Postgraduate Dissertation Module Handbook 2024-25 | LBU

Module Key Dates and Deadlines

Introduction to the Module

A dissertation is not an essay! Instead, the dissertation allows you to focus on a particular question(s), design a plan to explore the question(s) or theme(s) further and undertake an investigation (i.e., implement the plan) to answer the question(s). Your dissertation area provides you with an opportunity to be an independent researcher and enrich your expertise in the chosen area/theme.

There are different dissertation routes from which you can select a route appropriate or suitable for your discipline, research area, research aim, and research questions. These will be further discussed in the lecture, but these routes include:

1. Primary research: Primary research, often called field research, involves data collection activities undertaken by the investigator for the research under consideration. It focuses on collecting new data (i.e., data not already available or existing) by the investigator to answer research questions or confirm research hypotheses. This can be sub-classified into:

• Qualitative: Involves textual data.
• Quantitative: Involves numerical data

2. Secondary research: Within the context of your dissertation, secondary research is not a literature review. Secondary research, often called desk research, involves using (or collecting) already available/existing data that have been collected by others or the investigator for other purposes. This can be:

• Qualitative: Involves textual data.
• Quantitative: Involves numerical data

It's important to note that a literature review is a crucial part of your dissertation, regardless of whether you are conducting primary or secondary research. A literature review is not a standalone piece of work or a dissertation in its own right. Therefore, any form of literature review, such as a systematic literature review, bibliometric analysis, meta-analysis, scoping review, or state-of-the-art review, cannot be presented as a dissertation and is unacceptable in this module. This means that peer-reviewed journals or articles from Google Scholar (or other databases/sources) cannot be used as data for your dissertation.

Key Attributes of Dissertations

1. They are independent research works
2. A supervisor will guide you
3. Have a larger word count than normal coursework. For this module, your proposal is 2000 words, and your dissertation is 10000 words. In total, your dissertation contains 12000 words, excluding references and appendices.
4. Involve commitment and dedication, including a significant amount of time and effort
5. Require critical thinking and reasoning
6. Require logical synthesis and interpretation of arguments from relevant and credible sources.

What a dissertation entails and how to approach it will be further explained during lectures and seminars. Your seminars involve many activities, such as selecting a research topic, designing the aim and objectives, conducting a literature review, selecting an appropriate research method, including data collection and analysis, writing critically, citing and referencing sources, presenting arguments coherently, and structuring the dissertation.

Module Aims

The dissertation is intended to build upon previously and recently acquired knowledge. This knowledge can come from your professional experience, undergraduate degree, and/or a previous/current MA or MSc programme. Reflecting the requirements of a Master's study, there is also a module emphasis upon the demonstration of methodological competence so that you can:

• Systematically justify your choice of approach to collecting data.
• Competently undertake your data collection.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen data collection and analysis technique.
• Analyse your collected data and make sense of its implications for the dissertation’s aim, objectives, and specific research questions.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the benefits and limitations of your research design about your research findings.
• Demonstrate an appreciation of the applicability of your research findings to managerial implications, either within the organisation(s) studied or more generally.

In addition to planning and doing the dissertation, the module contributes to your personal and professional development (PPD) through a review of your dissertation learning experience. These skills include:

• Enabling skills and attitudes: academic writing, technical and subject-specific skills, self-management, and the ability to search for, select, and use information appropriately.
• Higher order skills – analysis, critical reflection, self-regulation, creativity.
• Connectivity – making links between theory and practice and between informal and formal learning.
• Ethical emphasis – academic and professional research codes and conventions.

Module Learning Outcomes

You will be able to:

1. Apply knowledge and skills acquired throughout the dissertation process.

• Display an independent approach to critical analysis and evaluation, and engage in debates relevant to the area of study undertaken.
• Demonstrate the development of coherent and sustained arguments leading to logical conclusions.
• Reach accepted standards of written presentation.

2. Identify clear research questions, assess what is an appropriate, manageable, and ethical research design for your dissertation topic, and formulate and execute a research strategy and design.

3. Consult appropriate academic sources, critically review and integrate relevant literature, and select and apply appropriate theoretical concepts as a basis for investigating your dissertation topic.

