MA981-7-FY, MSc Dissertation Handbook 2024-25 | University of Essex

MA981-7-FY Introduction

This module is worth 60 credits and is a CORE module for your MSc. You must pass this module to be eligible for your MSc degree.
Students are expected to write a dissertation based on an independently developed research project, under the supervision of allocated supervisor.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Research the background and literature relating to an area of Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science or Actuarial Science.
2. Apply existing theories methods/models to a question/data set and provide a clear explanation of why and how these theories/methods/models are applied.
3. Produce a dissertation about their chosen topic/question which is word processed.
4. Use their knowledge, understanding and skills in defending their ideas in an interview and presentation.

Supervision

You will be allocated a supervisor during the Summer term. Dissertation supervisors are expected to be reasonably available over the summer, for supervision meetings. These should take place at frequent intervals, taking into account your supervisor’s holiday entitlement.
Your supervisor will inform you of their availability over the summer.

You should pro-actively contact your supervisor to arrange meetings and if at any stage during the dissertation, the supervisor has serious cause for concern about your progress, the Postgraduate Director will immediately be informed.
This could also impact any request for an extension deadline and you should be aware that lack of progress without valid extenuating circumstances will not be considered for an extension.

Preparing for your project

In order to prepare you for your project you will receive guidance in MA199-7-FY (Research Skills and Employability).

• 2 hour R lab/lecture in teaching week 2 in Autumn Term
• 3 hour lecture covering Masters dissertation topics, and online data resources, in week 18 of the Spring Term
• 2 hour Latex lab/lecture in week 19 of the Spring Term
• 1hour session on academic offences

You will be required to submit, for MA199, a Latex report including: Section 1: thesis outline, title, data source and methodology to be used Section 2: personal career development plan

Dissertation Sessions

Two additional compulsory dissertation preparation sessions will be delivered in the Summer term and will build on what you have been taught in MA199-7-FY module. Check your teaching timetable for the exact dates, times and locations.

We are also expecting to deliver 2 or 3 workshops, one in each month of July and August, covering topics related to dissertation writing, academic integrity and refresher session on some key topics – techniques.

Your attendance will be monitored at the preparation sessions and the workshops.

Timeline

The plan for your dissertation will vary according to what type of project you are doing and you should work closely with your supervisor to agree this. However, below you will find some suggestions to guide you.

Although you are not formally permitted to proceed to your dissertation until the Exam Board considers the results of your taught modules at the end of June/beginning of July, we would expect you to have met with your supervisor beforehand to agree a topic.
We would recommend you agree a topic and a work plan as soon as possible after you have been allocated a supervisor. Once you have agreed your topic and started work, if you feel you would like to take the project in a different direction, you must ensure you discuss this with your supervisor first.

Supervisors should normally see and comment on a draft dissertation no later 2 weeks before the submission deadline, for there to be sufficient time for necessary revision. This is especially important if your supervisor will be away during August and you must ensure you have agreed a date by which you must submit a draft for comment.

The presentations will take place after the submission of the report.

Data Repository

We recognise the importance of having readily accessible data in order to apply and practice what you have learnt in lectures and also to carry out your Dissertation. Following feedback from students and experienced colleagues and experts in Data Science concerning the availability of data, particularly those on MSc Data Science, MSc Data Science and Its Applications, MSc in Optimisation and Data Analytics, MSc Statistics and others, we have compiled a list of data sites which guarantee accessibility to data. This compilation (Appendix 1) forms a DMS repository of datasets made available to our students.

Please read all texts attached to datasets before accessing them. You must respect the conditions of use as stated therein, if stated of course. These conditions might be, for instance, access for personal use only, required acknowledgement of the providers in any published material such as the dissertation etc.

Note that, while we are able to compile the list and make it available to you, in most cases we are not the owners of the datasets and therefore cannot guarantee continued availability and accessibility. If copying a dataset is allowed, it would be advised to make a copy of it once you have made up your mind, with the help of your supervisor of course, to use it to avoid the risk of not having access to it in the future. Also, note that the repository does not restrict you from finding a dataset elsewhere that suits your needs.

It is also essential that you refer correctly to the site in your reports. As with other sources of materials that you might use, you are required to reference all sources, otherwise you would be committing an academic offence (see further details below).

Length of report

There is no prescribed length for a dissertation. In the past, we have found that most dissertations are between 10,000 and 30,000 words in length. However, these are guidelines, not mandatory, and different kinds of dissertations may require different word lengths. Supervisors will provide advice on the appropriate length for particular kinds of projects.

