BM7101-60 Dissertation/Consultancy Project Assessment Brief

Specific Assessment Details

2.1 RESEARCH PROPOSAL POSTER

You will already have submitted a proposal as your final assessment for the BM7043 Research Methods module, but this is now an opportunity to revise and enhance it to enable your research outline for your dissertation/consultancy project to be valid and practical. 

The idea behind a proposal poster is to present a summary of your planned research in an easily assimilated format. It is not a wall-mounted essay or a full proposal that is just in the small font! It is a visual display that concisely communicates your proposal and tells the story of what you intended to achieve in your research project.

Your proposal poster should include:

●    An attractive visual display
○    a balanced Title + Images + Text + Space
●    Understandable writing
○    Easy to understand
○    Easy to follow
●    Clear and concise headings and subheadings
○    logical order throughout
○    logical order in each section

Your proposal poster will be assessed in the following two main areas:

Content and relevance (70%)

• Sufficient material presented
• Coherence of material
• Adequate contextualisation
• Clarity of approach Methodology, data collection proposal(s)
  

Presentation (30%)

1. Effectiveness of visual communication
2. eadability of content
3. Visual appeal
4. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation  
   

DISSERTATION/CONSULTANCY PROJECT

Your dissertation/consultancy project (15,000-18,000 words) is an extended project that demonstrates your ability to do independent research and offers an opportunity for an in-depth investigation into a topic area that can be adapted to reflect your interests and career choices.

There are some differences in expected content between the dissertation and the consultancy project, and these are outlined further below. But some content elements are the same for both.

2.2.1 Common content elements and guidance for both types of extended research project

All dissertations/consultancy projects should include:

• Title Page
• Your title page should include the title of your investigation, your name and student number and the date. A standard title page will be provided in Minerva.
• Abstract
• The abstract is a short summary of the complete content of your dissertation/consultancy project. It concisely sets out the following:
• Your research topic and why you chose it;
• The main aim of your research and how you conducted it;
• Your findings;
• The key conclusions and (if appropriate) recommendations and reflection.
• A good abstract will give the reader the full ‘story’ of the dissertation from beginning to end, like an executive summary in a professional report.
• The suggested length for the abstract is 350 words, a maximum of no more than a page of single-spaced text.
• You complete your abstract after the whole project has been written.
• Table of Contents, Table of Tables, Table of Figures
• These elements should clearly identify where sections are and what pages these start on. You are strongly suggested to use the facilities in Word to create these elements.
•  Main body of the dissertation/consultancy project in different sections
• These are specific to the type of extended research project you choose to do.
• Please see below for the content sections/guidance for each type.