4. Evaluate various research methods and make and justify appropriate choices relating to data collection and analysis with appropriate ethical considerations.

5. Produce a Dissertation Learning Statement as a form of reflective research practice intended to instil a greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of your work on the module, to consider how your knowledge, skills and attributes were used and deployed on the module, and how this might link to future professional development.

Module Learning Activities

It is your responsibility to search for relevant information to increase your knowledge by engaging with teaching notes and the literature around your dissertation topic. However, a dissertation Supervisor and a module Tutor will support you throughout the dissertation journey.

Dissertation Supervisor Role

The Supervisor’s role is to:

• Help you refine and justify an appropriate research topic directly related to your programme of study, concerning relevant literature.
• Help you prepare for the Dissertation Proposal through the development of an appropriate initial literature review.
• Help you consider appropriate ethical considerations in preparation for research ethical approval submission.
• Guide you in selecting an appropriate research method, including data collection and analysis methods, suitable for your dissertation topic, aim, and objectives.
• Encourage you to further articulate critical perspectives for your dissertation literature review and findings from your data.
• Advise you on the preparation for dissertation submission.

Supervision is mapped onto the research/writing process with regular student-supervisor meetings, but you and your supervisor must agree upon when and how the meetings will occur. Online meetings will normally be through MS Teams; however, in-person, face-to-face meetings are encouraged. You should discuss this with your supervisor and set the expectations at the outset.

Generally, the supervision will enable you to ask questions, seek guidance and debate key issues. Make sure that you reach an understanding with your supervisor about the extent to which you can expect them to review and provide feedback on your written work within a realistic timeframe. For example, your supervisor may supervise other students with the same submission date as yours, so they may be unable to proofread an entire dissertation draft.

Research Methods Tutor Role

A research methods tutor (i.e., seminar tutor) will not act as your supervisor; however, the tutor’s role is to support and help equip you with the relevant skills to:

• Guide and support you in completing seminar activities.
• Identify and justify your choice of topic.
• Undertake data collection and analysis.
• Prepare for a Research Ethics Approval submission.
• Produce a written research strategy and design in the form of a Dissertation Proposal.

Dissertation Supervisee (Student)

The dissertation is your work, not your supervisor’s idea, and you should not depend on your supervisor as the sole source of information. Your role as a PG Dissertation Student is as follows:

• You should take ‘OWNERSHIP’ of your knowledge and be ‘RESPONSIBLE’ for your project.
• Once a supervisor is allocated, you should contact your supervisor and set up a meeting to discuss your research topic.
• You should set your expectations and agree on a feasible communication plan with your supervisor.
• You should develop your ideas and read around the area you are interested in researching, seeking advice from your supervisor as necessary.
• You should be proactive regarding your research and supervision; arrange and plan meetings with your supervisor in advance; supervisors will have several students and other commitments.
• You should plan and organise your work. Suppose you plan to send work to your supervisor for comment/feedback (i.e., a drafted literature review chapter). In that case, agreeing with them in advance on the minimum time they will need to return feedback (i.e., 5 working days) is a good idea.
• You should respect your supervisor, including their time and other commitments. You should, therefore, manage your time and expectations effectively. When communicating with your supervisor, you should be professional and expect a delay of up to 48 hours in receiving a reply from your supervisor.

Your Independent Study

In carrying out the necessary research, thinking, writing, and presentation, you will be delving deeper into the subject material of your chosen programme of study and stretching yourself to produce an original piece of work. In some cases, the skills involved may be closely connected to those you use (and/or will use) in the workplace; employers may be interested in seeing your work because it can represent your full potential in the working environment.

You should not treat your dissertation module like other modules. You cannot approach your dissertation with the attitudes and approaches you adopted for other modules. Importantly, the module teaching and learning strategy will build upon your independent study and learning skills. Therefore, you are expected to take a high degree of responsibility for your learning and development.

Forms of Learning:
 
Teaching, both lectures and seminars, is currently being delivered in face-to-face settings. Therefore, you must engage with teaching materials on the module page on MyBeckett and other relevant documents your seminar tutor provides for each session.

