Activity 1

Your topic.

This is often a starting point.

Open the Scratch Pad before clicking on the copy icon in this Activity (see above).

You can often choose your topic (on some courses you are given one; if you are in employment your employer may direct you to a topic).

If you can choose your topic, how will you do so? You could get ideas from: tutors; your studies; work experience (eg placement); an employer.

What topic are you thinking of?

Consider the following about that topic.

Could your topic be useful to you in future (eg if seeking jobs or courses)?
How easy or difficult will it be to find information on it?
Do you have enough knowledge and skills to get started on it?
Are you interested in it (it is hard to work alone if you are not)?
Is the topic big enough for a dissertation/final project?
Is it too big for a dissertation/final project?
Could you look at it in depth in the time allowed?
Could you put limits/boundaries on it (eg look at one aspect)?

You can use this box to type any thoughts about the above questions in relation to your topic.

Activity 2

Your research aims and questions.

What is your aim? Do you have a hypothesis to test?

What are the main questions you need to answer about your topic/aim/ hypothesis (3 or 4 help you focus, many more may cause confusion)?

These are known as your research questions. You may find it helpful to identify sub-questions for each main research question. You may need to amend your main questions once or twice. If you repeatedly amend them it may be hard to stay on target.

Refer all the time to your aim/hypothesis/research questions to keep you focussed.

For guidance on structure go to 'Essay Writing' for a dissertation or 'Report Writing' for a project (you will see a topic on possible structures for reports) in this 'Writing Skills' theme.

In both these topics look first at the the Starter Level guidance which gives the main structures. There is further guidance at Development Level.

For such a major piece of work, you need to spend time at the start identifying the methods you will use, resources/training/support needed, and how long the various tasks will take.

This section helps you think about this.

Activity 3

Your supervisor.

Can you choose your dissertation/project supervisor? If so, which tutor:

• knows about your topic
• can advise on your methodology (tutors use/prefer different methods)
• would you work well with (you may need a tutor who can challenge you)
• would best help you motivate yourself?

Who do you think could be your supervisor?

There may or may not be standard ways of putting you in contact with possible supervisors. Look at 'Negotiating and Assertiveness' in 'Working with Others' in the menu to the left of the screen, for help in agreeing matters with others.

Working with your supervisor.

How could you help your supervisor help you?

Information given by your course may clarify the supervisor's role and answer the following, but you could discuss with her/him:

• how much time can s/he give you
  
• what will be the best use of that time
  
• when you should meet (eg how often)
  
• if you can arrange meetings in advance.

What would you do (or who could you go to) if there are difficulties between you? Look at 'Negotiating and Assertiveness' in 'Working with Others' in the menu to the left of the screen, for help in agreeing matters with others.

Activity 4

Working alone.

Working independently means self-motivation. Which of these suggestions might work for you?

Work to a time plan.
Set small tasks (completing them can make you feel good).
Choose a topic you find motivating.
You and friends encourage each other.
Ask your tutor to help you set targets.
Give yourself rewards at certain stages.
If it seems daunting, remind yourself you've written essays and reports before.

What else helps you keep to a task, and what could you do to set it up?

Collecting information - literature search.

You can copy text into the Scratch Pad on the top tool bar. The Help in the Scratch Pad tells you how. It takes up to 500 words - then you need to save your work.

What published information do you need to answer your research questions?

• library/learning centre staff can help you see how to do a literature search
• look at other dissertations to see how many published works they refer to
  
• look at 'Information Skills' in the menu to the left of the screen
  
• look at 'IT Skills' in the menu to the left of the screen for help on using computers to retrieve (find) information.

If you need to collect information from primary sources your dissertation/report will need a section describing your methodology.

• How will you collect information eg surveys, interviews, experiments? Why choose these methods?
• Are you recording what you are doing, are your records well-organised?
• Could somebody else check that your data are authentic, that your methods are thorough, accurate?
• Are there ethical issues (eg confidentiality)?

Libraries/learning centres have resources on different types of methdologies (do key word searches in an online catalogue).

Look at 'Information Skills' in the menu to the left of the screen.

Planning and managing time.

Look at 'Action Planning' and 'Organising Yourself and Your Time', both in 'Improving Learning' in the menu to the left of the screen.

