Postgraduate Module Descriptor

POLM886: Dissertation

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The aims of this module are to equip you with the professional skills needed to conduct an extended piece of research and writing. You will have the time and guidance to engage with core debates across the sub-disciplines of politics, equipping you well with practical skills and contributing to your intellectual development. The aims of this module are also to enable you to write an extended piece of independent writing, around a topic of your own choosing, in communication with an academic supervisor in your chosen area. It will allow you to demonstrate depth and breadth of knowledge in a particular subject area of professional or intellectual interest. The dissertation will be a mark of your ability to express yourself in writing.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Demonstrate knowledge in depth of a specialised subject area.
2. Design an individual research programme, incorporating appropriate social science research methods.
3. Collate and analyse subject-specific information from a range of appropriate sources.
Discipline-Specific Skills4. Develop the skills requisite to conducting an extended piece of academic writing, including: devising a research question, proposal and literature review; organizing and summarizing key literatures, debates, ideas and controversies.
5. Locate your own research in key disciplinary debates, controversies and developments.
6. Assimilate and critically analyse data from an appropriate range of sources, from policy papers to canonical texts in the history of political thought.
7. Develop a cogent argument.
8. Communicate complex information and ideas effectively in writing.
Personal and Key Skills9. Use IT for information retrieval and presentation.
10. Manage own work.