Self-directed study:

The interactive approach to seminars relies on your preparation by reading the Module Learning Support Materials, available on the module page on MyBeckett. The seminar exercises and activities are designed to focus on your research area and dissertation topic, encourage reflection on the principles and theories of the research process, and form an essential and substantial component of your dissertation journey and learning experience.

Graduate Attributes Developed and Assessed

Key Skill Development and Assessment Opportunities

Developing the above skills and competencies is crucial when undertaking dissertation research. They are also incredibly useful in the workplace, and you should seek to develop these with future employability in mind.

Approved Data Collection Platforms

Your dissertation must be data-driven, using primary or secondary data. Primary data can be collected either face-to-face or online. While secondary data is mostly collected online, it will be prudent to consider designing your research study with online data collection approaches and methods in mind when using primary data collection.

Should online methods be chosen, it is important to ensure that primary data collection is and can be obtained using online platforms that the University approves. Knowing the platforms the University has approved for research purposes is important before arranging online interviews, focus groups, or questionnaires. When engaging with individuals regarding recruitment for your research study, you should inform all potential participants of the approved platforms, and they must agree to use them.

These decisions must be discussed with your supervisor and evidenced in the proposal and subsequent ethics applications. Your supervisor and the Local Research Ethics Coordinator (LREC) will return your ethics application if it fails to meet these requirements.

Here is a list of approved online methods and modes in which these can be applied:

All methods and modes must be approved by supervisors and appropriately justified in your report (i.e., proposal and dissertation).

When writing a dissertation, you must provide evidence in the appendices section of all the methods used and the modes in which they were applied.

A proforma relating to this information is in the Dissertation Structure Document and must be submitted with the final dissertation as an appendix.

Further, you will need to provide the data (primary or secondary) you collected and used for your dissertation. The data (primary or secondary) must be made available and included in the appendices section. Also, a separate submission folder will be available to deposit the data in MS Word documents, MS Excel, or PDFs, depending on the data type. All data samples provided must have the dates of when the data was collected, and any personal information that could identify participants should be removed. This information also needs to be detailed on the proforma

Taught Module Topics / Timetable

Key Resources to Support Learning

Key Resources are noted at the top of the reading list below and are available via e- books. Links for e-books are available; you can visit the ‘Reading List’ section here, Dissertation Module Reading List, or on the Navigation Pane of the Dissertation Module Page.

You should selectively read relevant content for an introductory insight into Research Methods at the Postgraduate level.

Essential Reading and Recommended for Purchase:

• Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods (Fifth edition). Oxford University Press.
• Bryman, A. and Bell, E. (2019) Business Research Methods (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Crotty, M., 1998. The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. Sage –    - Michael Crotty - 1998
• Mark Easterby-Smith; Lena J. Jaspersen; Richard Thorpe; Danat Valizade (2018) Management & Business Research – e-book –Management & Business Research (2018)
• Saunders, M., and Lewis, P. (2018) Doing Research in Business and Management: An Essential to Planning Your Project. FT Prentice Hall.
• Saunders, M.N.K., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2019) Research Methods for Business Students (8th ed.). Harlow: FT Prentice Hall – e-book - Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2019

Other Useful Supplementary Reading:

• Alvesson, M. (1999) Doing Critical Management Research. London: Sage.
• Bryman, A. (2004) Social Research Methods. Oxford: University Press.
• Dewhurst, F. (2006) Quantitative Methods for Business and Management. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Frenz, M., Nielsen, G., Walters, R.B. and Burns, R.B. (2012) Research Methods in Management/Business Research Methods and Statistics using SPSS. London: Sage.
• Gill, J. (2010) Research Methods for Managers. London: Sage.
• Gummesson, E. (2000) Qualitative Methods in Management Research. London: Sage.
• Hardy, M. and Bryman, A. (eds.) (2004) Handbook of Data Analysis. London: Sage.
• Johnson, P. (2000) Understanding Management Research: An Introduction to Epistemology. London: Sage.
• Keegan, S. (2009) Qualitative Research: Good Decision Making Through Understanding People, Cultures and Markets. London: Kogan Page.
• Quinton, S. and Smallbone, T. (2006) Postgraduate Research in Business: A Critical Guide. London: Sage.
• Sekaran, U. (2003) Research Methods for Business: A Skills-Building Approach. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
• Silverman, D (2006) Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction. London: Sage.
• Swift, L. (2010) Quantitative Methods for Business, Management and Finance. Palgrave Macmillan.