Which of these suggestions might work for you?

• Break the work into manageable tasks; make a plan indicating tasks, the order to do them, deadlines; review it often.
• Estimate how long each task will take, add on half again. It may take as long to do the writing as gathering information.
  
• Identify when you work best (eg some each day or in blocks of time)
• Look before you start at 'Essay Writing' or 'Report Writing', in this 'Writing Skills' theme, so you know what is needed.

Leaving work until the last minute causes stress which stops you thinking clearly. Resources may not be available. It may reduce your grade.

Work at this level must have analysis, criticism and evaluation. For guidance go to 'Critical Analysis' in 'Information Skills' in the menu to the left of the screen.

This means pulling together all the elements of your information into a coherent whole, to make sense of it. Again, this is very important at this level. It might include:

• summarising it
  
• producing a model for it
  
• creating a theory for it
  
• placing it within a theory
  
• identfying critical elements.

It might form a part of any discussion of your findings or of your conclusions.

Creating an argument.

Meaning here: to develop a line of thought or give reasons for a view or position.

For guidance look at the 'Your contents' sections in 'Essay Writing - What to Consider' at both Starter and Development Levels in this 'Writing Skills' theme.

If you are writing a report this guidance will also help you. The process of creating an argument is similar regardless of the format you write in.

For guidance look at the topic 'Gathering and Using Information for Final Year Disssertations or Projects' in 'Information Skills' in the menu to the left of the screen.

Activity 5

Using evidence.

Evidence should prove your claims and criticisms.

Your statements and criticisms must be supported by evidence - either from published work or from information gathered yourself.

Have you avoided generalisations not backed by evidence?
Can you give the source of your evidence (information)?
Could you or somebody else find it again?
Is it up to date?
Is it accurate?

Activity 6

Which of the following do you most need to to give attention to?

Analysis, criticism and evaluation.
Synthesis.
Creating an argument.
Using information.
Using evidence.
Plagiarism.

See the 'Style' sections of the following topics for help:

Use of English - What to Consider (Development Level);
Essay Writing - What to Consider (Development Level - also look at Starter);
Report Writing - What to Consider (Development Level - also look at Starter).

Activity 7

An appropriate style.

This is a major piece of academic work and the style needs to reflect this. Some of the words which spring to mind to describe such a style include: serious; considered; measured; deep; objective; weighty; clear.

It may help to look at past examples to see what is expected in your subject area.

Look at the guidance recommended in the above box, at examples or at advice given by tutors - and consider the following (you can type beneath each question in the box).

What sort of impression or impact do you want to make? What aspects of language would you use to help create that impression/ impact?

You must follow any instructions given (eg in a course handbook) about length and how the work should be presented.

You must reference all the published work you have used using the accepted conventions. Click on 'Referencing' in this 'Writing Skills' theme.

Click on 'Academic Abbreviations' in this 'Writing Skills' theme.

Look at the topics in this 'Writing Skills' theme on 'Essay Writing' and 'Report Writing' for guidance.

Use the 'IT Skills' theme for help with word-processing and layout and style and at that theme and at 'Working with Numbers' to help with presenting tables, graphs, charts, statistics etc. Both are in the menu to the left of the screen.

Drafting.

For this, you will need to produce several drafts.

You may find writing the work hard and that it helps to do it in stages eg to write a section on methodology when you have completed any research.

At the end your task will then be to put them all together and make clear connections between them.

Editing.

Allow enough time for this.

Aim to complete your writing a week or two before the hand-in date - to allow you to proof read, edit, amend, add in last minute details.

Writing up on the last day may mean your work has inaccuracies and small errors which could reduce your mark, and which are unneccessary.

For editing checklists look at:

'Use of English - What to Consider' (Development Level);
'Essay Writing - What to Consider' (Development Level - also look at Starter);
'Report Writing - What to Consider' (Development Level - also look at Starter).

Activity 8

You can type beneath each question in the box.

What are the most important things you have learnt so far about writing a dissertation/ final year project? What must you do to do this (include resources or help needed)?

You may find 'Action Planning' in 'Improving Learning' in the menu to the left of the screen helpful.