Source code

If your dissertation relies on implementing a particular analysis in a programming language, you must submit the following alongside your dissertation report to ensure reproducibility, transparency, and academic integrity:

1. An executable version of any code that has been used in the preparation of the dissertation. For example, a .ipynb file extension.
2. An exact copy of all code in a PDF file extension. The PDF must be machine-readable (not an image).
3. Any other files needed as input for the code, such as dataset files. Please note that FASER has a 50MB file size limit. If your dataset is too large to include, you must provide a link to the dataset in your report. Failure to upload these files to FASER alongside your dissertation report will result in a request for you to submit your files again with the corresponding late submission penalty.

You must also be clear in your dissertation about the level of originality of your code. Using and modifying starter code is acceptable, but copying entire pieces of code or paragraphs will be considered plagiarism. You must provide references for any materials you use, such as by including hyperlinks in your code comments. Finally, note that markers may ask you to explain some details of your code in the presentation/interview.

Layout

The dissertation must be typed or with at least 1.5 line spacing. The right and left margins should be at least 2.5cm with a sufficient margin on the binding edge so that no text is obscured. A LaTeX template is provided with the recommended typesetting options, we expect the submitted manuscript to follow the same standard although you might want to opt for a different typesetting/word processing method.

Marking

It is impossible to give hard-and-fast rules on how a dissertation will be marked. Instead, we indicate some of the key things that the two markers will be looking for, and some features which dissertations at various levels are likely to have.

1)Clarity and coherence: you must make it clear that you have understood the ideas involved in your subject at an appropriate level. In a project developing some piece of theory, which will be relevant to you in the dissertation, this will usually involve developing the theory in a logical order, with clear definitions and explanation of how these ideas could be useful in practice. It may well involve proving some of the results discussed: if a key proof is too hard to give, you should explain the role of the result, perhaps trying to give some idea of why it might be true.

If your project is an overview of some topic in practical mathematics, statistics or Operational Research, you must explain the key ideas of the practical situation and make it clear how mathematical ideas illuminate the subject. Perhaps you will look at suitable data to see how the ideas work in practice.
An historical project will explain carefully how the ideas under discussion evolved and clearly show good understanding of the relevant theory.

In any project, your work must be well presented. For example, there should be a clear list of contents at the beginning; you should have a summary (perhaps a page or so) making clear what you aim to investigate, and some conclusions at the end saying how far you think you succeeded. If you are pulling several diverse sources together, you should choose (and stick to) a consistent notation.

Your report should be written in good English: this requirement includes legibility, good grammar, spelling and punctuation. Any figures or diagrams must be tidy, clearly labelled and explained.

You must use a single logical system of referencing, with all your sources given at the end.

2)Difficulty, depth and breadth of ideas expressed. Your material must be of sufficient depth for an MSc student – in particular, it should have little or no overlap with material in your lecture courses. More marks will be given for understanding difficult material than for material which should be routine at MSc level. You should not just be seeking to regurgitate your sources: you should be studying them critically and it is expected that you have a satisfactory understanding of the presented material. Original material or insights are not required, but are very welcome, and often you can at least give slightly different examples from your sources.

If you are aiming to give a broad overview of some topic, we expect you to give a balanced account of the topic, with more important topics getting more attention, but avoiding irrelevant material. If on the other hand you concentrate on some narrow (usually difficult) problem, you should still make it clear how it relates to the broader subject around it.

3)Initiative. We usually expect you to show some initiative, including looking in libraries and the web for an appropriate (for that project) range of sources beyond those first suggested by your supervisor. Often you will have more than one source. Your supervisor’s marks will be influenced by the extent to which he/she feels that you have managed to work independently of him/her.

4)Word processing. Marks will be given for the quality of your word processing.

Some typical characteristics of projects at various levels
We again emphasise that these cannot be binding guidelines.

A pass level project (i.e. one with a mark of 50% or above) will normally be a sensibly constructed project, with a summary, a list of contents, and brief conclusions. It will contain a reasonable amount of material, which exhibits non-trivial understanding of some topic relevant to the particular scheme and the proposed summer project. It will be quite coherent and should be written in reasonably good English, with proper referencing of a suitable range of sources.

A distinction level project (i.e. one with a mark of 70% or above) will normally be a well-written and well-organised account, with a clear summary, contents and clear conclusions, good referencing and good English. It will exhibit substantial knowledge and understanding of some topic relevant to the particular scheme and the proposed summer project, with evidence of a substantial amount of material having been pulled together (usually from several sources) and explained clearly. It may well involve some elements of novelty.

80-100% Candidates will demonstrate all of the qualities required for a distinction in the 70-79 range. Work marked in this range also needs to demonstrate the originality as to potentially changing some conventional understanding about the subject treated.