Assessment 

Assessment Summary

Your seminar tutor will provide formative feedback on your topic during seminars. It is, therefore, important for you to engage and participate in all seminar activities to ensure constructive feedback on your topic. Also, your supervisor will provide formative Feedback on your research topic. It is, therefore, essential for you to submit your proposed dissertation topic on time to guarantee the supervisor’s support. The aim is to allocate all supervisors by w/c Monday, 9th December 2024, before proposals are due.

Please submit your Topic Selection by w/c 11th November 2024.

Students must submit the dissertation proposal and dissertation (full report) as part of the module assessment requirements.

Assessment Details

Coursework

The Module assessment has two components – a Proposal and a Dissertation. Please note that you must complete and submit both assessments to pass the module.

The Research Proposal

The research proposal serves an important role in shaping your dissertation research. The research proposal allows you to identify a clear and researchable topic for your dissertation. In the research proposal, we ask you to review the relevant academic literature, assess a suitable, manageable, and ethical research design for your dissertation topic, and develop and implement a written plan to undertake the research.

The Dissertation

The dissertation allows you to apply the techniques and theories you have learned during the taught modules in your course, encouraging you to develop high levels of analysis and critical evaluation. The dissertation normally includes empirical work involving qualitative or quantitative research.

Resit/Defer Assessment Details

Resit

Suppose a resit submission is required for either the proposal or dissertation assessment. In that case, the requirements to pass at the resit stage relate to ‘making good’ the assessment by clearly following any feedback from the supervisor and second markers. Feedback may be given via MyBeckett, email, or in person (virtually). However, should a student not be clear about any aspect of their feedback to make good, clarification should be sought directly from the supervisor and promptly. Students should pay particular attention to the resit submission dates published for the assessment, which requires a resit. Resit assessment submission dates are published in the h andbook and on the relevant MyBeckett module page.

Resits related to academic integrity, such as cheating, collusion, plagiarism, or self-plagiarism, may require a different approach to submitting an assessment. The approach will depend on the academic integrity hearings and the severity of the case. Information relating to academic integrity is detailed on page 20.

Defer

Should a student need to defer submitting their proposal or dissertation, this should be initially discussed with the supervisor. If it is agreed that a deferral is necessary, the student must  contact the Postgraduate  Admin  Office  in  person  at  Rose  Bowl  515  or  via businessadminpg@leedsbeckett.ac.uk to request the appropriate application form.

Student Instructions for Submission of Coursework

PROPOSAL

This module requires you to submit your Dissertation Proposal online only.

You MUST submit your work through MyBeckett using the Turnitin link set up by the Module Leader. Receipt of your work will be recorded.

The set-up of "Turnitin assignments" in MyBeckett allows you to check and review your assignment as you submit it. This checking is done by creating an "Originality Report". If this report shows problems with your work, such as un-cited quotations, you should make corrections and re-submit the work before the due date. However, the Turnitin box is set up to allow 3 submissions to check your originality report - 2 drafts and 1 final submission. The 3rd and final submission is only permitted on the last day of submission i.e. the deadline. As such, please do not submit a draft on the final day, this must be your final version, as we cannot accept your final version via another format. 

Please note: Tutors will follow up on any suspected plagiarism and unfair practice found after the submission date, as per University policy. Late penalties will apply, as per University regulations.

Dissertation

This module requires you to submit your Dissertation Thesis online only.

You MUST submit your work through MyBeckett using Turnitin the link set up by the tutor. Receipt of your work will be recorded.

Your "Turnitin assignments" in MyBeckett are set up so you can check your assignment as you submit it. This checking is done by creating an "Originality Report". If this report shows some problems with your work, such as un-cited quotations, you should be able to make corrections and re-submit the work before the due date. However, the Turnitin box is set up to allow 3 submissions to check your originality report - 2 drafts and 1 final submission. The 3rd and final submission is only permitted on the last day of submission i.e. the deadline. As such, please do not submit a draft on the final day, this must be your final version, as we cannot accept your final version via another format. 

