Starting to write up your research can be intimidating, but it is essential that you ensure that you have enough time not only to write up your research, but also to review it critically, then spend time editing and improving it. The following tips should help you to make the transition from research to writing: be realistic about when you can/will start; analyse and compare the data you collect; and Move positively into writing-up your research. Talk to others: what topics are other students considering? Does this spark an interest? Don’t wait until you have a fully formed research question before discussing your ideas with others, as their comments and questions may help you to refine your focus. Write a detailed research proposal to help you anticipate the issues/problems that you are going to deal with. agree a timetable of meetings at the start of your project and stick to it; develop or test out a methodology or method; keep a record of what you decide in supervision sessions. You may find that some of these headings are difficult to fill in right at the start of your project. However, you can use the gaps to help identify where you need to begin work. If, for example, you are unsure about the limitations of your methodology you should talk to your supervisor and read a bit more about that methodology before you start. replicate an existing study in a different setting; Remember that you can not achieve everything in your dissertation. A section where you discuss ‘Further Work’ at the end of your dissertation will show that you are thinking about the implications your work has for the academic community. review the knowledge thus far in a specific field; Did participants, chemicals my family problems essay, processes behave in the way you expected? This is better still. It shows the limits of the project. You will be investigating a complex subject (public transport in Scotland) what is friendship essay sample, but will be focusing on only one aspect of it (possible influence on new housing development). You will make this large subject manageable by focusing on a limited period of time (1990 onwards), and limited sources. Did it take longer than you thought it was going to? Be organised and take detailed notes when you are undertaking your literature survey and data collection. Think about your own interests: which topic have you found most interesting, and is there an element that could be developed into a research project? bibliographies in any key texts about your topic. turn up on time to each meeting you have arranged. Do not assume that your supervisor is available at all times to see you; It is very important to be realistic about how long each task is likely to take. Some focused thought at the beginning, then at the planning stage of each phase, could save hours later on. Write down the resources needed for each stage. It could be time in the library; the resource of your working hours; or the use of equipment or room space that needs to be booked in advance. Academics are busy people thesis editing services prices, so to get the most out of your supervisor you will need to be organised and to take responsibility for the relationship. It is not your supervisor’s job to chase you into completing your dissertation, or to tell you how to manage the different stages of the project. To ensure that you get the most out of your supervisor you need to: Once you have created your plan it is a good idea to show it to someone else. Ideally you will be able to show it to a member of academic staff or bring it to the Learning Development, but talking it over with a friend may also help you to spot anything that you have forgotten or anywhere that you have been unrealistic in your planning. The companion guide Writing a dissertation focuses on the preparation of the written report or thesis. If you are not happy with the way you are being supervised, explain why to your supervisor or discuss the issue with your personal tutor. internet search engines, especially ones that offer advanced search features (see http://www.google.com/ and http://scholar.google.com/ ); access to the population of interest; and For most research projects the data collection phase feels like the most important part. However, you should avoid jumping straight into this phase until you have adequately defined your research problem, and the extent and limitations of your research. If you are too hasty you risk collecting data that you will not be able to use. What impact did it have on you as a researcher? the issue that you are going to be investigating; Think carefully about your topic and ensure that it is sufficiently focused. There are many systems that support effective data collection and retrieval. These range from card indexes and cross-referenced exercise books, through electronic tools like spreadsheets good topics for social psychology research paper, databases and bibliographic software, to discipline-specific tools. You should talk about how you plan to store your data with your supervisor, an information librarian, or a study adviser in the Learning Development. As you undertake your research you are likely to come up with lots of ideas. It can be valuable to keep a record of these ideas on index cards, in a dedicated notebook, or in an electronic file. You can refer back to this ‘ideas store’ when you start to write. They may be useful as ideas in themselves, and may be useful as a record of how your thinking developed through the research process. make sure that each meeting has a focus e.g. “setting a research problem”, “analysing the data”; there are some matters that this methodology may not help me to explain. These might include. are published in the last five years, unless they are key texts in your field. if you fall behind make sure you spend time reworking your plan. You will probably generate more references than you can read. Use the titles and abstracts to decide whether the reference is worth reading in detail. Be selective by concentrating on references that: You should be willing to revise your research problem as you find out more about your topic. You may, for example, discover that the data you were hoping to analyse is not available, or you may encounter a new piece of information or a new concept while undertaking a literature search, that makes you rethink the basis of your research problem. You should always talk to your supervisor before you make any substantial revision to your plans, and explain why you think you need to make the change. You may have to do a great deal of thinking and background reading before you reach a decision about the topic in which you want to invest a lot of time and effort. You can use library resources and the Internet to discover primary and secondary material and to find out what critical and scholarly material is available to inform your study. Case Study 2 Using personal networks to choose a dissertation topic or methodology Here are some web resources that you might find useful: Avoid too broad a topic or one that is overly ambitious: it is better to find a thoroughly researched and argued answer to a small question than to fail to find the answer to one which is too big or diffuse. The first task is to establish your overall area of interest. It will be important that the topic you choose can interest you enough to sustain your commitment during the coming months. Write down the reasons for your interest. These may provide pointers to the sort of questions you want to ask within the study. As you go on, you may find that your interest begins to take shape great paper research write, or changes a little thesis discrimination, as you focus more closely on it. I have been working myself on subject areas, reading around my chosen subject areas and trying to work out how my dissertation can be put to good use do essay on time, rather than being marked and filed away to be forgotten about. Experienced supervisors told us that students are often over-ambitious when planning their research. Organisation is extremely important, especially if you are going to collect your own data: The dissertation or final year project requires organisational and time management skills in order to complete to a high standard. Due to competing demands on time, many students do not always devise and follow a work schedule, which can have implications for the quality of work that is produced and stress levels! During the first 2 years of the degree, I had often chosen topics related to female offending. Because of this, I felt I had useful background knowledge. В Some of the first stages are not unlike deciding where to go on holiday. There are many factors that may influence your choice; will you choose a trekking holiday in the Andes or a beach holiday in the Med? At the start I didn’t see the dissertation as useful, but this changed. It’s the only piece of work that’s more or less what I wanted to do. (Todd rice paper to buy, Bannister and Clegg, 2004, pp339-340) All dissertations will vary in format, style and design. It is important that you familiarise yourself with the particular requirements of your institution and degree programme. The dissertation offers you the opportunity to further develop your subject expertise and your social research, intellectual and organisational skills: A dissertation or final year project, as a form of assessment differs from other module assessments. The expectation is that you, the learner what is affirmative action essay, take responsibility for your own learning and that you produce a literature review, you choose a method for undertaking a study, write up your findings and discuss the outcomes in a discussion section. So this part of site provides you with a better understanding of the following: Ultimately you will be drawing together issues of theory, method and methodology and bringing them to bear on your chosen topic. Those dissertations that can best accomplish this integration or even synthesis are often the most conceptually and methodologically accomplished pieces of work. Quotes from final year students on what is special about the dissertation:
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