ST306 Dissertation

Introduction

A dissertation is a long argument that someone else could check. Umberto Eco, whose guide was written for Italian students in 1977 and is still the best, says a thesis should teach its writer something and be a contribution, however small, that did not exist before. At 10,000 words, yours will be about ten times a Year One essay and two and a half times the independent study. It can hold one question, one argument, and four or five chapters that build it. It cannot hold everything you know.

The six workshops follow the stages: the question and proposal; the literature review; the architecture of chapters; the drafting schedule and the voice; the revision; and the final checks, reference list and reflective statement. Each week has a deliverable, and the first assignment, the proposal and literature review, is due after Workshop 3. The dissertation itself is the second.

The rules of the degree apply in full and are the rules of any research: verify before you assert; see before you cite; describe images, never reproduce them; write every word yourself. The independent study of ST305 taught the craft at a quarter of the length. This module asks you to sustain it.

Learning objectives

• Design a dissertation question and proposal that a 10,000-word study can answer.
• Write a literature review that maps a field and locates a gap.
• Plan a chapter architecture in which each chapter advances one argument.
• Sustain a research argument over 10,000 words with evidence throughout.
• Apply the degree's rules on verification, copyright and citation without exception.
• Reflect critically on the completed research and its limits.

Lessons

Unit 1: Workshop 1: The question

A topic you can finish.

1. The dissertation questionEco's rules for a topic you can finish, and the proposal in outline.150 min

Unit 2: Workshop 2: The literature

Mapping the field and finding the gap.

1. The literature reviewWhat a review is for, how to organise it by argument rather than by author, and how to show the gap your dissertation fills.180 min

Unit 3: Workshop 3: Architecture

Chapters that build an argument.

1. Chapter architectureFour or five chapters, one argument, and the proposal that Assignment 1 requires.150 min

Unit 4: Workshop 4: Drafting

Sustaining the argument.

1. Drafting the dissertationThe schedule, the daily word, the voice, and how not to lose the argument in the middle.180 min

Unit 5: Workshop 5: Revision

The stranger's reading.

1. Revising the dissertationStructural revision, the introduction and conclusion written last, and the objection chapter tested.180 min

Unit 6: Workshop 6: Submission

Checks, references, reflection.

1. Final checks and submissionThe reference list, the verification pass, the copyright pass, the reflective statement, and letting go.150 min

Core texts

• Required How to Write a Thesis Umberto Eco, translated by Caterina Mongiat Farina and Geoff Farina

  Throughout.

  Library
• Required Writing Your Dissertation: How to Plan, Prepare and Present Successful Work Derek Swetnam

  Workshops 3 to 6.

  Library
• Required The Undergraduate Research Handbook Gina Wisker

  Workshops 1 and 2.

  Library
• Required MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors, Editors, and Writers of Theses Modern Humanities Research Association, edited by Chloe Paver

  Every citation.

  Open accessOpen access
• Required Grand Comics Database Grand Comics Database contributors

  Every publication fact.

  Open accessLink

Secondary reading

• Recommended The Craft of Research Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup and William T. FitzGerald

  Workshop 4.

  Library
• Recommended "They Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein

  Workshop 2.

  LibraryBuy

Assessment

Two assessed pieces. The first is the proposal and literature review (3,000 words). The second is the dissertation (10,000 words) with its reflective statement. Both are marked against the degree rubric with research quality and argument weighted most heavily. A dissertation below the pass threshold is returned for resubmission, as with every assignment on this platform.

Source requirements

Assignment 1 requires at least ten secondary sources seen and reviewed. Assignment 2 requires at least fifteen credible secondary sources, of which at least five are scholarly (peer-reviewed articles, university-press books or chapters), every one seen; MHRA style with page numbers throughout.