Unit information: Dissertation in 2027/28

Unit name	Dissertation
Unit code	ANTHM1000
Credit points	60
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
Unit director	Dr. Hofer
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Unit Information

All MA students are expected to undertake a dissertation as the culmination of the programme of study. The dissertation provides a structured and supervised opportunity for MA students to pursue independently an agreed topic of interest with reference to and emerging from their previous studies and to produce an appropriately advanced piece of research. The dissertation involves devising a realisable topic, which has the potential to contribute to knowledge of the subject. After conducting a survey of literature and other relevant materials, appropriate methodologies will be devised in order to explore a research problem. It would normally be expected that this topic would arise from work already undertaken on the programme, creating an opportunity to explore a specialist area in more detail.

Aims:

1. To provide for in-depth independent research
2. To establish a potential path for further advanced research (if appropriate)
3. To explore and develop appropriate methodological approaches
4. To gain in-depth knowledge of a specialist area
5. To present the findings in a written dissertation.

Your learning on this unit

1. To be able to distinguish between a range of different research methods
2. To become familiar with existing work on a particular subject and use that work in order to provide a focus for independent inquiry.
3. To design a project that is realistic in scope
4. To gain substantial knowledge of a specific subject area
5. To make a sustained argument or intervention, in academic debate and/or in relation to the particular research problem, appropriate to the determined mode of assessment.
6. To be able to communicate that knowledge with clarity appropriate to the determined mode of assessment.

How you will learn

4 x 2 hours MA Dissertation Workshops across TB1 and TB2

5 x bi-weekly tutorial sessions with supervisors during TB 2

How you will be assessed

By written dissertation [12,000 words or equivalent].

When assessment does not go to plan

When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ANTHM1000).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.

The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.