Please note: Tutors will follow up on any suspected plagiarism and unfair practice found after the submission date, as per University policy. Late penalties will apply, as per University regulations.

Feedback

Formative assessments give tutors an indication of your progress and indicate to students the standards of work expected. A formal mark is not recorded for formative assessments, but you will be given feedback on the quality of your work throughout the module.

Research Proposal:

Formative feedback will be provided by research methods component tutors over the workshop teaching period.

Supervisors will also provide formative feedback via face-to-face (in-person or online) meetings or email communications (depending on the mutual arrangements between students and supervisors). Hence, you need to submit your proposed topic on time to guarantee the support of supervisors.

Your supervisor will provide summative feedback via email or the MyBeckett.

Dissertation:

Supervisors will provide formative feedback via face-to-face (in-person or online) meetings or email communications (depending on the mutual arrangements between students and supervisors).

Your supervisor will provide summative feedback via email or the MyBeckett.

Module Review

A mid-module review will be timetabled for your module according to Topic 6. This is an opportunity to iron out modular issues rapidly early in the module. In addition, you will have the opportunity to feedback formally at the end of your module. These comments will be reviewed by your course director and course team, and some may be considered at your annual course enhancement meeting. Your student representative will attend this meeting and take your views into discussion.

Particular Important Instructions to Students 

Research Ethics

When submitting the research proposal, students must complete an online Ethics Application related to their research strategy and design. As a result, it is important that you work on the ethics application in conjunction with developing the proposal. You must receive University Ethics Approval before collecting any data (primary or secondary) for your research. Final dissertations which do not evidence this cannot be marked. Hence, it is important for you to be aware of and understand our ethics procedures and policy. Please ensure you read and familiarise yourself with these policy documents.

The University operates an online research ethical approval process, and we advise you to familiarise yourself with it before applying.

Guidance on how to use the online system can be accessed here

Until the ethics form has been approved, you cannot commence fieldwork/data collection, whether primary or secondary. This process is designed to protect you as a researcher and the participants in your study. You should seek guidance from your supervisor to ensure that your proposed methodologies are appropriate for a postgraduate project. Your proposed study should not create unnecessary ethical concerns. It should, therefore, be able to be approved at a local level without a full submission to the School Research Ethics Committee.

Please retain a copy of your approved ethics form/confirmation email, as you must submit this with your final dissertation. Should work that does not have ethical approval (or evidence of ethical approval) be submitted, then the submission will NOT be marked. You will be deemed to have failed that submission. You will fail the dissertation part of the module and be asked to resubmit (subject to the provision of section C of the University Academic Principles and Regulations in respect of Progression and Award).

Your Dissertation Research Methods Tutor and Supervisor will provide further information about the Ethics Application Process.

Lecture & Seminar Attendance

Attendance at research methods (RM) classes is essential. Every effort should be made to attend every seminar/workshop. Missing one class can hurt your learning and the research journey. It is important to attend the full schedule of topics as possible to develop the knowledge required to understand the dissertation process, to work towards developing a researchable topic, selecting, and justifying appropriate methodologies and methods, all of which must be appropriately articulated in a research proposal.

Lack of class attendance can result in a significant and unnecessary demand for the supervisor to adopt the role of RM tutor and supervisor. This is because students who do not attend RM classes do not acquire the knowledge to make informed decisions to develop a research proposal. The supervisor’s role is to advise and guide the student’s choices and decisions for the dissertation in the context of the subject area, not to become the RM tutor and be expected to hold mini one-on-one tutorials on topics that have been covered in classes. Should this happen, a supervisor may ask a student to reconvene a supervisory meeting once they have undertaken independent learning and reading on the areas lacking knowledge. Supervisory meetings should be productive discussions about the subject area the student wishes to research, and it is the responsibility of the student to consider appropriate research strategies, methodologies, and research designs in the context of their research topic, knowledge of which is gained at RM classes.

Passing the Dissertation

In addition to attendance, an important piece of information relates to achieving a pass mark of 50% for the research proposal. Indeed, there is a correlation between attendance and passing this assessment component. If a mark of less than 50% is achieved for the research proposal, this may have potential consequences in failing to pass the dissertation module. This could be a potential scenario if the mark of the dissertation is 50% and the proposal is less than 50%, specifically 47% or less. This would not add up to a final overall grade of 50%, the mark necessary to pass the module.

