, 1998, p.20).
19
Appendix C
Staff Research Interests
Please note that academic staff may be on sabbatical leave during the year,
the Dissertation Co-ordinator will allocate supervision amongst lecturers
currently teaching
Victoria Alexander
Sociology of art and culture; sociology of organizations.
Sara Arber
Sociology of ageing; sociology of gender; women’s employment;
secondary analysis of data sets
Ian Brunton-Smith
Crime and criminal justice; fear of crime; survey methodology and
analysis
Karen Bullock
Crime; criminal justice; policing
Kate Burningham
Sociology of the Environment; qualitative research
Rachel Cohen
Sociology of work; employment and organizations; sociology of
the household; body and beauty; comparative historical sociology.
Geoff Cooper
Sociology of science; qualitative research; theoretical sociology
Carrie Dunn
Fandom, sport, feminism and the consumption of popular culture
Sarah Earthy
Sociology of health and illness; social policy
Jane Fielding
Secondary analysis of data sets; computing applications in social research
Nigel Gilbert
Computational approaches to sociology; analysis of secondary data sets;
sociology of the environment
Nicola Green
Science & technology; media & new media; body politics, popular
culture; gender
Christine Hine
Technologies; Sociology of the Internet and new media; ethnography;
science & technology studies
Paul Hodkinson
Sociology of Media & New Media; Popular Culture & Consumer Culture
Paul Johnson
Deviance; Emotions; Identity; Sexuality; Surveillance
Daniel McCarthy
Youth justice; punishment and social control; policing and social theory.
Keith Macdonald
Historical sociology; sociology of organizations and professions;
documentary research
Jo Moran-Ellis
Sociology of childhood; sociology of violence against women and
children
Hugh Ortega Breton
Cultural trends; Social & cultural theory; risk; emotions; terrorism;
politics of representation; therapeutic culture; political communication.
Lynn Prince-Cooke
Gender (quantitative analysis of work, housework, child care); social
inequality; international comparisons; social policy; historical sociology
20
Cornel Sandvoss
Sociology of Media and Culture; Popular Communication; Audience
Studies; Globalisation
Katharine Tyler
Race & Ethnicity
Michael Williams
Political sociology; contemporary British politics
21
Appendix D
Some Useful References
Asa Berger, A. (2000/2011) Media and Communication Research Methods:
An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Bell, J. (1993) Doing your research project Open University Press.
Bertrand, I & Hughes, P (2005) Media Research Methods: Audiences,
Institutions, Texts Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
O’Leary, Z (2004) The Essential Guide to Doing Research London: Sage
Robson, C. (1993) Real World Research Oxford: Blackwell
Smith, K., Todd, M, & Waldman, J. (2009) Doing your undergraduate social
science dissertation London: Routledge
Stokes J (2003) How to do media and cultural studies London: Sage
Walliman, N. (2001/2004) Your Undergraduate Dissertation: the essential
guide for success London:Sage
Walliman, N. (2005) Your research project: a step-by-step guide for the first
time researcher London: Sage
22
Appendix E
Details of Interim Assignments
Dissertation Proposal Assignment
A detailed proposal for the dissertation research is due week 3 of Semester 1 (18th
October).
You should do EITHER Proposal A OR Proposal B depending on the type of
dissertation you are doing.
Proposal A: If your dissertation involves human participants (if you are
interviewing, observing or surveying people).
In total your proposal should be 1,500-2,000 words – provide a word count. The
exact length of any section is up to you but should not exceed the upper limit given.
If you reach the upper limit on one section you will have to remain below the limit
on other sections to achieve the final word count.
Your proposal should include the following elements:
Title and Research Questions (up to 250 words)
 Provide a working title that accurately describes the topic of the research.
 Clearly outline your research question(s)or aims and the objectives of your
project.
Background/Conceptual basis (up to 500 words)
 Briefly outline appropriate research literature and theoretical concepts which will
inform your project.
 List 8-10 relevant references that you will draw on (make sure you reference
them correctly).
Research Design (up to 1,000 words)
 Provide a clear rationale for the research method(s) you have selected including
references to research methods texts to explain and justify your choice. Ensure the
methods you have selected are appropriate to answer the question you have set
yourself.
 Discuss the sampling procedure you will use and identify the sample size you hope
to achieve. Explain how you plan to access the participants you will use in your
research. Will your sample be representative? If not, how can you justify the
particular sample you have selected?
 What approach will you take to analysing your data?
23
 Outline each stage of the research – think about the practical steps involved in
accessing, collecting and analysing your data.
 Prepare a timetable outlining when you plan to carry out each stage of your
research and how long each component should take.
Ethics, Safety and Research Integrity (up to 1,000 words)
 Informed consent
Explain how you will achieve informed consent. Prepare an informed consent
form and attach it as an appendix (do not include this in your word count):
See:
http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/fahs/staffandstudents/ethicalprocedures/documents/
for example consent forms that you can base your form on.
 Information sheet
Prepare a sheet for participants which describes clearly the proposed research
and indicates any foreseeable risks for them. Attach this as an appendix (do not
include this in your word count)
 Assess potential risks of the research
Consider whether your research involves any foreseeable risks for you and
assess the likelihood of these risks being realised as high, medium or low. Think
about how these risks might be mitigated.
Consider whether your research involves any foreseeable risks for participants
and/or organisations involved in your research and Assess the likelihood of these
risks being realised as high, medium or low. How might any risks be mitigated?
Are there ways in which participants or organisations might benefit from
participation in the research?
 Anonymity & confidentiality issues
Outline how you will deal with issues of anonymity and confidentiality of
research participants.
 Security of data
Are particular safeguards needed to secure your data?
 Think about how you will ensure the quality and transparency of your analysis.
How will you ensure that your research is valid and reliable (think about what
these concepts might mean if you are conducting qualitative research)? Are
findings from your project generalisable?
The Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences guidelines on ethical procedures include
links to some useful documents that you can draw on to inform your proposal with
regard to safe and ethical research practice.
http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/fahs/staffandstudents/ethicalprocedures/documents/.
The following websites also provide useful guidelines on ethical and safe research
practice:
24
 British Sociological Association
http://www.britsoc.co.uk/equality/Statement+Ethical+Practice.htm
 Social Research Association
http://www.the-sra.org.uk/documents/pdfs/ethics03.pdf
 ESRC Research Ethics Framework
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Framework_for_Research_Ethics_tcm84586.pdf
 EC Respect project http://www.respectproject.org/main/index.php
B: If your dissertation uses secondary sources and does not involves
human participants (if you are doing secondary analysis, analysing media texts
or theoretical sources ):
In total your proposal should be 1,500-2,000 words – provide a word count. The
exact length of any section is up to you but should not exceed the upper limit
given. If you reach the upper limit on one section you will have to remain below the
limit on other sections to achieve the final word count.
Your proposal should include the following elements:
Title and Research Questions (up to 250 words)
 Provide a working title that accurately describes the topic of the research.
 Clearly outline your research question(s)or aims and the objectives of your
project.
Background/Conceptual basis (up to 1,000 words)
 Briefly outline appropriate research literature and theoretical concepts which will
inform your project.
 List 8-10 relevant references that you will draw on (make sure you reference
them correctly).
Research Design (up to 1,000 words)
 Provide a clear rationale for the research method(s) you have selected including
references to research methods texts to explain and justify your choice. Ensure the
methods you have selected are appropriate to answer the question you have set
yourself.
 Discuss the sampling procedure you will use and identify the sample size you hope
to achieve, or if using secondary survey data, how the original data was collected
and what was the sample size. If you are using documents outline and justify the
sources of data you will draw on and explain how you plan to access them (i.e.
what search terms you might use to find or delimit your sample). Will your
25




