Module ARAM233 for 2019/0
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
ARAM233: Dissertation skills
This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.
Module Aims
This module is designed to develop the advanced skills you will need to undertake an MA in Middle East Studies, especially to research and write.
Postgraduate study in the social sciences includes both comprehension of research methods and the ability to use them yourself. This module exposes you to different types of methods within the social sciences, ranging from qualitative methods such as ethnography and participant observation to quantitative methods such as surveys. There is an emphasis on both good research design and ethical research, with opportunities for you to apply the techniques learned to your own research project.
Throughout the duration of the course you will learn to plan a major research project and to communicate that research – its aims, objects, methods and discoveries – which is an essential part of your development as a postgraduate researcher.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Design an individual research programme, incorporating appropriate social science and humanities research methods. 2. Collate and analyse subject-specific information from a range of appropriate sources. 3. Understand the relationship between research questions and conceptual tools, and apply this when formulating a proposal for a dissertation project. |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. 4. Develop the skills requisite to conducting an extended piece of academic writing, including: settling on a research question, designing a research proposal, how to write a literature review organising and summarising key debates and ideas. 5. Locate your own research in key disciplinary debates. 6. Recognise the theoretical and conceptual links to other disciplines within the social sciences and humanities. 7. Evaluate the most effective means of presenting research, reviewing it and developing research in line with feedback from peers and staff. |
Personal and Key Skills | 8. Use IT for information retrieval and presentation. 9. Conduct independent study and group work, including participating in oral discussions. 10. Demonstrate ability to construct and defend a sustained argument concisely and clearly in writing. 11. Demonstrate capacity for independent critical analysis. |
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Research proposal | 750 words | 1-11 | Written |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Literature review | 100 | 3,000 Words | 1-11 | Written |
0 |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Literature review | Literature Review (3000 words) | 1-11 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic reading:
Della Porta, Donatella (ed) (2008) Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences: A pluralist Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Potter, Stephen (2006) Doing Postgraduate Research. London: SAGE.
Ridley, Diana (2012) The Literature Review. London: SAGE.
Silverman, David (2016) Qualitative Research. London: SAGE.
Wallace, Mike and Alison Wray (2016) Critical Reading and Writing for Postgraduates. London: SAGE.