If the research proposal achieves a mark below 50%, the final dissertation mark must be more than 50% to pass the dissertation module successfully.

An example is detailed below based on the weighted components of 20% for the proposal and 80% for the dissertation:

Proposal mark awarded is 47% = 20% of 47 = 9.4

Dissertation mark awarded is 50% = 80% of 50 = 40

Proposal + Dissertation = 9.4 + 40 = 49.4%

A mark of 49.4% would not be rounded up to 50% because the overall mark comprises two separate components: 20% for the proposal and 80% for the dissertation. As such, this would be a failed module.

Therefore, all students are urged to consider this potential situation carefully and remember that the amount of work required to complete both the proposal and dissertation is significant and should not be underestimated.

Supervision Hours and Records

A supervisor will be allocated 9 hours of supervision. It is highly recommended that all these hours be utilised appropriately in the supervisory process. These hours should be accessed with the expectations of the student-supervisor relationship, as detailed on pages 4-5.

Data Collection – Methods & Modes

The approach to collecting primary data can be flexible. This means that the planned mode of data collection might need to be changed to an alternative format, even at short notice , depending on participants’ requirements. Therefore, if primary data has been proposed, you may reconsider the approach and adopt secondary data depending on the situation. Similarly, if a one-to-one interview is arranged in a face-to-face mode (Risk Assessment approval permitting) and circumstances mean the mode needs to be changed to online, whether these are due to many factors or at the request of the participant(s), the student must be prepared to make alternative arrangements. Therefore, knowing the different ways to collect data is very important.

Examples of the University approved online modes for collecting primary and secondary data are:

• Microsoft Forms
• Email
• Social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc
• MS Teams and Skype – video or non-video
• Telephone, non-video
• Online chat room – ethics criteria permitting – authenticity, anonymity, credibility, open access/private
• Bulletin boards – ethics criteria permitting - authenticity, anonymity, credibility, open access/private
• Blogs - authenticity, anonymity, credibility, open access/private
• Companies’ website
• Government databases, such as the Office for National Statistics

The above methods must be discussed with supervisors when developing the proposal.

Data Collection

All data (primary or secondary) collected, whether quantitative or qualitative, must be evidenced in the dissertation by detailing all the data obtained, by which methods and from which sources. Further, evidence that the data exists must also be included, and details of the format in which the data is available must be provided. A form is available in Appendix 7, which must be included in the appendix of the dissertation. Please note that you must submit the data used for your dissertation in a dedicated submission folder on MyBeckett. The data file (in MS Excel, Word Document, or PDF) must be submitted simultaneously when you submit your dissertation.

Note: Please be aware that peer-reviewed (scholarly) articles do not count as secondary data, and you cannot conduct a literature review as a dissertation. A literature review should be part of your dissertation (usually Chapter 2 of your dissertation) and should not be the focus of your dissertation.

Understanding Your Assessment Responsibilities

The Dissertation module assessment comprises two components - the research proposal and the Dissertation. Both assessments must be attempted (and passed) for you to pass the module. The research proposal is essential for completing the Dissertation successfully.

Mitigation and Extenuating Circumstances:

If you are experiencing problems adversely affecting your ability to study (called 'extenuating circumstances'), you can apply for mitigation.

The University operates a fit-to-sit / fit-to-submit approach to extenuating circumstances, which means students who take their assessments declare themselves fit to do so.

Late Submission

It is your responsibility to submit the assessments by the submission due date. Failure to submit the assessments by the assessment submission ‘windows’ without good cause will be penalised, as detailed below.

• 1 to 10 days late: the work will normally be capped at the threshold pass mark of 50%.
• Beyond 10 days late: a mark of zero would normally be recorded.

Note: “Days” include weekdays and vacations but exclude weekends, bank holidays, and other days when the University or designated collaborative institution is closed. A day is 24 hours (e.g., if a submission deadline is 4.00 pm on a Tuesday, and any work submitted from 4.01 pm on Tuesday until 4.00 pm on Wednesday would be considered one day late). Also, note that cases of persistent late submission will be brought to the attention of the Progression and Award Board or Module Board by the Module Leader.