sample be representative? If not, how can you justify the particular sample you
have selected?
If you are doing quantitative secondary analysis explain how you will identify and
access an appropriate data set. Explain what variables you need to answer your
research questions and if possible, include copies of the relevant questions from
the original questionnaires (as appendices and not included in the word count).
If possible, identify your dependent and independent variables.
What approach will you take to analysing your data?
Outline each stage of the research – think about the practical steps involved in
accessing, collecting and analysing your data.
Prepare a timetable outlining when you plan to carry out each stage of your
research and how long each component should take.
Ethics, Safety and Research Integrity (up to 500 words)
 Are there any particular ethical issues which relate to your research?
 If there are any risks involved assess the likelihood of these risks being realised as
high, medium or low. Think about how any risks might be mitigated.
 Think about how you will ensure the quality and transparency of your analysis.
How will you ensure that your research is valid and reliable (think about what
these concepts might mean if you are conducting qualitative research)? Are
findings from your project generalisable?
Proposals will be marked by students’ supervisors and marks moderated by Kate
Burningham, Jane Fielding and Katharine Tyler. If your research needs to be
considered by the faculty ethics committee then the work you have done in
preparing the proposal will help you to complete the ethics form.
26
Initial Literature Review Assignment:
(1xA4 plan; 1000 word section; bibliography)
This assignment involves preparing an outline of your literature review chapter and a
first draft of a section of it. The assignment is due Week 7 of Semester one (15th
Nov).
Chapter Outline
Prepare an outline of the sections of the literature review chapter in your
dissertation. Indicate areas of literature that will be reviewed, and some examples of
sources you will draw on. The outline should be in the form of a list with bullet
points or numbered sections and be no longer than one page (see attached
example).
Section of chapter
Write one of the sections of your literature review in full. This should be no longer
than 1,000 words.
Bibliography
Provide a list of all the references you have drawn on so far in your literature review.
Ensure that these are correctly referenced using the Harvard referencing style. See
http://learnhigher.ac.uk/Students/Referencing.html where you can download a
booklet on the Harvard referencing style. This section is not included in the word
count.
The assignment will be marked by students’ supervisors and marks moderated by
Kate Burningham, Jane Fielding and Katharine Tyler.
27
Appendix F
Dissertation Grade Descriptors
In order to attain a mark within a particular class bracket (high 1st,1st 2.1, 2.2, 3rd, fail,
low fail) dissertations will normally fulfil most of the criteria specified :
Class
1st
80% +
1st
70-79%
2.1
60-69%
 Evidence of highly developed original thinking and creativity (e.g. new formulation of
problem, new ideas or criticisms, or an original synthesis of the evidence)
 Excellent standard of critical analysis of primary and/or secondary data sources
 Excellent understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks
 Excellent understanding and exposition of relevant issues
 Extremely clear and logically developed arguments
 Exceptional awareness of nuances and complexities
 Excellent research design and application of method(s)
 Excellent understanding of methodological issues
 Evidence of extensive appropriate academic independent reading and excellent familiarity
with the current literature and debates
 Sophisticated academic style and excellent standard of written grammar, punctuation and
spelling.
 Identifies excellent research question/objective and addresses it extremely clearly and
authoritatively
 Excellent structure and organization
 Impeccable referencing and citation conventions throughout
 Evidence of original thinking and creativity (e.g. new formulation of problem, new ideas
or criticisms, or an original synthesis of the evidence)
 Very good standard of critical analysis of primary and/or secondary data sources
 Very good understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks
 Very good understanding and exposition of relevant issues
 Very clear and logically developed arguments
 Very good awareness of nuances and complexities
 Very good research design and application of method(s)
 Very good understanding of methodological issues
 Evidence of substantial appropriate academic independent reading and strong overall
familiarity with the current literature and debates
 Sophisticated academic style and very good standard of written grammar, punctuation and
spelling
 Identifies very good research question/objective and addresses it clearly and
authoritatively
 Excellent structure and organization
 Excellent referencing and citation conventions throughout
 High standard of critical analysis of primary and/or secondary data sources
 Clear awareness and exposition of relevant issues
 Good understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks
 Clearly and logically developed arguments
 Good awareness of nuances and complexities
 Good research design and application of method(s)
 Good understanding of methodological issues
 Good evidence of appropriate academic independent reading and general familiarity with
28