70-79% (Distinction) The dissertation should contain a comprehensive amount of materials (in depth and breadth), which exhibits independent insights and demonstrates an ability to handle historical concepts and methods related to the chosen topic with confidence. It should be of outstanding quality, coherent, and should be written in accurate English, with proper referencing of a wide range of sources.

60-69% (Merit) The dissertation should contain a substantial amount of materials (in depth and breadth), which exhibits a solid knowledge and understanding of historical concepts and methods related to the chosen topic. It should be of high quality, coherent and should be written in good English, with proper referencing of a sufficient range of sources.

50-59% (Pass) The dissertation should contain a reasonable amount of material, which exhibits a reasonable level of knowledge and understanding of the historical concepts and methods related to the chosen topic. It should be coherent and written in reasonably good English, with proper referencing of a suitable range of sources.

0-49% (Fail) The dissertation shows some knowledge of historical concepts and methods, and shows some ability to make arguments and handle evidence, however, the report is in inadequate in addressing the chosen research question.

Presentations

All students, starting in October 2024, doing an MSc dissertation module in our School will be required to do an interview/presentation in their dissertation which will count for 10% of the mark. You must achieve an overall mark (i.e. the combination of 90% report 10% presentation) of 50% or above to pass the module. The purposes of the presentation/interview include giving you practice in presenting your ideas orally – a valuable skill – and for you to demonstrate your understanding of the material of the dissertation and for the markers to assess the extent of that understanding. In cases where the interview/presentation suggests that academic misconduct may have taken place (for example, through level of understanding in the interview seeming much lower than in the written text) the matter will be referred to the Academic Offences process and all rights of reply etc. under that process will apply.

The interviews/presentations will take place during a time period close to the end of your course and you will be required to attend the interview/presentation in person in accordance with Home Office monitoring requirements for students requiring a visa. During the session, it is expected only the two markers and the student will be present. Details of the process for arranging times for interviews/presentations will be announced later but will be based around a suite of rooms having been booked with time slots into which supervisors can book the interviews after consultation with the student and second marker. These rooms will all have very similar or identical facilities including a computer on which you can display Powerpoint or BEAMER or similar slides, and a whiteboard which you can use instead (or as well) if you prefer. You can discuss how to present your work with your supervisor(s), who may be willing to listen to an extract from what you propose to do, and provide presentational advice, though they will not normally comment on the accuracy of what you have said.

As an example, assessors will check for:

• Time Management: Ensure your presentation fits within the allotted time. Aim for about 1 minute per slide if you have a 15-minute limit.
• Delivery: Practice your presentation several times to improve flow. Recording the first 5 minutes and reviewing it can be particularly helpful.
• Slide Design: Create well-written slides that support your presentation. Avoid reading directly from the slides; instead, use them to guide your talk. Include visuals and graphs to enhance your presentation.
• Logical Structure: Organise your presentation logically. Start with an introduction, explain the problem, describe your solution, and conclude with your results. It is good to highlight what was your contribution, e.g. adapted the code to do this and that.
• Understanding: Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the material and the fundamental topics of your dissertation. When answering questions, aim to provide insightful, well-reasoned responses that showcase your expertise. Your responses should leave the assessors confident that you have a firm grasp of the theoretical underpinnings and practical implications of your dissertation.

The rooms will be bookable for an hour but it is envisaged that the interviews/presentations will normally be 40-45 minutes long, of which 15-20 minutes should be dedicated to the presentation and the rest to the interview. The interview may well include some general questions about the subject matter of the dissertation to test that the student has a secure understanding of the material, and there might be some questions about remarks made in the presentation. You should bring a copy of your dissertation along to the presentation/interview with you and may be asked to explain some parts of your arguments. Interviewers will be reasonable and will not expect perfect answers to every question, but they will be assessing the overall level of understanding shown. However, the overall level of understanding demonstrated can impact the marks for both the written dissertation and the oral component. This presentation/interview is the only opportunity for the examiners to directly interact with the students as the dissertation authors.

Assessment and submission deadline

Although the latest date for submission of the MSc dissertation is on 3 September, it is unwise to use late- August to produce new material. For different reasons it is also unwise to cut short the project merely to submit a report very much earlier than that date. As mentioned above, the presentations will be scheduled after the submission of the report and they will be confirmed with your supervisor.

