ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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1.  Aim and Objectives
·  Enable students to advance their knowledge of the field covered by their degree
programme
·  Independent research project
·  Ability to evaluate, challenge, modify and develop theory and practice.
·  Offer synthetic and coherent solutions
2.  Requirements
·  Well-defined research question
·  Logically developed argument supported by evidence
·  Element of your own independent research
·  Relate existing literature in the field to your work
3.  Timetable
·  January  2017.  Overview presentation on dissertations.  List of suggested topics
circulated

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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·  February 2017. Students allocated to supervisor
·  January  to March  2017.  Data Analysis presents a set of potential dissertation topics
and data sources to help students  choose their topic and use appropriate methods  and
data.
·  March 2017:  First meeting with supervisor.  Students should bring a draft of their
dissertation abstract to this meeting. The draft should specify the research idea,
techniques to be used and data sources required as well as references to a few articles
that look at the same issue or use similar techniques. After this meeting students can
update their abstract before submission
Deadline for abstract submission: 23:55 Friday, 31
st
of March 2017

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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·  12
th
June to 10
th
August  Progress meetings with supervisor.  Students have three
compulsory  with their supervisor over this period to discuss progress on their
dissertation and other issues
2
·  12
th
June to 10
th
August Technical meetings with TA supervisors Students can arrange
meetings with TA supervisors to discuss issues such as data sources, software issues,
estimation techniques etc.
Deadline for final submission: 23:55 Friday, 1
st
of September 2017

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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·  Dissertations that are submitted late will be penalised at the rate of 5 marks deduction
for each 24 hour period after the set submission time, down to the pass mark. Work
submitted 14 calendar days or more after the deadline will be awarded zero (check
your handbook). This rule applies for all days including weekends. Students are advised
to submit at least a day  before the deadline in case of unforseen  technical problems
etc.
4.  Plagiarism
·  Your dissertation should be the output of  your own  work. University of London and
the College take plagiarism very seriously.
·  Incorrect referencing and citations may be considered plagiarism.
·  For detecting plagiarism, the School uses Turnitin. Turnitin checks your dissertation
against 24+ billion web pages, 300+ million student papers and 110,000+ publications
and provides a similarity index. Once you will have completed your dissertation, you
can test it on Turnitin to verify that the similarity index is acceptable (green light)
before your official submission.

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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·  Important:  An acceptable similarity index  could be  anything below 20%. What does
this mean in practice?  An originality report from Turnitin  may have a similarity index
of 24% with the similarity coming from hundreds of different sources, each making up
less than 1% of the student’s work, other originality reports with an index of 15% may
have  the similarity coming from just one or two web pages or published sources,
potentially a much more serious matter.
·  After the exams in June, there will be a 2-hours  session on how to avoid plagiarism and
maintain academic integrity. The attendance is compulsory for all students taking
ECOM093  and ECOM107. More details about the date and the venue will follow at a
later stage.

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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5.  Style and Format
·  Front page: You must indicate the following:
3
§  your programme of study
§  your full name
§  your student ID number
§  the title of your dissertation
§  the full name of your supervisor
·  Use 1.5 spacing
·  Number your pages
·  Use 2.5 or 3cm on all margins
6.  Dissertation Length
·   Maximum 7,000 words  (4,000 words for those taking ECOM093)  excluding references,
tables and appendices. Lower or higher than this may lead to a penalty in your overall
mark and this is under the discretion of your supervisor.
7.  Citing and References
·  Follow the link and use Harvard Style criteria

http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/referencing#1

8.  The role of the supervisor
·  Number of meetings with the  supervisor: 1 meeting  before the abstract submission
and up to 3 meetings  during the period of supervision in summer  (see  above  for dates).
·  The dissertation is intended to provide an opportunity for students to pursue a
research project  independently  so  students are  entirely responsible for the work for
their dissertation.

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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·  The role of the supervisor is to offer advice and guidance, not to direct the research.
·  Your supervisor will help you to identify a topic, to draw up a suitable preliminary
bibliography and to plan the primary and secondary research you will need to do for
the dissertation.    He/she will be available to advise you on approach, coverage,
questions to be asked and the outline structure and research design.
More specifically, the supervisor is expected to:
§  assist you in the definition and organisation of your project in the early stages
of preparation;
§  offer you advice about sources;
4
§  advise you on the feasibility of what you plan to do; and
§  Approve your dissertation proposal.
9.  The role of the Teaching Assistant (TA)
§  3 or 4 meetings in total during the period of supervision
§  You must not expect the TAs to do the work for you, the role of the TA is to offer
assistance at various stages of your dissertation
§  For empirical projects, the TA will assist you on how to download data and use library
resources. If you also need help with the statistical package (Eviews, STATA etc) you
use, TA will give you guidance.

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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§  The TA will  not  give you suggestions about your research approach  and will  not
recommend research methods and literature. The TA has a supportive role only.
§  Skype meetings with the supervisor and/or TA  are not allowed.  except  under verified
Extenuating Circumstances (please consult your handbook) which must be approved
in advance. Separate EC must be submitted for extensions after the deadline .
10.  Structure for an empirical study
The introduction: It  should state the topic and the general aim of the dissertation. It should also
describe the structure of the dissertation (i.e. how you organise your dissertation in the various
sections)
Literature Review: should review the literature on the topic and  clarify how your dissertation fits
within this literature. You can give any title to this section as long as, at the beginning of the section,
you state clearly that the objective of this section is to review the literature on the topic under
investigation.

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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Empirical Framework and Data Description: it is important that you summarise the method you
use and that you describe the data use in your dissertation. You can give any title to this section as
long as, at the beginning of the section, you state clearl y that the objective of the section is give a
description of your method and of the data you use.
Empirical Analysis: this section is dedicated to the illustration of your analysis and of your findings.
You can give any relevant title to this section  as long as, at the beginning of the section, you state
clearly the objective of the section.
Conclusion: this section presents a summary of the findings of the dissertation, relates these to the
argument outlined in the introductory chapter and states precisely what has been demonstrated.

ECOM093 DISSERTATION GUIDELINES

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By admin in Essays on July 27, 2017