09 36094 LM Dissertation Preparation and Guided Reading Assessment Essay Semester 2 2026/27

09 36094 LM Dissertation Preparation and Guided Reading Assessment

Description

The MA programme culminates in the writing of a 15,000-word dissertation or a Placement-based dissertation, a substantial piece of supervised, but essentially independent, research on a topic of your choosing, albeit one approved by the Programme Director and/or LM Dissertation Tutor. Following the relevant research methods module for your programme, where you will have identified your dissertation project, this module is designed to aid your planning and research for this dissertation by further developing the relevant skills and knowledge in a structured way, in the form of a literature review and study skills sessions.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Compare and critically evaluate the main scholarly views on the subject under investigation and explain where the proposed Dissertation topic is situated in relation to them.
• Briefly identify and comment on the significance of primary source material relevant to the proposed Dissertation topic.
• Organise and structure a literature review, demonstrating a good grasp of a recognised scholarly referencing system.

Essay Questions List

Write a literature review of 4500 words related to your proposed LM Dissertation topic. 

A literature review establishes the context for your research, identifying the disciplinary field(s) within which it belongs and to which it might contribute. This is NOT an annotated bibliography. ’Literature’ can refer to books, journal articles, reports, media coverage, websites, social media, podcasts, films/documentaries, other theses and dissertations, and so on.

The literature review should contain the following elements:

• A provisional dissertation title and brief statement of your proposed dissertation topic.
• A brief discussion of the primary sources you intend to use and their possible strengths and limitations, and any potential challenges you foresee in locating and/or accessing these primary sources.
• Map and evaluate existing scholarship on the topic, identifying the main debates, recurring themes or questions, how the discussion of your topic has developed over time and/or what the current preoccupations and issues are. (For example, who/what are the most influential contributors or schools of thought in your chosen area? Which of the sources do you find more compelling – and how do they convince you?)
• Identify and discuss how your proposed topic and approach fit into existing scholarly discussion of the subject area, and what contribution it might make. (For example, you might address a knowledge gap, suggest a new angle, or creatively combine existing ideas and approaches.) 
• Depending on your topic, it may be appropriate to include a discussion of how your approach will be informed by existing theoretical/methodological literature.
• A bibliography of sources discussed in the literature review (NOT included in the word count).

Items 3 and 4 should form the bulk of the literature review.