2.2
50-59%












3rd
40-49%











Fail
25-39%










the current literature and debates
Clear academic style and good standard of written grammar, punctuation and spelling
Identifies good research question/objective and addresses it clearly for the most part
Clear structure and organization
Use of acceptable referencing and citation conventions throughout
Attempts analysis of primary and/or secondary data sources but includes some errors
and/or omissions
Shows some awareness of relevant issues
Satisfactory understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks
Appropriate but under-developed arguments
Some awareness of nuances and complexities
Broadly satisfactory research design and application of method(s)
Satisfactory understanding of methodological issues
Limited evidence of appropriate academic independent reading
Satisfactory standard of clarity through the use of grammar, punctuation and spelling
Broadly satisfactory research question/objective which is partially addressedbut tends to
be unfocused or descriptive in places
Broadly satisfactory structure and organization
Broadly satisfactory use of referencing and citation conventions
Analysis of primary and/or secondary data sources is too descriptive and/or any attempt at
analysis is superficial, containing errors and/or omissions
Shows limited awareness of relevant issues and also some confusion
Weak understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks
Arguments tend to be unclear and/or inconsistent
Very little awareness of nuances and complexities
Weak research design and application of method(s)
Limited understanding of methodological issues
Little evidence of appropriate academic independent reading
Weak research question/objective identified and addressedPoor standard of grammar,
punctuation and spelling
Poor structure and organization
Poor application of referencing and citation conventions
Very weak analysis of primary and/or secondary data sources or no analysis and several
errors and omissions
Establishes a few relevant points but superficial and confused exposition of issues
Very weak or no understanding of appropriate conceptual frameworks
Arguments unclear and/or inconsistent
No coherent research design or application of method(s)
Poor understanding of methodological issues
No evidence of appropriate academic independent reading
No clear research question/objective identified or addressed
Poor standard of grammar, punctuation and spelling
Very poor structure and organization
Poor application of referencing and citation conventions
29
Fail
0-24%
 No grasp of analysis of primary and/or secondary data sources and many errors and
omissions
 Little or no relevant points, superficial and confused throughout
 No appreciation of conceptual frameworks
 Arguments unclear and/or inconsistent
 No evidence of appropriate academic independent reading
 No discernable research design or application of method(s)
 No understanding of methodological issues
 No research question/objective identified or addressed
 Very poor standard of grammar, punctuation and spelling
 Very poor structure and organization
 Poor application of referencing and citation conventions
OR
 No submission/work not worthy of assessment
30