Format of the Dissertation

Format of the Dissertation Document

Its format should be as follows:

• Word processed on A4 paper with a 2.5cm left hand margin
• All pages should be numbered and with 1.5 spacing between lines
• All chapters should be numbered
• All chapters should start on a new page
• If included, all tables and figures must be numbered
• The dissertation must use the Leeds Business School Dissertation Module front over (this can be accessed through the Module’s VLE site via MyBeckett).

Principal Sections of the Dissertation

The sections of the dissertation should conform to the following, in the identified sequence:

• Front cover page - contains dissertation title, your name, your course, and submission date (Appendix 8 below)
• Dissertation Checklist (behind front cover page – Appendix 2 below)
• Evidence of Ethics Approval (Appendix 4 below)
• Contain a statement of originality and authenticity (see Appendix Abstract - a summary/précis of not more than 500 words
• Acknowledgements (where appropriate)
• Table of Contents
• List of Graphs, Illustrations, Tables etc.
• Text (Introduction, Literature Review, Research Methods, Findings/Analysis, Conclusions & Recommendations)
• Appendices i.e.
• Questionnaire Template/Interview Questions Asked
• Details of all data (primary or secondary) collected (See Appendix 9 below)
• Other information deemed relevant.

Research Proposal - Assessment Criteria and Feedback Sheet

Assessment Descriptor- Component 1: Dissertation Research Proposal (20% of the module mark)

The following sections provide a breakdown of how your final mark has been determined. This includes an indication, (highlighted in yellow) as to the level your work was at relating to different sections of the assessment and measured against the requirements to achieve spec ific grade boundaries. It also includes feedback from the first and second makers.

Assessment 2 Descriptor: Dissertation Thesis (80% of the module mark)

The following sections provide a breakdown of how your final mark has been determined. This includes an indication, (highlighted in yellow) as to the level your work was at relating to different sections of the assessment and measured against the requirements to achieve spec ific grade boundaries. It also includes feedback from the first and second makers.

Appendix 1: Dissertation Checklist

Example-Full and final dissertation submission checklist

Appendix 2: Ethical Approval Email

This is a sample of an ethical approval email which you will receive once the local research ethics coordinator has approved your dissertation research.

If you are not in receipt of such an email, then you have not received ethical approval, whether for a secondary or primary dissertation and you are to submit your dissertation.

Contact your Supervisor as a matter of urgency if you are planning to submit and you have not received ethical approval.

This must be placed in the front of the dissertation directly behind the ‘Dissertation Checklist’

Appendix 3: Statement of Originality and Authenticity

LEEDS BUSINESS SCHOOL

Postgraduate Scheme:

Programme/Course:     

Statement of Originality and Authenticity

This dissertation is an original and authentic piece of work by me. I have fully acknowledged and referenced all material incorporated form secondary sources. It has not, in whole or part, been presented elsewhere for assessment.

I have read the Examination Regulations and I am aware of the potential consequences of any breach of them.

Signature:

Name:

Date:

Appendix 4: Research Proposal Submission Cover Sheet

POSTGRADUATE DISSERTATION – Research
Proposal <TITLE>

Appendix 5: Dissertation Submission Cover Sheet

POSTGRADUATE DISSERTATION –<TITLE>

Appendix 6: Data Collection Sheet/Protocol

This must be included in the dissertation with full details, as required below.

Appendix 7: Learning Statement Template

The Learning Statement (5%) seeks to assess enabling skills, higher-order skills, connectivity, and ethical emphasis. These relate to Learning Outcome 5 of the module as stated below:

‘Produce a Dissertation Learning Statement as a form of reflective practice intended to instil a greater level of self-awareness about the nature and impact of their work on the module, to consider how their knowledge, skills and attributes were used and deployed on the module, and how this might link to future professional development’.

Guidance notes:

• Your Learning Statement should be approximately 500 words. We advise you to break this down to around 100 words per section (as indicated in the template below)
• Please insert your completed Learning Statement (using this template) as an Appendix to your Dissertation Thesis