Resubmissions

Failing to achieve a pass mark (50) in the dissertation does not automatically allow you to resubmit it. The following is taken from the Masters Taught Courses rules of assessment (2024-2025):

a)Re-submission of dissertations or equivalent is only permitted in the following circumstances:

i.Either substantiated extenuating circumstances accepted at the discretion of the Board of Examiners; or
ii.where the original mark awarded is at least 40 and the Board of Examiners judges that the work required to achieve a pass does not include any additional experimental or practical work.

b)Re-submission is subject to the following conditions:

i.A dissertation or equivalent must normally be re-submitted within two months of the formal notification of permission to resubmit; in cases of extenuating circumstances, this may be extended to a maximum of twelve months;
ii.A dissertation or equivalent which has been re-submitted because of a marginal fail shall be awarded no more than a maximum mark of 50; in the case of resubmissions because of extenuating circumstances, the full range of marks shall be available to examiners.
As evident from the rules above, resubmissions will not generally require substantial work (e.g. experimental/practical work) and it is expected to be completed without additional supervisory help.

Deadline extensions

Postgraduate taught dissertations or equivalent are not counted as coursework and are therefore not covered by the standard policy on the late submission of coursework. Students can request an extension for their postgraduate dissertation if they find that, due to extenuating circumstances, they will be unable to submit the dissertation by the published deadline.

You can only request an extension before the current deadline for your dissertation and should speak to your supervisor as soon as you begin to have concerns about the deadline. During the extension period it is not expected that you will have supervision meetings. Exceptions can be made if there are sufficient Extenuating Circumstances but this has to be agreed with your Supervisor on a case by case basis.

Please be aware that the same guidelines apply for extensions and extenuating circumstances and you must have a valid reason and make your request in good time or your request will be rejected. For example, minor illness for a short period is not considered valid grounds as you should have planned your workload to take into account events such as this. Moreover, before thinking of requesting an extension, please discuss it with your supervisor, although the decision to accept or reject the request rests with the Postgraduate Director.

Requests for extensions must be made by Friday 22 August 2025 at the very latest. You can find out more out informal and formal extension.

Late submissions without an approved extension request will not be marked.

Extenuating circumstances

If you experience any unexpected difficulties whilst working on your dissertation you can submit an extenuating circumstances claim. Extenuating circumstances are circumstances beyond your control which have had an impact on your assessed work. Generally, they are circumstances of a medical or personal nature which cause you to perform less well in the assessment or to not submit an assessment.
It is important to realise that only the most serious extenuating circumstances will have any significant impact on your overall performance, particularly when degree classifications are being considered.

Your claim will be considered by an Extenuating Circumstances Committee who will then make recommendations to the Board of Examiners regarding the effect your circumstances have had on your performance (including non-submission of assessment). Find out more about how your claim is considered.

If you do submit a claim, you should include on the form details of specific assessments or affected by your extenuating circumstances. Make sure you explain the impact these circumstances had on your performance. It is not the role of the Board of Examiners or Extenuating Circumstances Committees to try to work this out or to seek further information on your behalf. Make your submission clear and concise.

Where you are able, it is in your interest to submit independent and reliable supporting evidence as part of your extenuating circumstances application. Supporting evidence should be relevant to the circumstances described in both nature and timeframe. Without supporting evidence, the Extenuating Circumstances Committee/Board of Examiners may not be able to take action on your claim.

You can find out more information about Extenuating Circumstances and a link to the online form at University of Essex

Presentations/Interviews

In exceptional circumstances where your successful claim concerns the presentations/interviews, we may be able to offer special arrangements: e.g. postpone the presentation to a later date. However, this could not extend beyond your maximum registration period.

Students who have personal learning plans that require a reasonable adjustment to these arrangements must have this confirmed in advance of the presentation/interview, including appropriate documentation from SWIS. Details will be worked out on an individual case-by-case basis.

Data Back-up

A range of back-up facilities is offered by the University to back-up your files. We recommend you do this regularly to avoid any loss of work. Loss of work due to computer failure will not be accepted as an extenuating circumstance if the facilities on offer have not been used.

Academic Offences

The University expects students to complete all assessment with honesty and integrity and to follow our conventions for academic writing (including appropriate referencing of sources) and ethical considerations. If you don’t meet these expectations, then you may be charged with having committed an academic offence, a matter the University takes very seriously.

It is your responsibility to make yourself aware of the regulations governing examinations and how to correctly prepare your coursework. An academic offence can take place even if you didn’t mean to commit one, and examples include plagiarism, falsifying data or evidence, and communicating with another candidate in an examination.

If you aren’t sure what the conventions are, particularly in relation to referencing, you should ask your supervisor.

More information about academic offences can be found at https://www.essex.ac.uk/student/exams- and-coursework/about-academic-offences and if you have not done so already, we would strongly recommend that you complete the Academic integrity, authorship and plagiarism tutorial.

Appendix 1